“Not every end is the goal. The end of a melody is not its goal, and yet if a melody has not reached its end, it has not reached its goal.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

Variant: The end of a melody is not its goal: but nonetheless, had the melody not reached its end it would not have reached its goal either. A parable.

Last update April 16, 2026. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Not every end is the goal. The end of a melody is not its goal, and yet if a melody has not reached its end, it has …" by Friedrich Nietzsche?

Friedrich Nietzsche photo

Friedrich Nietzsche655

German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and cl… 1844–1900

Related quotes

“My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.”

Ayn Rand book Anthem

Source: Anthem

“Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.”

Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) Indian guru

“Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for goals.”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

Attributed to Aristotle in Bernhoff A. Dahl, Optimize Your Life! http://books.google.gr/books?id=B1Z2XP_DamQC&dq=, Trionics International Inc., 2005, p. 111. <br class="br">Disputed

“If a given science accidentally reached its goal, this would by no means stop the workers in the field, who would be driven past their goal by the sheer momentum of the illusion of unlimited progress.”

Hannah Arendt book The Life of the Mind

Source: The Life of the Mind (1971/1978), p. 55.

“If the world had a finite reality as its goal, then it has only a limited possibility of growth. But when the world has the Infinite God as its goal, it has endless possibilities of growth and development.”

Kurien Kunnumpuram (1931–2018) Indian theologian

Kunnumpuram, Kurien, 2011 “Theological Exploration,” Jnanadeepa: Pune Journal of Religious Studies 14/2 (July-Dec 2011)
On God

“The goal of ending poverty is within reach and everyone can contribute to it by getting involved or supporting organizations that are already working to give the poor a better life.”

Ronaldo (1976) Brazilian association football player

Speech for the United Nations. http://www.undp.org/goodwill/ronaldo.shtml

“Better to have a big goal and reach half of it than to have no goal and reach all of it.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

“Philosophy leaps ahead on tiny toeholds; hope and intuition lend wings to its feet. Calculating reason lumbers heavily behind, looking for better footholds, for reason too wants to reach that alluring goal which its divine comrade has long since reached.”

Friedrich Nietzsche book Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks

Source: Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks (posthumous), p. 40

“Every heart has its own melody," he said. "You know mine.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Variant: Every heart has its own melody.
Source: Clockwork Princess

“With the proper understanding of the economic system, the workers will soon find means to end that system, and to raise on its ruins a development of society having for its goal the benefit of the whole, instead of a part, of the community.”

William Earsman (1884–1965) Australian left-wing activist

The Proletariat and Education: The Necessity for Labor Colleges

Related topics