Nietzche Quotes Part 1

what? a great man?

In no particular order here are some Nietzche quotes I find interesting, Mostly from Beyond Good and Evil and Human All Too Human.

  1. What? A great man? I always see merely the play-actor of his own ideal
  2. A sign of strong character, when once the resolution has been taken, to shut the ear even to the best counter-arguments. Occasionally, therefore, a will to stupidity. (later he mentions how a free spirit finds resolution difficult for the same reason)
  3. You want to prepossess him in your favour? Then you must be embarrassed before him.
  4. Sensuality often forces the growth of love too much, so that its root remains weak, and is easily torn up. (everything sentence in Beyond Good and Evil is a giant mirror, this one especially)
  5. One is punished best for one's virtues. (very painful!! gives you an inner smile)
  6. Insanity in individuals is something rare--but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule.
  7. Poets act shamelessly towards their experiences: they exploit them. (especially artists unlike Bresson, Bach, Tolstoy, Leonardo. Tarkovsky says there is an effortlessness to their art. Something he fears. I guess I agree, I can't prevent the giddyness of a good idea from poisoning/distorting itself)
  8. One loves ultimately one's desires, not the thing desired.
  9. "I dislike him."--Why?--"I am not a match for him."--Did any one ever answer so? ¯_(ツ)_/¯