180 Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Perspective, Virtue, and Truth

These Friedrich Nietzsche quotes will encourage you to say yes to what gives your life meaning.

And if what you’re looking for is some motivation to get your life back on track, then this collection is the right fuel to keep you going!

In his works, Nietzsche highlights that change is natural, and it is up to man himself to transcend one’s established realities.

In turn, he pushes us to never stop seeking our own truths and paths.

Here are 180 of his best quotes. Read the full list below.

Make sure to check out these Aristotle quotes and Plato quotes.

Best Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.

1. “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

2. “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

3. “No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone.”

4. “There are no facts, only interpretations.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.

5. “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”

6. “It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!”

7. “In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.”

8. “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”

9. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.

10. “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”

11. “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

12. “When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.”

13. “It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”

14. “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.

15. “The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.”

16. “You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”

17. “Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.”

Also read: Albert Camus Quotes

18. “I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.”

19. “We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die.

20. “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.”

Nietzsche Quotes on Perspective and Truth

21. “The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.”

22. “Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being misunderstood.”

23. “Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings—always darker, emptier, and simpler.”

24. “The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions as attempts to find out something.

25. “A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions—as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.”

26. “There are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth.”

27. “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.”

28. “A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.”

29. “All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Silence is worse; all truths that are kept silent become poisonous.

30. “Silence is worse; all truths that are kept silent become poisonous.”

31. “All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down.”

32. “Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.”

33. “Meaning and morality of one’s life come from within oneself.”

34. “Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - They muddy the water to make it seem deep.

35. “They muddy the water to make it seem deep.”

36. “A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us.”

37. “One repays a teacher badly if one always remains nothing but a pupil.”

38. “There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.”

39. “It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.

40. “There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.”

41. “The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition of it.”

42. “Without forgetting, it is quite impossible to live at all.”

43. “What is the truth but a lie agreed upon.”

44. “He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of dispute.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - The text has disappeared under the interpretation.

45. “The text has disappeared under the interpretation.”

46. “It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the lover of knowledge is reluctant to step into its waters.”

47. “The real world is much smaller than the imaginary.”

48. “There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them.”

49. “Knowledge kills action; action requires the veils of illusion.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves.

50. “Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves.”

51. “Cynicism is the only form in which base souls approach honesty.”

52. “The pure soul is a pure lie.”

53. “There is no such thing as moral phenomena, but only a moral interpretation of phenomena.”

54. “A bad conscience is easier to cope with than a bad reputation.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Nihilism and Herd Mentality

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - In individuals, insanity is rare.

55. “In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule.”

56. “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.”

57. “Is man merely a mistake of God’s? Or God merely a mistake of man?”

58. “Man is the cruelest animal.”

59. “The thought of suicide is a great consolation—by means of, it one gets through many a dark night.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Faith not wanting to know what the truth is.

60. “Faith—not wanting to know what the truth is.”

61. “I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance.”

62. “A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.”

63. “You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame. How could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?”

64. “There are two different types of people in the world—those who want to know and those who want to believe.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Shame, shame, shame, that is the history of the human!

65. “Shame, shame, shame—that is the history of the human!”

66. “In truth, there was only one Christian and he died on the cross.”

67. “There is not enough love and goodness in the world to permit giving any of it away to imaginary beings.”

68. “Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.”

69. “Today, as always, men fall into two groups: slaves and free men. Whoever does not have two-thirds of his day for himself, is a slave whatever he may be—a statesman, a businessman, an official, or a scholar.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Stupidity in a woman is unfeminine.

70. “Stupidity in a woman is unfeminine.”

71. “After coming into contact with a religious man, I always feel I must wash my hands.”

72. “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”

73. “The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.”

74. “Is it better to out-monster the monster or to be quietly devoured?”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Hope, in reality, is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.

75. “Hope, in reality, is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.”

76. “The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments.”

77. “Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?”

78. “And once you are awake, you shall remain awake eternally.”

79. “Everything the state says is a lie, and everything it has, it has stolen.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.

80. “Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.”

81. “Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.”

82. “One must be a sea to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure.”

83. “I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.”

84. “Remorse—never yield to remorse, but at once tell yourself, ‘Remorse would simply mean adding to the first act of stupidity a second.’”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Whenever I climb, I am followed by a dog called 'Ego.'

85. “Whenever I climb, I am followed by a dog called ‘Ego.’”

86. “But it is the same with man as with the tree. The more he seeks to rise into the height and light, the more vigorously his roots struggle earthward, downward, into the dark, the deep—into evil.”

87. “Man is something that shall be overcome. Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.”

88. “Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.”

89. “My solitude doesn’t depend on the presence or absence of people; on the contrary, I hate who steals my solitude without, in exchange, offering me true company.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Nothing on earth consumes a man more quickly than the passion of resentment.

90. “Nothing on earth consumes a man more quickly than the passion of resentment.”

91. “The worst readers are those who behave like plundering troops; they take away a few things they can use, dirty and confound the remainder, and reveal the whole.”

92. “What is the seal of liberation? Not to be ashamed in front of oneself.”

93. “One must pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while still alive.”

94. “He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies—real or imaginary.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Two great European narcotics alcohol and Christianity.

95. “Two great European narcotics—alcohol and Christianity.”

96. “A subject for a great poet would be God’s boredom after the seventh day of creation.”

97. “In Christianity, neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.”

98. “The spiritualization of sensuality is called love. It is a great triumph over Christianity.”

99. “As long as you still experience the stars as something ‘above you’, you lack the eye of knowledge.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - You look up when you wish to be exalted.

100. “You look up when you wish to be exalted. And I look down because I am exalted.”

101. “The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad.”

102. “I change too quickly—my today refutes my yesterday. When I ascend, I often jump over steps, and no step forgives me that.”

103. “There is an old illusion. It is called good and evil.”

104. “Plato was a bore.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it.

105. “It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge.”

106. “The desire to annoy no one, to harm no one, can equally well be the sign of a just as of an anxious disposition.”

107. “Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.”

108. “A politician divides mankind into two classes—tools and enemies.”

109. “Everyone who has ever built anywhere a new heaven first found the power thereto in his own hell.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - We do not place special value on the possession of a virtue until we notice its total absence in our opponent.

110. “We do not place special value on the possession of a virtue until we notice its total absence in our opponent.”

111. “Most people are far too much occupied with themselves to be malicious.”

112. “The world is beautiful, but has a disease called man.”

113. “Objection, evasion, joyous distrust, and love of irony are signs of health; everything absolute belongs to pathology.”

114. “If we train our conscience, it kisses us while it hurts.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - A joke is an epigram on the death of a feeling.

115. “A joke is an epigram on the death of a feeling.”

116. “Sensuality often hastens the growth of love so much that the roots remain weak and are easily torn up.”

117. “Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.”

118. “He who possesseth little is so much the less possessed. Blessed be moderate poverty!”

119. “A moral system valid for all is basically immoral.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - In the mountains of truth, you never climb in vain.

120. “In the mountains of truth, you never climb in vain.”

121. “From which stars have we fallen to meet each other here?”

122. “I love him who seeks to create over and beyond himself, and thus perishes.”

123. “Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.”

124. “Arrogance on the part of the meritorious is even more offensive to us than the arrogance of those without merit, for merit itself is offensive.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Your only problem, perhaps, is that you scream without letting yourself cry.

125. “Your only problem, perhaps, is that you scream without letting yourself cry.”

126. “Convictions are prisons.”

127. “Woman was God’s second mistake.”

128. “He who cannot obey himself will be commanded. That is the nature of living creatures.”

129. “The maturity of man—that means, to have reacquired the seriousness that one had as a child at play.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Even the most beautiful scenery is no longer assured of our love after we have lived in it for three months

130. “Even the most beautiful scenery is no longer assured of our love after we have lived in it for three months, and some distant coast attracts our avarice—possessions are generally diminished by possession.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Virtue, Art, and Love

131. “Without music, life would be a mistake.”

132. “I am a forest and a night of dark trees, but he who is not afraid of my darkness will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.”

133. “The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason, he wants women as the most dangerous plaything.”

134. “We have art in order not to die of the truth.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - One ought to hold on to one's heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.

135. “One ought to hold on to one’s heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.”

136. “That which is done out of love is always beyond good and evil.”

137. “Art is the proper task of life.”

138. “Invisible threads are the strongest ties.”

139. “The lonely one offers his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.

140. “Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.”

141. “Become who you are!”

142. “He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to walk, and run, and climb, and dance; one cannot fly into flying.”

143. “To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence.”

144. “I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and the impossible.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - The voice of beauty speaks softly it creeps only into the most fully awakened souls.

145. “The voice of beauty speaks softly—it creeps only into the most fully awakened souls.”

146. “One must give value to their existence by behaving as if one’s very existence were a work of art.”

147. “True, we love life, not because we are used to living, but because we are used to loving.”

148. “For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity or perception to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable—intoxication.”

149. “Love is a state in which a man sees things most decidedly as they are not.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - There is an innocence in admiration; it occurs in one who has not yet realized that they might one day be admired.

150. “There is an innocence in admiration; it occurs in one who has not yet realized that they might one day be admired.”

151. “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.”

152. “Live dangerously.”

153. “The author must keep his mouth shut when his work starts to speak.”

154. “Only sick music makes money today.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - All great things must first wear terrifying and monstrous masks in order to inscribe themselves on the hearts of humanity.

155. “All great things must first wear terrifying and monstrous masks in order to inscribe themselves on the hearts of humanity.”

156. “Love is blind. Friendship closes its eyes.”

157. “I am one thing, my writings are another.”

158. “I obviously do everything to be ‘hard to understand’ myself.”

159. “They call you heartless, but you have a heart and I love you for being ashamed to show it.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Poets are shameless with their experiences, they exploit them.

160. “Poets are shameless with their experiences—they exploit them.”

161. “A thought comes when it will, not when I will.”

162. “If a man has character, he also has his typical experience which always recurs.”

163. “Whoever lives for the sake of combating an enemy has an interest in the enemy staying alive.”

164. “Love, too, has to be learned.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Love brings to light a lover's noble and hidden qualities, his rare and exceptional traits.

165. “Love brings to light a lover’s noble and hidden qualities—his rare and exceptional traits. It is thus liable to be deceptive of his normal qualities.”

166. “Of all that is written, I love only what a man has written in his own blood.”

167. “It is nobler to declare oneself wrong than to insist on being right—especially when one is right.”

168. “He who obeys does not listen to himself!”

169. “Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education—dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and need I add, that one must also be able to dance with the pen?”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - The vanity of others runs counter to our taste only when it runs counter to our vanity.

170. “The vanity of others runs counter to our taste only when it runs counter to our vanity.”

171. “Admiration for a quality or an art can be so strong that it deters us from striving to possess it.”

172. “Pardon me, my friends, I have ventured to paint my happiness on the wall.”

173. “In music, the passions enjoy themselves.”

174. “I fear you close by; I love you far away.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - This is the hardest of all, to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver.

175. “This is the hardest of all—to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver.”

176. “I hate you most because you attract, but are not strong enough to pull me to you.”

177. “The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.”

178. “No artist tolerates reality.”

179. “Success has always been a great liar.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quote - Virtue is, under certain circumstances, merely an honorable form of stupidity.

180. “Virtue is, under certain circumstances, merely an honorable form of stupidity.”

Did These Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes Inspire You to Change the World for the Better?

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher and writer who dedicated his life to finding his moral truth, and advocating for people to do the same. He believed that truth is relative, as experience is relative. But most of all, he believed that each one of us has our own path in life and that life, we must perfect, by pursuing our dreams and becoming a person of action.

Which of these quotes serve as eye-openers for you? Are there any more quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche you’d like us to include? Comment them down below.

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Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

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