Friedrich Nietzsche
Quotes
- “One must learn to love.— This is what happens to us in music: first one has to learn to hear a figure and melody at all, to detect and distinguish it, to isolate it and delimit it as a separate life; then it requires some exertion and good will to tolerate it in spite of its strangeness, to be patient with its appearance and expression, and kindhearted about its oddity:—finally there comes a moment when we are used to it, when we wait for it, when we sense that we should miss it if it were missing: and now it continues to compel and enchant us relentlessly until we have become its humble and enraptured lovers who desire nothing better from the world than it and only it.— But that is what happens to us not only in music: that is how we have learned to love all things that we now love. In the end we are always rewarded for our good will, our patience, fairmindedness, and gentleness with what is strange; gradually, it sheds its veil and turns out to be a new and indescribable beauty:—that is its thanks for our hospitality. Even those who love themselves will have learned it in this way: for there is no other way. Love, too, has to be learned.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
- “Solitary men : Some men are so accustomed to being alone with themselves that they do not compare themselves with others at all but spin out their life of monologue in a calm and cheerful mood, conversing and indeed laughing with themselves alone.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
- “Of what is great one must either be silent or speak with greatness.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche The Will to Power
- “Gradually it has become clear to me what every great philosophy so far has been: namely, the personal confession of its author and a kind of involuntary and unconscious memoir, also that the moral (or immoral) intentions in every philosophy constituted the real germ of life from which the whole plant had grown.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good & Evil
- “Do not be deceived! The busiest people harbor the greatest weariness, their restlessness is weakness—they no longer have the capacity for waiting and idleness.” —Friedrich Nietzsche
- 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
- One must pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive. — Nietzsche, Ecce Homo
- “Gradually it has become clear to me what every great Philosophy so far has been: namely, the personal confession of its author and a kind of involuntary and unconscious memoir, also that the moral (or immoral) intentions in every philosophy constituted the real germ of life from which the whole plant had grown.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good & Evil
- It is through recognizing that we come to have the feeling that we already know something, thus it means combating a feeling of newness and transforming the apparently new into something old. — Friedrich Nietzsche
- “I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
NIETZCHE
If you are after melodies, then do not go to him;
For thunder’s rumble is all the music that his pen’s flute makes.
He plunged a surgeon’s knife into the live heart of the West:
His hands are covered with the blood he has wiped off Christ’s cross.
On the foundation of the Ka’aba he built his own idol-house.
His heart is a believer’s but his brain an infidel’s.
Go and burn yourself in the blazing fire of this Nimrod:
For Abraham’s flower-garden blossomed out of Azar’s fire. — Muhammad Iqbal
- Let it be said: a great victory is a great danger. It is more difficult for human nature to endure victory than to endure defeat; it even appears to be easier to achieve such a victory than endure it in such a way that it does not result in a more serious defeat. — Nietzsche
- “Doubt as sin. — Christianity has done its utmost to close the circle and declared even doubt to be sin. One is supposed to be cast into belief without reason, by a miracle, and from then on to swim in it as in the brightest and least ambiguous of elements: even a glance towards land, even the thought that one perhaps exists for something else as well as swimming, even the slightest impulse of our amphibious nature — is sin! And notice that all this means that the foundation of belief and all reflection on its origin is likewise excluded as sinful. What is wanted are blindness and intoxication and an eternal song over the waves in which reason has drowned.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality
Nietzsche’s concept of the “eternal recurrence” is a thought experiment where one must imagine reliving their life, every single moment, exactly as it was, infinitely. It’s not necessarily meant as a literal cosmological claim about the universe, but rather a test of how we react to the possibility of such a repetition. Nietzsche suggests that a strong affirmation of life, an embrace of even the most painful aspects, is required to be able to accept and even desire such an eternal return.
- **The Thought Experiment: Nietzsche presents the eternal recurrence as a hypothetical scenario: imagine being told that you must live your life, in every detail, over and over again, forever.
- **Not a Metaphysical Claim: While Nietzsche pondered this idea, it’s important to note that he didn’t necessarily intend it as a literal truth about how the universe works. Many interpretations suggest it’s more of a philosophical tool to explore the nature of human existence and our relationship with life.
- **Litmus Test for Affirming Life: For Nietzsche, the reaction to the eternal recurrence reveals much about an individual’s attitude towards life. A strong affirmation of life, including its joys and sorrows, would be necessary to embrace such an eternal repetition.
- Amor Fati: This concept, meaning “love of fate,” is closely linked to the eternal recurrence. It suggests embracing all aspects of life, both positive and negative, and finding joy in one’s destiny.
- **The “Heaviest Weight”: The idea of the eternal recurrence is presented as a “heaviest weight” – a daunting prospect. However, Nietzsche also suggests that it can also be a source of profound affirmation of life, filling the emptiness of Nihilism.
- Embracing the “Yes”: Nietzsche’s philosophy emphasizes the importance of being a “yea-sayer,” someone who affirms life and embraces its complexities. The eternal recurrence is a challenge to become such a life-affirming individual.