Friedrich Nietzsche in profile, his head resting on his hand, with a heavy moustache and a dark coat, engraved in black line on pale paper between narrow blue and red borders.
After Gustav Schultze, 1882. AI‑generated.

Friedrich Nietzsche

1844–1900

7 genuine quotes, each found in the text, and 3 wrongly credited to Nietzsche.

German philosopher and classical philologist who attacked Christian morality and announced the death of God, writing in aphorisms, polemics and poetic prose; he collapsed mentally in 1889 and his sister edited his notes into books he never wrote. His most quoted lines often come from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, where they are spoken by Zarathustra, a prophet-figure and persona, and many ‘Nietzsche quotes’ online are loose translations or not his at all.

Check a Nietzsche quote

FrontispieceMade by an image model after Gustav Schultze’s photograph of Friedrich Nietzsche (1882, public domain), in the manner of the German book art movement (1895–1933). The likeness is the original’s; this picture is AI‑generated and not historical. The endpaper behind it is an AI‑generated pattern in the same manner.

Genuine Nietzsche quotes

  1. One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, section 5 (Zarathustra’s Prologue, Zarathustras Vorrede), said by Zarathustra.

  2. God is dead.

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, section 2 (Zarathustra’s Prologue, Zarathustras Vorrede), said by Zarathustra.

  3. I teach you the Superman. Man is something that is to be surpassed.

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, section 3 (Zarathustra’s Prologue, Zarathustras Vorrede), said by Zarathustra.

  4. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal.

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, section 4 (Zarathustra’s Prologue, Zarathustras Vorrede), said by Zarathustra.

  5. You are going to women? Do not forget the whip!

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part 1, chapter 18 (“Old and Young Women”, Von alten und jungen Weiblein), said by an old woman.

  6. “We have discovered happiness,” say the last men, and blink.

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, section 5 (Zarathustra’s Prologue, Zarathustras Vorrede), said by Zarathustra.

  7. Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his blood.

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part 1, chapter 7 (“Reading and Writing”, Vom Lesen und Schreiben), said by Zarathustra.

Quotes wrongly credited to Nietzsche

  1. Some are born to enjoy illusions, others are cursed to see the truth.

    Not found. It is not in Nietzsche’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

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

    Not found. It is not in Nietzsche’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

  3. 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.

    Misattributed. Rudyard Kipling wrote it, not Nietzsche.

Paraphrased: Nietzsche’s thought, in other words

  1. Hilarious are the weak who think they are good because they have no claws.

    Paraphrase. The idea is in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part 2, chapter 13 (“The Sublime Ones”, Von den Erhabenen), said by Zarathustra.

  2. There is more sagacity in thy body than in thy best wisdom.

    Paraphrase. The idea is in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part 1, chapter 4 (“The Despisers of the Body”, Von den Verächtern des Leibes), said by Zarathustra.

The works we hold

Quotes are looked up word for word in these texts. The number is how many genuine quotes here come from each.

WorkYearGenuine quotes
Thus Spoke Zarathustra Also sprach Zarathustra18837

Editions and translations

Nietzsche on

Try