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

No such sentence is in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (the one Nietzsche text in the source texts), in German or in Thomas Common’s English: both were searched (npm run find) for “hear the music”, “Musik” and “could dance”, and “dance” occurs there only in other senses (the dancing star, Zarathustra’s dancers). Quote Investigator (2012) found no place in Nietzsche, and traces only precursors: Madame de Staël’s ball seen without music (1813), then several nineteenth-century writers who find the dancers ludicrous or mad, a version labelled an old proverb in The Times of London in 1927, and later uses credited to John Stewart (1967), Norman Flint (1972), the Sufis (Paul Kantner, 1989) and George Carlin (1997, who gives it as “Anon.” in 2001). The Nietzsche credit appears on Usenet in 2003. What is not found: a 2002 reference work dates a form of the saying to 1575, which Quote Investigator could not trace to any sixteenth-century work; the first user of the exact modern wording; the trail below is Quote Investigator’s, not seen in the originals. It passes for Nietzsche because dancing is a favourite image of his.

1. 1813Before it · credited to Anne Louise Germaine de StaëlMadame de Staël, De l’Allemagne: in life the world sometimes seems like a ball where we do not hear the music, and the dancing we see there would appear insane (English excerpt in The Universal Magazine, 1814).… we feel ourselves in the middle of its interests as we should at a ball, where we did not hear the music; the dancing that we saw there would appear insane.Anne Louise Germaine de Staël, De l’Allemagne (1813); English excerpt in The Universal Magazine, 1814, as quoted by Quote Investigator. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
2. 1873Before it · credited to Thomas MantonThe sermons of Thomas Manton compare seeing men and women dance from afar without hearing the music to taking them for fools and madmen.Thomas Manton, Complete Works (1873), as quoted by Quote Investigator. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
3. 16 February 1927Earliest found · credited to no oneThe Times of London gives a version close to the modern one, calling it an old proverb. The earliest dated wording of this form found; a 2002 reference dates it 1575 without a citation.They who dance are thought mad by those who hear not the music.The Times (London), 16 February 1927, p. 15, col. 4, as cited by Quote Investigator and in English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases (1929), p. 15. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
4. 1997Spread · credited to George CarlinGeorge Carlin prints “Those who dance are considered insane by those who can’t hear the music” in Brain Droppings; in Napalm & Silly Putty (2001) he credits it “Anon.”Those who dance are considered insane by those who can’t hear the music.George Carlin, Brain Droppings (1997); Napalm & Silly Putty (2001), as cited by Quote Investigator. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
5. 28 August 2003Credited to Friedrich NietzscheA message in the Usenet group alt.quotations credits the saying to Nietzsche, the earliest credit to him found by Quote Investigator.Usenet, alt.quotations, 28 August 2003, from dougk, subject “IM Friedrich Nietzsche”, as cited by Quote Investigator. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source

A saying that circulates under Nietzsche’s name, often next to his dancing-star lines. It is an old proverb-like image of dancers watched without sound, which turned up in many hands in the nineteenth century and was credited to Nietzsche only in 2003.

People who live by a music others cannot hear look mad to those who cannot hear it.

Not found in Nietzsche. For his dancing, use the dancing star (“one must still have chaos in oneself”) or Zarathustra’s God who could dance.

• A misquotationThose who dance are considered insane by those who can’t hear the music. George Carlin’s wording in Brain Droppings (1997), later credited “Anon.” by him; also credited to Nietzsche.
• A misquotationThey who dance are thought mad by those who hear not the music. The Times (London), 16 February 1927, called an old proverb.

Wisdom

• What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. (misattributed) Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Some are born to enjoy illusions, others are cursed to see the truth. (not found)
• To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. (misattributed) Ralph Waldo Emerson
• A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. (misattributed) Maya Angelou
• Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. (misattributed) C. S. Lewis

• quoteinvestigator.com/2012/06/05/dance-insane (Quote Investigator, 5 June 2012)
• en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche (Misattributed section lists “Those who dance appear insane to those who cannot hear the music”, citing Staël 1813; checked 25 October 2026)

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” Attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche. No. It is not in Nietzsche’s works, and who first wrote it is not known. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/those-who-dance-are-considered-insane/ (checked 25 October 2026).

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