Quotes About Meaning

Man would sooner have the void for his purpose than be void of purpose

So long as the spectator has to figure out the meaning of this or that person, or the presuppositions of this or that conflict of inclinations and purposes, he cannot become completely absorbed in the activities and sufferings of the chief characters or feel breathless pity and fear.

Hat man sein Warum des Lebens, so verträgt man sich fast mit jedem Wie. Der Mensch strebt nicht nach Glück; nur der Engländer tut das.

An einem Philosophen ist es eine Nichtswürdigkeit zu sagen »das Gute und das Schöne sind eins«; fügt er gar noch hinzu »auch das Wahre«, so soll man ihn prügeln. Die Wahrheit ist häßlich. Wir haben die Kunst, damit wir nicht an der Wahrheit zugrunde gehn.

In every age the wisest have passed the identical judgement on life: it is worthless.

a thing can only live through a pious illusion.

Apart from the ascetic ideal, man, the human animal, had no meaning so far. His existence on earth contained no goal; "why man at all? – was a question without an answer…

Au existat pân? acum o mie de scopuri, c?ci au existat o mie de popoare. Doar lanÅ£ul pe cele-o mie de capete lipseÅŸte, lipseÅŸte înc? un singur scop. Umanitatea n-are înc? scop. Dar spuneÅ£i-mi, voi, fraÅ£i ai mei: dac? umanit??ii îi lipseÅŸte scopul, nu-nseamn? oare c? ea îns??i nu exist? înc??

God's only excuse is that he does not exist.

Valuating is itself the value and jewel of all valued things.

Truth is the kind of error without which a certain species of life could not live. The value for life is ultimately decisive.

Ohne Mythus aber geht jede Kultur ihrer gesunden schöpferischen Kraft verlustig: erst ein mit Mythen umstellter Horizont schließt eine ganze Kulturbewegung zur Einheit ab.

the one who had lost the world attains its own world

Sudovi, vrednosni sudovi o životu, za ili protiv, ne mogu naposletku nikada biti istiniti: oni imaju vrednost samo kao simptomi, oni dolaze u obzir samo kao simptomi - takvi sudovi su sami po sebi budalaštine.

The fact that humanity knelt down before the opposite of the origin, the meaning, the right of the evangel, the fact that in the concept of 'church', humanity canonized the very thing the 'bearer of glad tidings' felt to be beneath him, behind him - you will not find a greater example of world-historical irony - -

the moral man presupposes that that which concerns himself most nearly must also be the heart and soul of things.

The concept 'beyond', 'true world' invented in order to devalue the only world there is—in order to retain no goal, no reason, no task for our earthly reality!

Nihilism. It is ambiguous: A. Nihilism as a sign of increased power of the spirit: as active nihilism. B. Nihilism as decline and recession of the power of the spirit: as passive nihilism.

IF there were gods, how could I endure it to be no God!

It also seems to me that the rudest word, the rudest letter, is more good-natured, more straightforward, than silence.

We invented the concept 'purpose': in reality purpose is lacking.…

In all ages one has wanted to 'improve' men: this above all is what morality has meant. But one word can conceal the most divergent tendencies. Both the taming of the beast man and the breeding of a certain species of man has been called 'improvement':

Believe me, friend Hellishnoise: the greatest events—they are not our loudest but our stillest hours.

We suffer from the malady of words, and have no trust in any feeling that is not stamped with its special word.