Quotes from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life

Friedrich Nietzsche ·  78 pages

Rating: (1.4K votes)


“Without forgetting it is quite impossible to live at all.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“Happiness: being able to forget or, to express in a more learned fashion.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“Human existence basically is──a never to be completed imperfect tense.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“One who cannot leave himself behind on the threshold of the moment and forget the past, who cannot stand on a single point, like a goddess of victory, without fear or giddiness, will never know what happiness is; and, worse still, will never do anything that makes others happy.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“The beast lives unhistorically; for it 'goes into' the present, like a number, without leaving any curious remainder.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life



“The crowd of influences streaming on the young soul is so great, the clods of barbarism and violence flung at him so strange and overwhelming, that an assumed stupidity is his only refuge.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“There is something the child sees that he does not see; something the child hears that he does not hear; and this something is the most important thing of all. Because he does not understand it, his understanding is more childish than the child's and more simple than simplicity itself; in spite of the many clever wrinkles on his parchment face, and the masterly play of his fingers in unravelling the knots.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“What a school of politeness is such a contemplation of the past! To take everything objectively, to be angry at nothing, to love nothing, to understand everything-- makes one gentle and pliable.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“... a thing can only live through a pious illusion.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“The great works are produced in such an ecstasy of love that they must always be unworthy of it, however great their worth otherwise.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life



“The power of gradually losing all feeling of strangeness or astonishment, and finally being pleased at anything, is called the historical sense or historical culture.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“We suffer from the malady of words, and have no trust in any feeling that is not stamped with its special word.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“And that discovery would betray the closely guarded secret of modern culture to the laughter of the world. For we moderns have nothing of our own. We only become worth notice by filling ourselves to overflowing with foreign customs, arts, philosophies, religions and sciences: we are wandering encyclopaedias, as an ancient Greek who had strayed into our time would probably call us. But the only value of an encyclopaedia lies in the inside, in the contents, not in what is written outside, in the binding or the wrapper. And so the whole of modern culture is essentially internal; the bookbinder prints something like this on the cover: “Manual of internal culture for external barbarians.” The opposition of inner and outer makes the outer side still more barbarous, as it would naturally be, when the outward growth of a rude people merely developed its primitive inner needs. For what means has nature of repressing too great a luxuriance from without? Only one,—to be affected by it as little as possible, to set it aside and stamp it out at the first opportunity. And so we have the custom of no longer taking real things seriously, we get the feeble personality on which the real and the permanent make so little impression. Men become at last more careless and accommodating in external matters, and the [Pg 34] considerable cleft between substance and form is widened; until they have no longer any feeling for barbarism, if only their memories be kept continually titillated, and there flow a constant stream of new things to be known, that can be neatly packed up in the cupboards of their memory.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“The visible action is not the self-manifestation of the inward life, but only a weak and crude attempt of a single thread to make a show of representing the whole.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“The progress of science has been amazingly rapid in the last decade; but consider the savants, those exhausted hens. They are certainly not “harmonious” natures: they can merely cackle more than before, because they lay eggs oftener: but the eggs are always smaller, [Pg 64] though their books are bigger. The natural result of it all is the favourite “popularising” of science (or rather its feminising and infantising), the villainous habit of cutting the cloth of science to fit the figure of the “general public.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life



“As if it were the task of every time to be just to everything before it! Ages and generations have never the right to be the judges of all previous ages and generations: only to the rarest men in them can that difficult mission fall. Who compels you to judge? If it is your wish—you must prove first that you are capable of justice. As judges, you must stand higher than that which is to be judged: as it is, you have only come later. The guests that come last to the table should rightly take the last places: and will you take the first? Then do some great and mighty deed: the place may be prepared for you then, even though you do come last.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“A thing can only live through a pious illusion.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“We stop too often at knowing the good without doing it, because we also know the better but cannot do it.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


“Человек же, напротив, должен всячески упираться против громадной, все увеличивающейся тяжести прошлого; последняя или пригибает его вниз, или отклоняет его в сторону, она затрудняет его движение, как невидимая и темная ноша, от которой он для виду готов иногда отречься, как это он слишком охотно и делает в обществе равных себе, чтобы возбудить в них зависть. Поэтому-то”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life


About the author

Friedrich Nietzsche
Born place: in Röcken bei Lützen, Prussian Province of Saxony, Germany
Born date October 15, 1844
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Spottedleaf isn’t with StarClan anymore.” Grief thickened her mew. “But she gave Firestar a life for love.” A sob shook Sandstorm’s shoulders. Bluestar went on. “I gave him a life for nobility, though he was born with more nobility than any warrior I ever knew.” Her blue eyes glazed with sorrow. “I knew that Firestar would save the Clan many moons ago. As fire, and then as the fourth cat in the oldest prophecy, he succeeded. He leaves ThunderClan in the paws of a new leader.” She looked at Brambleclaw. “If you have half the courage and loyalty of Firestar, you will be a fine leader for ThunderClan.” As she spoke the StarClan cats drew closer around Firestar’s body. Touching pelts, they gazed down. A shadow stirred over the orange shape.”
― Erin Hunter, quote from The Last Hope


“Ring around the rosie.
A pocket full of posie.
Ashes ashes, we all fall down.
Some people say that this poem is about the Black Death, the fourteenth-century plague that killed 100-million people...
Sadly, though, most experts think this is nonsense...
How can I be so sure about this rhyme when all the experts disagree?
Because I ate the kid who made it up.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from The Last Days


“He's not good enough for you."
"What?" I stared at him incredulously. "I'd say you have that backwords. He's from a good family. Iam not" His fingers slid away from mine. A swallow darted past us. "So if you'll excuse me, I have to go convince his mother that I'm not a desperate fortune hunter with a liar for a mother an a disgusting talent for drugging old ladies."
"No"
I frowned. "What do you mean, no?Whats the matter with you?"
He just stepped closer to me, right on my shadow, which had been the only thing between us. His eyes were angry and conflicted but his hands were gently on my face, wrapping around the back of my neck. He pilled slightly and i stumbled forward. His mouth closed over mine, the kiss sending warmth shooting all the way from my belly down into my knees. His tongue was bold, sliding over mine as if I were strawberry ice cream. I felt devoured, delicious, decadent.
He stopped abruptly, pulling back, his breath ragged.
"I'm not good enough for you either.”
― Alyxandra Harvey, quote from Haunting Violet


“You have to drive! You think I trust that big blue knucklehead to get us there?”
― Matt Myklusch, quote from The Accidental Hero


“There is almost no area of human life today that is not touched by the effects of science and technology. Yet are we clear about the place of science in the totality of human life—what exactly it should do and by what it should be governed? This last point is critical because unless the direction of science is guided by a consciously ethical motivation, especially compassion, its effects may fail to bring benefit. They may indeed cause great harm.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, quote from The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality


Interesting books

The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir
(2.6K)
La verdad sobre el caso Harry Quebert
(48.8K)
La verdad sobre el c...
by Joël Dicker
The Good Daughter
(39.8K)
The Good Daughter
by Karin Slaughter
Averno
(1.9K)
Averno
by Louise Glück
These Shallow Graves
(8.7K)
These Shallow Graves
by Jennifer Donnelly
To The Bright Edge of the World
(9K)
To The Bright Edge o...
by Eowyn Ivey

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.