Wrath and punishment are our inheritance from the animals. Man does
not become of age until he has restored to the animals this gift of
the cradle.--Herein lies buried one of the mightiest ideas that men
can have, the idea of a progress of all progresses.--Let us go forward
together a few millenniums, my friends! There is still reserved for
mankind a great deal of joy, the very scent of which has not yet been
wafted to the men of our day! Indeed, we may promise ourselves this
joy, nay summon and conjure it up as a necessary thing, so long as the
development of human reason does not stand still. Some day we shall no
longer be reconciled to the logical sin that lurks in all wrath and
punishment, whether exercised by the individual or by society--some
day, when head and heart have learnt to live as near together as they
now are far apart. That they no longer stand so far apart as they did
originally is fairly palpable from a glance at the whole course of
humanity. The individual who can review a life of introspective work
will become conscious of the _rapprochement_ arrived at, with a proud
delight at the distance he has bridged, in order that he may thereupon
venture upon more ample hopes. 2, 284-285
Natural death is independent of all reason and is really an irrational
death, in which the pitiable substance of the shell determines how long
the kernel is to exist.... 2, 286
The more fully and thoroughly we live, the more ready we are to
sacrifice life for a single pleasurable emotion. 2, 288
All intellectual movements whereby the great may hope to rob and the
small to save, are sure to prosper. 2, 311-312
The desire for victory and pre-eminence is an ineradicable trait of
human nature, older and more primitive than any respect of or joy in
equality. 2, 312
If all alms were given only out of compassion, the whole tribe of
beggars would long since have died of starvation.... The greatest of
almsgivers is cowardice. 2, 317
The exertion of power is laborious and demands courage. That is why so
many do not assert their most valid rights, because their rights are a
kind of power, and they are too lazy or too cowardly to exercise them.
_Indulgence_ and _patience_ are the names given to the virtues that
cloak these faults. 2, 319-320
"Stupid as a man," say the women; "Cowardly as a woman," say the men.
Stupidity in a woman is unfeminine. 2, 328
All political work, even with great statesmen, is an improvisation that
trusts to luck. 2, 332
The so-called armed peace that prevails at present in all countries is
a sign of a bellicose disposition, of a disposition that trusts neither
itself nor its neighbour, and, partly from hate, partly from fear,
refuses to lay down its weapons. Better to perish than to hate and
fear, and twice as far better to perish than to make oneself hated and
feared--this must some day become the supreme maxim of every political
community!... 2, 236
In order that property may henceforth inspire more confidence and
become more moral, we should keep open all the paths of work for small
fortunes, but should prevent the effortless and sudden acquisition of
wealth. Accordingly, we should take all the branches of transport and
trade which favour the accumulation of large fortunes--especially,
therefore, the money market--out of the hands of private persons or
private companies, and look upon those who own too much, just as upon
those who own nothing, as types fraught with danger to the community.
2, 340
If we try to determine the value of labour by the amount of time,
industry, good or bad will, constraint, inventiveness or laziness,
honesty or make-believe bestowed upon it, the valuation can never be a
just one. For the whole personality would have to be thrown into the
scale, and this is impossible. 2, 340
The _exploitation_ of the worker was, as we now understand, a piece
of folly, a robbery at the expense of the future, a jeopardisation of
society. We almost have the war now, and in any case the expense of
maintaining peace, of concluding treaties and winning confidence, will
henceforth be very great, because the folly of the exploiters was very
great and long-lasting. 2, 341
The masses are as far as possible removed from Socialism as a
doctrine of altering the acquisition of property. If once they get the
steering-wheel into their hands, through great majorities in their
Parliaments, they will attack with progressive taxation the whole
dominant system of capitalists, merchants, and financiers, and will in
fact slowly create a middle class which may forget Socialism like a
disease that has been overcome. 2, 343
The Two Principles of the New Life.--_First Principle:_ to arrange
one's life on the most secure and tangible basis, not as hitherto
upon the most distant, undetermined, and cloudy foundation. _Second
Principle:_ to establish the rank of the nearest and nearer things, and
of the more and less secure, before one arranges one's life and directs
it to a final end. 2, 351
Through the certain prospect of death a precious, fragrant drop of
frivolity might be mixed with every day life--and now, you singular
druggist-souls, you have made of death a drop of poison, unpleasant to
taste, which makes the whole of life hideous. 2, 355
We speak of Nature, and, in doing so, forget ourselves: we ourselves
are Nature, _quand même_. 2, 356-357
We should not let ourselves be burnt for our opinions--we are not so
certain of them as all that. But we might let ourselves be burnt for
the right of possessing and changing our opinions. 2, 358
Man has been bound with many chains, in order that he may forget to
comport himself like an animal. And indeed he has become more gentle,
more intellectual, more joyous, more meditative than any animal.
But now he still suffers from having carried his chains so long,
from having been so long without pure air and free movement--these
chains, however, are, as I repeat again and again, the ponderous
and significant errors of moral, religious, and metaphysical ideas.
Only when the disease of chains is overcome is the first great goal
reached--the separation of man from the brute. 2, 362-363