We are not certain, we are never certain. If we were we could reach some conclusions, and we could, at last, make others take us seriously.
Tout re volutionnaire finit en oppresseur ou en he re tique. Every revolutionary ends as an oppressor or a heretic.
Nihilism is not only despair and negation, but above all the desire to despair and to negate.
But who would dare condemn me in this world with no judges, where no one is innocent!
Lucifer also has died with God, and from his ashes has arisen a spiteful demon who does not even understand the object of his venture.
Marxism is not scientific: at the best, it has scientific prejudices.
I understood, by dint of digging into my memories, that modesty helped me to shine, humility helped me to triumph and virtue to oppress.
Old married people look so much alike that they have the same number of hairs in their ears.
What would become of the world if the condemned started to confide their heartaches to the executioners?
Only he who is uncompromising as to his rights maintains the sense of duty.
The more I accuse myself, the more right I have to judge you. Even better, I make you judge yourself, which comforts me the more.
Even when one sits in the prisoner’s dock, it is interesting to hear talk about oneself.
The future is the only kind of property that the masters willingly concede to the slaves.
The great courage is to stare as squarely at the light as at death.
I was comfortable in all, I admit, but at the same time, nothing satisfied me. Each joy made me seek another.
One grows out of pity when it’s useless.
The slave and those whose present life is miserable and who can find no consolation in the heavens are assured that at least the future belongs to them. The future is the only kind of property that the masters willingly concede to the slaves.
Generally, I like all islands. There, it is easier to rule.
If pimps and thieves everywhere were always punished, honest people would all believe themselves always to be innocent.
I always found misogyny vulgar and stupid, and I found almost all the women I have known to be my betters. However, placing them so high, I used them more often than I served them. How does one make sense of this?