Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
Journals and Papers, 1843 (1843)
Theme
Existentialist quotes
Freedom as a weight rather than a gift, and what it asks of you once you notice it.
14 verified quotes
Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.
The Concept of Anxiety, ch. 3 (1844)
You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue, §5 (1883)
Man is something that shall be overcome.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue, §3 (1883)
He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 'Of the Spirit of Gravity' (1883)
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.
Beyond Good and Evil, §146 (1886)
When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
Beyond Good and Evil, §146 (1886)
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Twilight of the Idols, Maxims and Arrows, §12 (1889)
Without music, life would be a mistake.
Twilight of the Idols, Maxims and Arrows, §33 (1889)
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
The Myth of Sisyphus, final line (1942)
Hell is other people.
No Exit, closing scene (1944)
Man is condemned to be free.
Existentialism is a Humanism, lecture (1946)
Existence precedes essence.
Existentialism is a Humanism, lecture (1946)
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
Return to Tipasa (1952)