6 of Nietzsche’s Best Quotes That Will Help You Say Yes to Life
Find freedom, trust your gut, and do not become a monster.
Do you believe struggle makes you stronger?
If you do, you can thank Friedrich Nietzsche. At least in part.
Nietzsche was a German philosopher whose writing and ideas still impact the way most Westerners approach their lives.
The idea of gaining strength through adversity, the quest for personal greatness, the desire to follow your passion and live on your terms — all these are cultural currents Nietzsche helped shape. He is one of the most read (if controversial) philosophers of the Twentieth Century.
Nietzsche can be difficult to understand and has been widely misinterpreted. His critics call him everything from a fascist to a barbarian. But there is one major problem with that. You can’t blame the philosopher for any tyrants or evil regimes that misused his ideas decades after his death.
You may love Nietzsche or hate him, but it is impossible to ignore him. He wanted people to “say yes to life,” — both the good and the bad and not only live for a better future “someday.” Even if you disagree with him on a fundamental level his ideas will challenge you to examine your life and make it better.
I’m not an expert in Nietzsche’s philosophy, his writing is often dense and difficult to slog through. But his aphorisms–punchy and insightful statements–make his big ideas more accessible.
Here are 6 of Nietzsche’s quotes that will help you say “Yes” to life.
“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.”
It is easy to become the thing you hate.
Focusing all your energy to fight an enemy can bring out both the best and worst in you. History is full of oppressed groups who gained power only to become tyrants themselves.
People will go to great lengths to defend their interests, beliefs, and causes. You need only look at social media as proof. Arguments on the internet can quickly move from attacking an idea to attacking the person.
You can’t overcome hate with hate.
“Whoever does not have two-thirds of his day for himself, is a slave, whatever he may be: a statesman, a businessman, an official, or a scholar.”
Time is your most precious and most wasted resource.
Nietzsche’s concern was that people not be captive to their own life’s choices or society’s norms.
Through the growth of the internet, we have seen a rise in so-called lifestyle entrepreneurs. At the core of this allure is the freedom to use your time as you see fit. It speaks of our desire to be free.
If you can not achieve freedom in whatever system holds you down, you will work to undermine it. Anyone who has ever been stuck in a job they hate knows they don’t work as hard as if they worked a job they love.
You do not have forever to live. Take whatever risks you must to make the time you have worth living.
“There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.”
When you learn to trust your gut, you can make faster, better decisions.
Every human has two brains, one in your head and one in your gut. Hundreds of millions of nerve cells line your gastrointestinal tract forming a connection with the brain in your head. Researchers believe your second brain can send signals that contribute to your “gut feeling.”
Nietzsche knew philosophy could only take a person so far. He or she must learn to listen to and rely on internal wisdom when making life decisions.
If you want to “say yes to life,” you can’t overthink and over-analyze. Learn to trust those gut feelings and seize the moment.
“A living thing seeks above all to discharge its strength — life itself is will to power.”
A seedling pushes its way through the ground for the same reason a person pushes herself to the top of the corporate ladder — power.
The kind of power Nietzsche is talking about here is not power over others, it is more akin to personal power. It is the kind of power I see in my toddler who loves turning light switches on and off and closing doors. He wants to change the world around him.
Finding ways to make your life better is a basic desire of all humans. Take action, and make your life a masterpiece.
“Life is continually shedding something that wants to die.”
Death is the engine of life.
The death of the outdated, old, or obsolete makes it possible for new growth. That is why you can not hold to the past and expect to have a future. It can be difficult to let go of old habits, routines, and mindsets, but the inability to do so will leave you stuck.
Life itself understands the importance of death. “Death is very likely the single best invention of life,” said Steve Jobs, “It clears out the old to make way for the new.”
Learn to embrace change as the path forward.
“My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it — all idealism is mendacity in the face of what is necessary — but love it.”
The biggest obstacle to loving your life is that you want a different one.
Nietzsche’s antidote to this problem is amor fati, which is Latin for “love of one’s fate.” Amor fati is the love of everything that happens in life — both good and bad.
It is not fatalism, which is the belief you are powerless in life. Nietzsche was against fatalism and nihilism. His life’s work was to develop a philosophy that was life-affirming.
Part of living life means loving whatever it throws at you. It means finding a way to use your circumstances for something good. You cannot hope to go through life with everything turning out the way you want. Better to take what you have and use it to your advantage than waste precious time wishing for different circumstances.
The choice you have to make
Your time on this earth is in your hands. You can spend your life like the masses–afraid to live and scared to take risks–or you can say “Yes” to life. The choice is yours.
Ride the waves of uncertainty to a more rewarding future.
