7 Invigorating Nietzsche Quotes About Life

Written by Justin Mitchell

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher (1844-1900) who provided a new, life-affirming way of looking at the world. Nietzsche believed that the cultivation of one's will-power and strength were the highest aims of an individual, and that these raw instincts we carry should be pointed in the right direction: toward personal excellence, strength and ultimately a radical affirmation of life in both its deepest suffering and highest elations.

Here are 7 invigorating quotes by Nietzsche himself!

"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Belief is perhaps the most powerful of all human emotions. It is what gives rise to both the greatest of all human achievements, as well as the most abysmal acts of mankind. Without belief, we are by extension without purpose. Without purpose, we are aimless, wandering creatures. When we wake up each day without a purpose, we may as well be a walking corpse. 
A lack of belief in oneself can cause many modern ailments which doctors are quick to prescribe medications to. 

Are you depressed? Are you anxious? Are you fearful? It's possible that you've just lost sight of your true purpose. It's a courageous act of strong beliefs that lead to living a purpose-driven, healthy and high-energy lifestyle.

Strong beliefs are a result of having good reasons dancing around in your mind. If you can cultivate good reasons for pursuing your dreams, then you will remain resilient in the various setbacks life throws at you. 
Life entails suffering to some extent, but there is nothing worse than suffering without a purpose. Only you can define the reasons that inspire your body to propel you forward in this world. The absence of a "why" will lead you to not only suffer, but suffer needlessly.

Take care of your beliefs and reasons, for they keep your ship afloat on even the stormiest of days, as well as providing a strong wind to your sails in the voyage of life.

"The true man wants two things: danger and play." - Friedrich Nietzsche

A strong man does not shy away from danger. Life is inherently dangerous, and no great feat was ever accomplished by cowering in the face of fear. A great paradox of life is that sometimes, the path that terrifies us the most, is the one that will result in the greatest satisfaction. The safe, comfortable life may pay the bills and put food in our bellies, but these are surface-level desires. A dangerous life satiates the animal in us. It is uncomfortable, it's a life filled with challenge, but also an immense feeling of power, strength and courage. 

On the other hand, play is the creative aspect of man. A strong person is capable of projecting their creative desires onto the world, despite the risk involved in doing so. Being an innovator, an entrepreneur, an artist, or any endeavor that requires breaking away from what "most people do" requires great creativity and courage. It requires blazing a new path away from the mindless consumption of the masses.

Combining danger and play in one mind is a rare and fruitful combination in the pursuit of a life well lived.

"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy." - Friedrich Nietzsche

There's millions of years of success in your genes. The foundational energy that influences all of who you are, what you desire, and how you behave, has managed to survive for an extremely long duration of time. You are not simply a copy of someone who has already lived.. You are a unique combination of possibilities with a legacy of success.

On top of this, the vast majority of what goes on in our brain and bodies is completely unconscious. How did you interpret these letters and sentences into thoughts? Were you conscious of that process? 

Once we understand this immense legacy that swims in our bloodstreams, and the fact that most of our bodily functions are completely automated, does this lead us to trust our intuition more? Our intuition manifests as a gut feeling that's directing us toward or away from something. The intuition is like our intellectual sense of smell, and without it, we would be more than lost.
Follow your intuition, because it probably knows more than you do.

"The free man is a warrior." - Friedrich Nietzsche

The free man is the man who carves his own path. Although this flavor of individualism is romanticized in modern times, it's not the easy route. It's the route of the individual who has broken free from the herd. It's the route of the man who has decided to seek his own answers, not the answers given by others.

Becoming a free man is like becoming a warrior, because you will face criticism for being different. You will be challenged, not only by other people, but by circumstances as well. As a social creature, we have instincts that draw us toward being normal and mediocre. Some people spend their entire lives trying to fit in. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but does being normal inspire you? Does it give rise to the great energy required for pursuing your wildest dreams? Probably not..

If being normal isn't very appealing to you, then become a warrior.

"Happiness is the feeling that power increases — that resistance is being overcome." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Happiness is not an easy life of luxury. True happiness is found only by pursuing great challenges. We need tension of some sort to be happy. Think of all of the times when you've felt like you were on top of the world, completely exhilarated and full of energy. 

What comes to mind? Chances are, it wasn't when you were playing a video game, or watching a show, or even reading a book. It was probably after finally overcoming a challenge that you had been working on for quite a while. Whether it be landing your dream job, a relationship with someone special, finishing an ambitious creative project, or achieving some mental state that you had been long seeking. 

The desired thing is not necessarily what makes you feel happy, it's the fact that you made a point to yourself. You set your mind toward a certain end, and you reached that end. That is happiness. An important distinction is that happiness is not only found at the end, but during the journey as well. The path toward individual greatness is paved by many small day-to-day wins. Relish in these wins, and use them to fuel your more ambitious goals.

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger." - Friedrich Nietzsche

The man was ahead of his time with this one. It is a scientific fact that our bodies attempt to adapt to stressful circumstances. Similar to how strength training tears down muscles, prompting them to build back stronger, the mind can adapt to a more challenging environment as well. 
While there are limits on how much stress we can tolerate before it becomes totally destructive, there's certainly a healthy amount of tension one can have that's beneficial for our bodies and minds. Therefore, we should not shriek away from challenge and pain, but rather confront it head on. In doing so, our physiology actually changes in an attempt to meet the demands of our environment. 

The wise man runs head first into any challenges he is faced with in life. In the back of his mind, he knows that even though it may push him to his limits, or make him question everything, he will be stronger as a result. 

Strength is the ultimate virtue, not weakness.

"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Many seek to remain in a perpetual stoic, undisturbed, tranquil state. The problem with prioritizing peace and serenity over all else, is that you effectively put the other aspects of yourself on mute. 

All of our intuitions ultimately have a purpose, even the uncomfortable ones. Our intuitions are like our sense of smell, and we should not avoid smells we do not like solely based on not liking them. The bad smells represent internal chaos.
The paradox is that the deeply uncomfortable feelings that we despise so much can often lead us to a significant transformation. Not only this, many great works of art, inventions or achievements only exist as a product of immense suffering on the producer. Achieving anything substantial always entails some level of suffering.

Any road toward greatness is not an easy one. All of our emotions play a distinct role in creative endeavors, and each can serve as a distinct dye which colors our creations in a way that the world may not have seen yet. Therefore, it's not a curse to have chaos in oneself, but possibly the greatest gift. As such, it's a tragedy when one has a disdain of one's inner-chaos. Embracing and channeling internal chaos is a creative superpower. 

Nietzsche's philosophy is refreshing in a world characterized by doom, gloom and pessimism. Rather than avoiding uncomfortable truths, we should seize them. In taking purposeful action, we subconsciously affirm all of our struggles, giving them meaning. When we respond to our innate need to express ourselves and attain a high-level of vitality, we manifest a fate which we cannot help but love. Energy is the fabric of life, and one should not wish to be happy, but to have the drive required to push forward, dancing, like a madman, into the abyss of the unknown.