We love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving. People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights. What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest loneliness, and say, 'This life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned and you with it, dust of the dust!' Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that demon? Or would you answer, 'Never have I heard anything more divine'? Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present. Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion? At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid. A woman may very well form a friendship with a man, but for this to endure, it must be assisted by a little physical antipathy. Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself. There are no facts, only interpretations. | 
