Here are some notable quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche’s “The Birth of Tragedy”:
- Nietzsche discusses the limitations of language in conveying the essence of music: “Language can never adequately render the cosmic symbolism of music, because music stands in symbolic relation to the primordial contradiction and primordial pain in the heart of the primal unity…”
- He makes an intriguing observation about human existence: “Man is no longer an artist, he has become a work of art.”
- Nietzsche reflects on the best and second-best states of being: “The best of all things is something entirely outside your grasp: not to be born, not to be, to be nothing. But the second best thing for you is to die soon.”
- He talks about the power of illusion and its role in human life: “IT is an eternal phenomenon: the insatiate will can always, by means of an illusion spread over things, detain its creatures in life and compel them to live on…”
- Nietzsche emphasizes the importance of myth in culture: “Every culture that has lost myth has lost, by the same token, its natural healthy creativity. Only a horizon ringed about with myths can unify a culture.”
- He describes the role of the satyr in Greek tragedy: “The satyr, as the Dionysiac chorist, dwells in a reality sanctioned by myth and ritual…”
These quotes provide a glimpse into the profound and often complex ideas Nietzsche explores in “The Birth of Tragedy” oai_citation:1,30+ quotes from The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche.