Character Catalog

Nietzsche's first major work, opposing the Apollonian and Dionysian principles in Greek art. The book caused an academic scandal but laid the foundations of his aesthetics.

A collection of aphorisms marking his break with Wagner and Romanticism. Nietzsche adopts a critical and scientific method applied to morality.

The work in which the phrase 'God is dead' appears for the first time. The book blends poetry, aphorisms, and philosophical reflection in a jubilant style.

Nietzsche's masterwork, a philosophical poem introducing the concepts of the Übermensch and eternal recurrence. Written in a prophetic style unique in philosophy.

A radical critique of traditional philosophy and morality. Nietzsche develops his notion of master morality and slave morality.

An analysis of the origins of Western moral values across three essays. Nietzsche introduces the concepts of ressentiment and bad conscience.

A critical survey of Western philosophy from Socrates to modernity. Nietzsche summarizes his main theses with incisive concision.

An intellectual autobiography written shortly before his breakdown. Nietzsche revisits each of his works with a mixture of lucidity and megalomania.

God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?

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.

That which does not kill me makes me stronger.

I am not a man, I am dynamite. I know my fate. One day my name will be associated with the memory of something tremendous.

Existence and the world are eternally justified only as an aesthetic phenomenon.

Nietzsche's birthplace, where his father was a Lutheran pastor. He spent his early years there before his father's death in 1849.

The city where Nietzsche was a professor of classical philology from 1869 to 1879, and where he met the historian Jacob Burckhardt.

A Swiss alpine village where Nietzsche spent seven consecutive summers. It was during a walk along Lake Silvaplana that he had the intuition of the eternal return.

The city where Nietzsche spent his last months of lucidity in 1888–1889, a period of intense creativity. It was there that he suffered a mental breakdown in January 1889.

The city where Nietzsche spent his final years, cared for by his mother and then his sister Elisabeth. He died there in 1900.

Nietzsche spent several winters in Nice between 1883 and 1888, appreciating the mild climate for his fragile health. He wrote several of his major works there.

Nietzsche used this Danish typewriter from 1882 onwards to compensate for his failing eyesight. He is one of the first philosophers to have written on a typewriter.

Nietzsche always carried notebooks during his long walks to jot down his thoughts. Many of his aphorisms were first scribbled while walking.

His severe myopia rendered him nearly blind at times. His thick glasses were an inseparable feature of his appearance.

Nietzsche lived as a nomad for ten years, moving between boarding houses in Switzerland, Italy and France with a few trunks containing books and manuscripts.

Nietzsche was an accomplished pianist and amateur composer. He wrote several pieces for piano and considered music the supreme art form.

To protect himself from the Mediterranean sun during his stays in the south, Nietzsche wore a wide-brimmed hat and sometimes used a parasol, as his eyes were very sensitive to light.