Human, All Too Human by
Friedrich Nietzsche, 1878.
No one talks more passionately about his rights than he who in the depths of his soul doubts whether he has any.
With all great deceivers there is a noteworthy occurrence to which they owe their power. In the actual act of deception... they are overcome by belief in themselves. It is this which then speaks so miraculously and compellingly to those who surround them.
Unpleasant, even dangerous, qualities can be found in every nation and every individual: it is cruel to demand that the Jew be an exception. In him, these qualities may even be dangerous and revolting to an unusual degree; and perhaps the young stock-exchange Jew is altogether the most disgusting invention of mankind.
One will rarely err if extreme actions be ascribed to vanity, ordinary actions to habit, and mean actions to fear.
Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today.