“as if a round apple presented itself to my hand, a ripe, golden apple with a soft, cool, velvety skin - thus the world presented itself to me - as if a tree nodded to me, a wide-branching, strong-willed tree, bent for reclining and as a footstool for the way-weary: thus the world stood upon my headland - as if tender hands brought me a casket - a casket open for the delight of modest, adoring eyes: thus the world presented himself before me today - not so enigmatic as to frighten away human love, not so explicit as to put to sleep human wisdom - a good, human thing was the world to me today, this world of which so many evil things are said!”

German philosopher and writer

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher and writer. He began as a classical philologist, then turned to philosophy early in his academic career, and is known for a body of work that drew wide scholarly attention and lasting popular interest. In 1869 he became Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Basel, but he resigned in 1879 because of long-standing health problems. After that he lived as an independent writer, often in solitude and financial insecurity, moving between Switzerland, Italy, and southern France. He completed much of his main work in the following decade, before a neurological collapse in 1889 ended his working life.