Eternal Recurrence Quotes

“So the story of man runs in a dreary circle, because he is not yet master of the earth that holds him.”
― Will Durant

“Let him who knows who he is be no other but himself.”
― Anton Sammut, Memories of Recurrent Echoes

“Our way is upward, from the species across to the super-species. But the degenerate mind which says ‘All for me’ is a horror to us.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

“What if a demon crept after thee into thy loneliest loneliness some day or night, and said to thee: "This life, as thou livest it at present, and hast lived it, thou must live it once more, and also innumerable times; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and every sigh, and all the unspeakably small and great in thy life must come to thee again, and all in the same series and sequence—and similarly this spider and this moonlight among the trees, and similarly this moment, and I myself. The eternal sand-glass of existence will ever be turned once more, and thou with it, thou speck of dust!"—Wouldst thou not throw thyself down and gnash thy teeth, and curse the demon that so spake? Or hast thou once experienced a tremendous moment in which thou wouldst answer him: "Thou art a God, and never did I hear anything so divine!" If that thought acquired power over thee as thou art, it would transform thee, and perhaps crush thee; the question with regard to all and everything: "Dost thou want this once more, and also for innumerable times?" would lie as the heaviest burden upon thy activity! Or, how wouldst thou have to become favourably inclined to thyself and to life, so as to long for nothing more ardently than for this last eternal sanctioning and sealing?”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs

“But behold! As soon as I went out on the adventure-path I met John Barleycorn again.”
― Jack London, John Barleycorn: Alcoholic Memoirs

“No greater affirmation of life is possible than to wish every part of it to return to you forever. It is the sublime moment when a person can look at his life, no matter what it consists of – good, bad, or indifferent – and find within himself the desire never to be freed
from any aspect of it that allows a human being to be transformed into an Übermensch, the supreme life affirmer.”
― Michael Faust

“Like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, we have to escape from the eternal recurrence of our day-to-day lives. We have to try new things, learn new things, become people of wide interest rather than narrow focus. We should test our limits, not let limits define us. When a new day comes, we should feel as grateful as Bill Murray, the most overjoyed man on earth when he was able to break out of the prison of repetition.”
― Michael Faust, Nietzsche: The God of Groundhog Day

“Don’t be a despairing Russian soldier. Never give up. Never lie down in the snow and wait for the end. Understand this – you are a perpetual motion machine. You will go on forever. You will never stop. There is no rest. You are a permanent becoming. You are trapped in Groundhog Day and you had better learn to love it since there’s no alternative. Once you fully understand that the purpose of Groundhog Day is to turn you into God an infinite number of times, how could you not find that the greatest news of all? No God could have whispered gladder tidings to you.”
― Mike Hockney, Free Will and Will to Power