"What a yes-saying Aryan religion, born from the ruling classes, looks like: Manu’s law-book. What a yes-saying Semitic religion, born from the ruling classes, looks like: Mohammed’s law-book, the Old Testament in its older parts. What a no-saying Semitic religion, born from the oppressed classes, looks like: in Indian-Aryan concepts; the New Testament, a Chandala religion. What a no-saying Aryan religion looks like, grown among the dominant classes: Buddhism."

"“The cosmogony of the Manava Dharmashastra is the broadest and most comprehensive we have thus far encountered.”"

"We know nothing more interesting than to read Manu with the Bible in front of us. The latter book, a code of pillage and debauchery, which never knew the immortality of the soul, can not sustain the tiniest comparison with the ancient law book of the Hindus."

"The Manu Smrti is usually referred to, especially by its modern leftist critics in India, as the casteist manifesto pure and simple. This is fair enough in the sense that there is no unjustly disregarded anti-caste element tucked away somewhere in Manu’s vision of society; the text is indeed casteist through and through. However, the scope of the Manu Smrti is broader, dealing with intra-family matters, the punishment of crime, the king’s (in the sense of: the state’s) duties, money-lending and usury, et al."

"The laws of Manu very probably were considerably older than those of Solon or even of Lycurgus, although the promulgation of them, before they were reduced to writing, might have been covered with the first monarchies established in Egypt and India."

"In the opinion of the best contemporary orientalists, it [Manusmriti] does not, as a whole, represent a set of rules ever actually administered in Hindustan. It is in great part an ideal picture of that which, in the view of a Brahmin, ought to be law."

"[Calling it a law book] skews it towards what the British hoped to make of it: a tool with which to rule the Hindoos. A broader title like 'teaching' would better suggest what the text is."

"Manu Smriti was the foundation upon which the Egyptian, the Persian, the Grecian and the Roman codes of law were built and that the influence of Manu is still felt in Europe."

"There is no historical evidence for either an active propagation or implementation of Dharmasastra [Manusmriti] by a ruler or any state – as distinct from other forms of recognizing, respecting and using the text. Thinking of Dharmasastra as a legal code and of its authors as lawgivers is thus a serious misunderstanding of its history."

"Circumcision, was prescribed for male children and the removal of the small labia from the females."

"They are forbidden to write from left to right or to use their right hand in writing: the use of the right hand and writing from left to right are reserved to people of virtue, to people of race."

"Only in the case of a girl is the whole body pure."

"I cannot oversee whether the Semites have not already in very ancient times been in the terrible service of the Hindus: as Chandalas, so that then already certain properties took root in them that belong to the subdued and despised type (like later in Egypt). Later they ennoble themselves, to the extent that they become warriors […] and conquer their own lands and own gods. The Semitic creation of gods coincides historically with their entry into history."

"One thing I want to impress upon you is that Manu did not give the law of caste and that he could not do so. Caste existed long before Manu. He was an upholder of it and therefore philosophized about it, but certainly he did not and could not ordain the present order of Hindu Society [...] The spread and growth of the caste system is too gigantic a task to be achieved by the power or cunning of an individual or of a class [...] The Brahmins may have been guilty of many things, and I dare say they were, but the imposing of the caste system on the non-Brahmin population was beyond their mettle."

"Even the much-maligned Manusmriti (commonly known in the West as the Laws of Manu) was never enforced as the divine and all-encompassing law of Hindus – except by the British rulers who enforced it to show that the colonizers were ruling in accordance with 'Hindu Law' (a canon they had constructed themselves). Moreover, Manu's code is explicit in stating that it is not universal. It calls for updates, amendments and rewrites in order to suit different circumstances."

"More serious is Nietzsche’s uncritical reliance on the flawed translation of the text by Jacolliot, an amateur openly denounced by leading philologists like Friedrich Max Muller. Uncritical reading of this text led Nietzsche to quote mistranslations and later insertions in support of the claim concerning the Chandala (low caste) origins of the Semites, used to attack Christianity in TI and AC. Elst goes on to highlight what Nietzsche missed or omitted in his reading of the text, including not just the actual politics and institutions of the caste system, but also some striking affinities with his own views and teachings. Despite these philological blunders and misjudgements, however, Nietzsche seems to have landed on his feet after all; for in Elst’s view, he did succeed in grasping Manu’s view of man and society."

"Meat can never be obtained without injury to living creatures, and injury to sentient beings is detrimental to (the attainment of) heavenly bliss; let him therefore shun (the use of) meat. Having well considered the (disgusting) origin of flesh and the (cruelty of) fettering and slaying corporeal beings, let him entirely abstain from eating flesh."

"धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः"

"Evil actions performed in this world do not bear fruit immediately like the cow, which gives milk after being fed, but gradually gnaw the roots of him who commits them."

"Learn that sacred law which is followed by men learned (in the Veda) and assented to in their hearts by the virtuous, who are ever exempt from hatred and inordinate affection."

"पूजयेदशनं नित्यं अद्याच्चैनमकुत्सयन् । दृष्ट्वा हृष्येत् प्रसीदेच्च प्रतिनन्देच्च सर्वश: ॥ पूजितं ह्यशनं नियं बलमूर्जं च यच्छति । अपूजितं तु तद्भुक्तं उभयं नाशयेदिदं ॥"

"अनारोग्यमनायुष्यं अस्वर्ग्यं चातिभोजनं । अपुण्यं लोकविद्विष्टं तस्मात् तत्परिवर्जयेत् ॥"

"When a man has studied the Veda in accordance with the rules, and begotten sons in accordance with his duty, and sacrificed with sacrifices according to his ability, he may set his mind-and-heart on freedom. (MS 6.36)"

"इन्द्रियाणां विचरतां विषयेष्वपहारिषु । संयमे यत्नमातिष्ठेत् विद्वान् यन्तेव वाजिनां॥"

"Those who seek great prosperity and happiness should never inflict pain on women. Where women are honored, in that family great men are born, but where they are not honored, all acts are fruitless. Where women pass their days in misery and sorrow because of the misdeeds of their husbands, that family soon entirely perishes, but where they are happy because of the good conduct of their husbands, the family continually prospers."

"That land where the black antelope naturally roams, one must know to be fit for the performance of sacrifices; (the tract) different from that (is) the country of the Mlekkhas."

"Where women are honored there the gods are pleased; but where they are not honored no sacred rite yields rewards."

"[Brahmāvarta or] ―the district between the Sarasvatī and Dṛṣadvatī is the home of the Veda."

"There are people with whom everything they consider a means turns mysteriously into an end."

"Es giebt unvermeidliche Lagen und Verhältnisse, die man nur dadurch liberal behandeln kann, dass man sie durch einen kühnen Akt der Willkühr verwandelt und durchaus als Poesie betrachtet. Also sollen alle gebildete Menschen im Nothfalle Poeten seyn können, und daraus lässt sich eben so gut folgern, dass der Mensch von Natur ein Poet sey, dass es eine Naturpoesie gebe, als umgekehrt."

"The first impulse of morality is to oppose positive legality and conventional justice."

"Der Autor, der die Philosophie und das gesellschaftliche Leben en rapport setzen will, lernen muss, wie man das Dekorum der Konvenzion zum Anstand der Natur adelt."

"Alltäglichkeit, Ökonomie ist das notwendige Supplement aller nicht schlechthin universellen Naturen. Oft verliert sich das Talent und die Bildung ganz in diesem umgebenden Element."

"Menschen, die so ekzentrisch sind, im vollen Ernst tugendhaft zu sein und zu werden, verstehn sich überall, finden sich leicht, und bilden eine stille Opposition gegen die herrschende Unsittlichkeit, die eben für Sittlichkeit gilt."

"Es gibt rechtliche und angenehme Leute, die den Menschen und das Leben so betrachten und besprechen, als ob von der besten Schafzucht oder vom Lausen und Verkaufen der Güter die Rede wäre. Es sind die Ökonomen der Moral, und eigentlich behält wohl alle Moral ohne Philosophie auch bei großer Welt und hoher Poesie immer einen gewissen illiberalen und ökonomischen Anstrich. Einige Ökonomen bauen gern, andre flicken lieber, andre müssen immer etwas bringen, andre treiben, andre versuchen alles, und halten sich überall an, andre legen immer zurecht und machen Fächer, andre sehen zu und machen nach. Alle Nachahmer in der Poesie und Philosophie sind eigentlich verlaufne Ökonomen. Jeder Mensch hat seinen ökonomischen Instinkt, der gebildet werden muß, so gut wie auch die Orthographie und die Metrik gelernt zu werden verdienen. Aber es gibt ökonomische Schwärmer und Pantheisten, die nichts achten als die Notdurft und sich über nichts freuen als über ihre Nützlichkeit. Wo sie hinkommen, wird alles platt und handwerksmäßig, selbst die Religion, die Alten und die Poesie, die auf ihrer Drechselbank nichts edler ist als Flachshecheln."

"Da die Natur und die Menschheit sich so oft und so schneidend widersprechen, darf die Philosophie es vielleicht nicht vermeiden, dasselbe zu tun."

"Der platte Mensch beurtheilt alle andre Menschen wie Menschen, behandelt sie aber wie Sachen, und begreift es durchaus nicht, dass sie andre Menschen sind als er."

"Respekt vor der Mathematik, und Appellieren an den gesunden Menschenverstand sind die diagnostischen Zeichen des halben unechten Skeptizismus."

"Ich glaube, daß ich nicht lebe, um zu gehorchen oder um mich zu zerstreuen, sondern um zu sein und zu werden; und ich glaube an die Macht des Willens und der Bildung, mich dem Unendlichen wieder zu nähern, mich aus den Fesseln der Mißbildung zu erlösen, und mich von den Schranken des Geschlechts unabhängig zu machen."

"Verstand ist mechanischer, Witz ist chemischer, Genie ist organischer Geist."

"To devote oneself exclusively to developing some original instinct is as good and wise as the best and noblest task a man can choose to make the business of his life."

"Die Sittlichkeit aber war noch überall im Gedränge, die Nützlichkeit und die Rechtlichkeit missgönnen ihr sogar die Existenz."

"An genialischem Unbewußtsein können die Philosophen, dünkt mich den Dichtern den Rang recht wohl streitig machen."

"Alle Gattungen sind gut, sagt Voltaire, ausgenommen die langweilige Gattung."

"Das Geliebte zu vergöttern ist die Natur des Liebenden. Aber ein andres ist es, mit gespannter Imaginazion ein fremdes Bild unterschieben und eine reine Vollkommenheit anstaunen, die uns nur darum als solche erscheint, weil wir noch nicht gebildet genug sind, um die unendliche Fülle der menschlichen Natur zu begreifen, und die Harmonie ihrer Widersprüche zu verstehn."

"Du sollst dir kein Ideal machen, weder eines Engels im Himmel, noch eines Helden aus einem Gedicht oder Roman, noch eines selbstgeträumten oder fantasirten; sondern du sollst einen Mann lieben, wie er ist."

"Giebts so viele Götter als Ideale. Auch ist des Verhältnis des wahren Künstlers und des wahren Menschen zu seinen Idealen durchaus Religion. Wem dieser innre Gottesdienst Ziel und Geschäft des ganzen Lebens ist, der ist Priester, und so kann und soll es jeder werden."

"Die Philosophie geht noch zu sehr gerade aus, ist noch nicht zyklisch genug."

"Es gibt eine eigne Gattung Menschen, bei denen die Begeisterung der Langenweile, die erste Regung der Philosophie ist."

"Manche witzige Einfälle sind wie das überraschende Wiedersehen zwei befreundeter Gedanken nach einer langen Trennung."