Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, poet and philologist. Born in Röcken in Prussia, he was the son of a Lutheran pastor. He became a professor of classical philology at Basel at age 24, then resigned in 1879 because of ill health and lived as an independent writer, often alone, moving between Switzerland, Italy and southern France.\n\nHe is best known for his attacks on traditional morality and Christianity, for the line \"God is dead,\