To be honest I think it's a good mix of genius and abnormal. I do agree with some of his philosophies, but he was odd. Most geniuses are.

I think people should bother to read him before commenting on him. Also about his life. He did not write "The Will to Power," his sister did and attributed it to him. She was anti-Semitic and he was not, he was very clear that he like the old testament and despised Christianity. The last thing he wrote was: "Dear Oberbeck, You doubt my ability to repay you. Just of now I am having all anti-Semites shot." His Birth of Tragedy is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. There is a great deal of (deliberate) ambiguity in what he writes and it is clear why in The Birth of Tragedy. He not only did not see things as black and white, but neither as shades of gray, but more as sometimes white, sometimes black, sometimes grey; an ever shifting kaleidoscope with all parts being necessary and important. He did not condemn either groups or people as "weak" or "inferior" that was just BS that the Nazis perpetrated (and his nutbar sister). In fact, one of his earliest books was "Nietzsche Contra Wagner" where he dissed Wagner for that type of attitude. What Nietzsche did not like was an attitude that made the poor, weak and incompetent be good and the rich, strong and competent be somehow evil. He was about cutting through the morass of social reality that binds us into roles that limit our potential greatness, and there is no place where he excluded anyone from this potential. War and Peace is one of the greatest books of all times and Tolstoy is a genius of the highest degree. Somehow, when I see the quotes of his that are selected, they seem to me to be out-of-context. It would be illuminating to discover the context for this quote.

He's a pretty tough nut to crack, but he does have a lot of good things to say. Haven't read a whole lot of his works, but enough to understand he was a genius, although there's quite a bit I don't agree with

Unlike Tolstoy, Nietzsche is readable (although his name is harder to spell). I suggest reading "Thus Spake Zarathustra" (the Penguin edition) and "Beyond Good and Evil." Then decide for yourself.

He wasn't stupid, actually he was highly intelligent as is evident through his texts and writing. As far as abnormal goes - well, I think all philosophers need to be a little abnormal. Either that, or the pursuit of knowledge turns them abnormal. I think he is interesting, very interesting, but his philosophy is certainly not mine.

"Tolstoy was stupid and abnormal"...works both ways doesn't it.

Nietzsche had a brilliant mind; it follows that he was abnormal. But if he was stupid, why has he had so much influence on modern thought? And exactly how much influence has Tolstoy had?