[hEad]

Originally Posted by capnq

The first half of that, while widely quoted, is a rather poor translation.

In the original German:
"Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein."

A better translation to English:
"He who fights monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

I don't really see any differences between the two versions of the quote except that one takes 30 words to say it and the other 23?