"238. (…) On the other hand, a man who has depth of spirit as well as of desires, and has also the depth of benevolence which is capable of severity and harshness, and easily confounded with them, can only think of woman as ORIENTALS do: he must conceive of her as a possession, as confinable property, as a being predestined for service and accomplishing her mission therein. (…)
"239. The weaker sex has in no previous age been treated with so much respect by men as at present--this belongs to the tendency and fundamental taste of democracy, in the same way as disrespectfulness to old age--what wonder is it that abuse should be immediately made of this respect? They want more, they learn to make claims, the tribute of respect is at last felt to be well-nigh galling; rivalry for rights, indeed actual strife itself, would be preferred: in a word, woman is losing modesty. And let us immediately add that she is also losing taste. She is unlearning to FEAR man: but the woman who 'unlearns to fear' sacrifices her most womanly instincts." (Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil").
Although Nietzsche was infatuated with several women, and proposed to some, he never got married.
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Somehow, I'm reminded of this scene from Ron Howard's 2001 film "A Beautiful Mind", starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Ed Harris, and Christopher Plummer.
Update:
17-04-2015: Nietzsche -- unlike Schiller, his hero -- wasn't much of a "farfallone amoroso", it seems. :-)
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