The development of modern critical discernment cannot be separated from the introduction of punctuation symbols that allowed the distinction of levels of discourse, but also to take distance from the statement and to mark subjective attitudes involved in enunciation. This study aims to establish rhetorical effects and stylistic differences of punctuation in the work of Nietzsche and compare them with two references of critical discourse of modernity: Kant and Marx. It was performed an analysis of the frequencies of modal punctuation (question marks and exclamation marks, ellipses) and of those punctuation symbols that sequence and distinguish levels of discourse (parentheses, dashes, quotation marks) in the work of Nietzsche and in some writings of Kant and Marx. The results raise a discussion on the key role of the parentheses in Kant, quotation marks in Marx and dashes in Nietzsche.