Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
In almost all sciences the fundamental knowledge is either found in earliest times or is still being sought.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the idea that foundational knowledge in sciences is either ancient or still being explored.
Friedrich Nietzsche's quote suggests that the core principles of scientific understanding have often been established in the distant past, yet there remain myriad questions and areas of inquiry that humanity continues to pursue. In this light, the quote emphasizes the dual nature of knowledge acquisition: we inherit wisdom from earlier civilizations while perpetually seeking answers to the unknown, illustrating the ongoing journey of discovery intrinsic to human existence.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the evolution of scientific thought, one might use this quote to highlight the historical foundation of knowledge.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes βThat which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
Watch them clamber, these swift monkeys! They clamber over one another and thus drag one another into the mud and the depth. They all want to get to the throne: that is their madness β as if happiness sat on the throne. Often, mud sits on the throne β and often the throne also on mud. Mad they all appear to me, clambering monkeys and overardent. Foul smells their idol, the cold monster: foul, they smell to me altogether, these idolators.
Reason is the cause of our falsification of the evidence of the senses. In so far as the senses show becoming, passing away, change, they do not lie.
The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
Similar quotes
No one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve as it goes along, or that the whole object of playing is to reach the finale. The point of music is discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the same, I feel, with the greater part of our lives, and if we are unduly absorbed in improving them we may forget altogether to live them.
The star of revolution will rise high above the streets of Moscow, from a sea of blood and fire, and turn into a lodestar to lead a liberated humanity
Freedoms, like privileges, prevail or are imperiled together You cannot harm or strive to achieve one without harming or furthering all.
It might be lonelier Without the Loneliness - Iβm so accustomed to my Fate - Perhaps the Other - Peace - Would interrupt the Dark - And crowd the little Room - Too scant - by Cubits - to contain The Sacrament - of Him - I am not used to Hope - It might intrude upon - Its sweet parade - blaspheme the place - Ordained to Suffering - It might be easier To fail - with Land in Sight - Than gain - My Blue Peninsula - To perish - of Delight -
Those dreams that on the silent night intrude, and with false flitting shapes our minds delude ... are mere productions of the brain. And fools consult interpreters in vain.
We have a limit, a very discouraging, humiliating limit: death.