Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature--: and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nietzsche suggests that belief in magic and miracles arises from a human desire to understand and control nature through the lens of religion.
In this quote, Nietzsche delves into the relationship between human belief systems and the natural world. He posits that the inclination to believe in magic and miracles stems from a reflective attempt to understand and impose laws on nature, which ultimately leads to the development of religious practices. This reflection highlights a fundamental human aspiration to comprehend and navigate the complexities of existence, as well as the creation of narratives that provide structure and meaning in the face of the unknown.
Themes
BeliefReligionNatureMagicMiraclesReflection
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy class discussing the origins of belief systems.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes βThat which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Similar quotes
The time is long overdue to stop looking for progress through racial or ethnic leaders. Such leaders have too many incentives to promote polarizing attitudes and actions that are counterproductive for minorities and disastrous for the country.
Thomas SowellRead
Every breath of air and ray of light and heat, every beautiful prospect, is, as it were, the skirts of the (angel's) garments, the waving robes of those whose faces see God.
John Henry NewmanRead
It is interesting ... how weapons reflect the soul of the maker.
Don DelilloRead
Those who love a cause are those who love the life which has to be led in order to serve it.
Simone WeilRead
They can fatten me up. They can give me a full body polish, dress me up, and make me beautiful again. They can design dream weapons that come to life in my hands, but they will never again brainwash me into the necessity of using them. I no longer feel allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despite being one myself.
Suzanne CollinsRead
We are too solicitous for government intervention, on the theory, first, that the people themselves are helpless, and second, that the Government has superior capacity for action. Often times both of these conclusions are wrong.
Calvin CoolidgeRead