Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Books and drafts mean something quite different for different thinkers. One collects in a book the lights he was able to steal and carry home swiftly out of the rays of some insight that suddenly dawned on him, while another thinker offers us nothing but shadows - images in black and grey of what had built up in his soul the day before.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Different thinkers interpret and present their ideas through books and drafts in unique ways, reflecting their individual insights or shadows of thought.
In this quote, Friedrich Nietzsche explores the diverse significance of books and drafts to various thinkers. He suggests that some authors capture and communicate vibrant insights and revelations that illuminate their understanding, while others merely present remnants of their previous thoughts, lacking the same depth and vibrancy. This highlights the subjective nature of intellectual expression and emphasizes the importance of authenticity in conveying knowledge.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a discussion about the value of different writing styles in literature.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes →That 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 — as if happiness sat on the throne. Often, mud sits on the throne — 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.
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Thief!- how did you crawl into, crawl down alone into the death I wanted so badly and for so long.