Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Curiosity creeps into the houses of the unfortunate and the needy under the name of duty or of pity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Curiosity can often masquerade as compassion, but it may come from a place of obligation rather than genuine concern.
This quote by Friedrich Nietzsche suggests that the act of being curious about others, especially those who are less fortunate, is often driven by a sense of duty or pity rather than true empathy or compassion. In essence, it highlights the potential insincerity in our motivations when we inquire about the lives of those in need, prompting reflection on the nature of our curiosity and the intentions behind it.
Themes
CuriosityCompassionDutyPityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote would be fitting in a discussion about the ethics of journalism when covering sensitive stories.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes βThat which does not kill us makes us stronger.
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Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
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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.
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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.
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The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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