Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
The Devil has the broadest perspectives for God; therefore, he keeps so far away from God -- the Devil being the most ancient friend of wisdom
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that the Devil's understanding and insight give him a unique distance from God, indicating a complex relationship between wisdom and divinity.
In this quote, Friedrich Nietzsche explores the idea that the Devil possesses a deep understanding of the divine and the nature of existence. This insight, ironically, distances him from God, as his perspectives are shaped by knowledge, experience, and perhaps a recognition of the darker aspects of life. By referring to the Devil as the 'most ancient friend of wisdom,' Nietzsche implies that wisdom can sometimes be found outside the conventional boundaries of good and evil, suggesting that there is value in understanding all facets of existence.
Themes
WisdomDevilGodPerspectiveUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of good and evil, one might cite this quote to illustrate the depth of perspective that challenges traditional beliefs.
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
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The idea that public safety, the safety of the innocent, is an absolute which trumps every other consideration, is tacitly abandoned in the way we live.
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The kingdom of heaven is like electricity. You don't see it. It is within you.
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We may now have reached a point where this gap in our make-up has become unsustainable; partly because what in the past would have counted as material plenty has become the norm for the majority in much of the world; and partly because the slow retreat of religion that coincided with the spread of a capitalist economy has left a gaping hole in millions of people's lives. (Geoff Mulgan)
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