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
Similar quotes
The continuous narrative of existence is a lie. There is no continuous narrative, there are lit-up moments, and the rest is dark. When you look closely, the twenty-four hour day is framed into a moment; the still-life of the jerky amphetamine world. That woman-a pieta. Those men, rough angels with an unknown message. The children holding hands, spanning time. And in every still-life, there is a story, the story that tells you everything you need to know.
Jeanette WintersonRead
If I hear about a tsunami that hit Asia, hundreds of people have lost their lives, and you see it and you hear about it, but you still brush your teeth, still have to go on with your day. But let you get information about one person who you're close to or you're intimate with, it has an almost paralyzing effect.
Ryan CooglerRead
Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.
Victor HugoRead
Religious ideas and practices take root not because they are promoted by forceful theologians, nor because they can be shown to have a sound historical or rational basis, but because they are found in practice to give the faithful a sense of sacred transcendence.
Karen ArmstrongRead
One man's death: that is a catastrophe. A hundred thousand dead: that is a statistic
Kurt TucholskyRead
You cannot dictate what people find funny, what people find attractive, or what people find scary. There is not a norm.
Guillermo Del ToroRead