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Even the most beautiful scenery is no longer assured of our love after we have lived in it for three months, and some distant coast attracts our avarice: possessions are generally diminished by possession.
Friedrich Nietzsche
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Familiarity can diminish our appreciation for beauty and value.

This quote by Friedrich Nietzsche highlights the idea that prolonged exposure to beautiful or valuable things can lead to a loss of appreciation for them. When we first encounter something beautiful, it captivates us, but over time, our affection may wane as we take it for granted and instead become drawn to distant or new desires, illustrating the paradox of possession where having something can lessen its perceived value.

Themes

BeautyAppreciationFamiliarityValuePossession

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a discussion about how we often take our relationships for granted.

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Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
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That 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 — 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.
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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.
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