Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Knowledge kills action; action requires the veils of illusion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Knowledge can hinder our ability to act decisively, as it often presents truths that complicate decision-making.
This quote by Friedrich Nietzsche suggests that an overabundance of knowledge can paralyze us in taking action. When we are too aware of the complexities and potential consequences of our decisions, we may become overwhelmed, leading us to inaction. The 'veils of illusion' symbolize the simplifications or beliefs that allow us to act without the weight of every fact and truth influencing our actions.
Themes
KnowledgeActionIllusionDecision-MakingNietzsche
In practice
Example use cases
You can use this quote during a lecture about the philosophy of action versus knowledge.
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 wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.
Nicolas Boileau-DespreauxRead
To avoid discovery I stay on the run. To discover things for myself, I stay on the run.
Jeanette WintersonRead
They would need to be already wise, in order to love wisdom.
Friedrich SchillerRead
Meditation is enjoying oneself, just sitting silently doing nothing: happy, joyous without any reason, because all reasons come from outside. You meet a beautiful woman and you are happy, or you meet a beautiful man and you are happy - but the meditator is simply happy. His happiness has no reason from the outside world; his happiness wells up within himself.
RajneeshRead
The only thing that I react really violently to is being misquoted.
Gore VidalRead
It is Chastity, my brother. She that has that is clad in complete steel.
John MiltonRead