Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Where is the lightning to lick you with its tongue? Where is the madness with which you should be cleansed? Behold, I show you the Superman. He is this lightning, he is this madness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the transformative nature of the 'Superman' concept and challenges conventional morality.
In this quote, Nietzsche introduces the idea of the 'Superman' as a figure embodying extraordinary qualities that can provoke both fear and admiration. The imagery of lightning and madness suggests a radical departure from traditional values, implying that true greatness comes from embracing chaos and transcendence, rather than conforming to societal norms. Nietzsche challenges individuals to seek their own paths and redefine what it means to be human.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on personal development, a speaker might quote Nietzsche to inspire attendees to explore their potential.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes →That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
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.
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.
The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
Similar quotes
Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time.
Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made.
By helping readers understand these mechanics, I hope they will appreciate why freedom is for everyone, why it is essential for our security and why the free world plays a critically important role in advancing democracy around the globe.
Being alone makes us stronger. That’s the honest truth. But it’s cold comfort, since even if I wanted company no one will come near me anymore.
The little word is has its tragedies: it marries and identifies different things with the greatest innocence; and yet no two are ever identical, and if therein lies the charm of wedding them and calling them one, therein too lies the danger.
The true, unacknowledged purpose of capital punishment is to inspire fear and awe -- fear and awe of the State.