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
There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society with a large segment of people in that society who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that that have nothing to lose. People who have stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.
Violence always seems to me the worst form of tyranny. It deprives people of their rights, including the right to live.
The greatest human attainment in all the world is for a life to be so surrendered to Him that the name of God Almighty will be glorified through that life.
Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.
We will be a better country when each religious group can trust its members to obey the dictates of their own religious faith without assistance from the legal structure of the country.
All white people in the United States have benefited from a white supremacy. But does that mean that a white person should be viewed badly because they turn against a white supremacist policy? Just because you've benefited from something shouldn't disable you from repudiating it.