Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Madness is uncommon in individuals but prevalent in larger groups and societies.
This quote by Friedrich Nietzsche suggests that while individual acts of madness are rare, when people come together as groups, such as in parties, nations, or during particular historical periods, irrational behavior tends to become the norm. This reflects the idea that collective consciousness can lead to a loss of individual rationality, resulting in decisions and actions that may seem mad when viewed from a personal perspective.
Themes
MadnessGroupsIndividualsSocietyIrrationality
In practice
Example use cases
During a political rally, one might quote Nietzsche to illustrate the collective mindset of a crowd.
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
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I equate ego with trying to figure everything out instead of going with the flow. That closes your heart and your mind to the person or situation that's right in front of you, and you miss so much.
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Hanging out with politicians and corporations is very unhip work. But I think that the U2 audience have turned out to be incredibly subtle in their understanding.
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You have to help another person. But it's not right to play God with masses of people. To be God you have to know what you're doing. And to do any good at all, just believing you're right and your motives are good isn't enough.
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First of all, do any of you here think it's a crime to help a suffering human end his agony? Any of you think it is? Say so right now. Well, then, what are we doing here?
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He who imitates what is evil always goes beyond the example that is set; on the contrary, he who imitates what is good always falls short.
Francesco GuicciardiniRead