Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Man is not equally moral at all hours, this is well known. If his morality is judged to be the capability for great self-sacrificing resolutions and self-denial (which, when continuous and grown habitual, are called holiness)
Interpretation
What this quote means
Human morality fluctuates over time, influenced by circumstances and habits.
Friedrich Nietzsche's quote addresses the inherent variability in human morality, suggesting that people do not consistently adhere to moral principles at all times. Morality can be seen as a measure of one's ability to make selfless decisions, which can become a regular and habitual practice, ultimately leading to a state he terms 'holiness'. This highlights the complexity of human behavior and the conditions under which moral decisions are made.
Themes
MoralitySelf-DenialHolinessSelf-SacrificeHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on ethics, one could use this quote to emphasize the complexity of moral decision-making.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes →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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