Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
'He who seeks may easily get lost himself. It is a crime to go apart and be alone.' Thus speaks the herd.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that the pursuit of individual desires can lead to confusion and isolation, as society often discourages solitude.
Friedrich Nietzsche's quote touches on the struggle between individualism and societal expectations. It implies that the quest for meaning or personal truth can lead one astray, leading to feelings of disconnection and loneliness, as dictated by societal norms that view solitude as a negative state. Nietzsche critiques the herd mentality that shames those who venture apart, emphasizing the importance of understanding oneself amid societal pressures.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of self-reflection and staying true to oneself.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes βThat 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 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.
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
The future is neither ahead nor behind, on one side or another. Nor is it dark or light. It is contained within ourselves; its evil and good are perpetually within us.
Thatβs the thing about a human life-thereβs no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed.
The doctrine of foods is of great ethical and political significance. Food becomes blood, blood becomes heart and brain, thoughts and mind stuff. Human fare is the foundation of human culture and thought. Would you improve a nation? Give it, instead of declamations against sin, better food. Man is what he eats [Der Mensch ist, was er isst].
The profit orientation is only one orientation of a person. The same people who are interested in profit-making are also selfless. I am not saying that capitalist theory is wrong. I am saying that it has not been interpreted and practiced fully.
A cleric who loses his faith abandons his calling; a philosopher who loses his redefines his subject.
Tall, aren't you?" she said. "I didn't mean to be." Her eyes rounded. She was puzzled. She was thinking. I could see, even on that short acquaintance, that thinking was always going to be a bother to her.