Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
To be moral, correct, and virtuous is to be obedient to an old established law and custom.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Moral behavior is defined by adherence to long-standing laws and customs.
Friedrich Nietzsche argues that morality is not an inherent trait but rather a construct defined by societal norms and traditions. He suggests that to act in a moral, correct, and virtuous manner means to comply with the established laws and customs that have been passed down through generations, challenging the notion of individual morality disconnected from societal influences.
Themes
MoralityCustomsLawVirtuePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about ethical behavior, this quote can highlight the importance of societal norms.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes βThat 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 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.
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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.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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