Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
But this people has deliberately made itself stupid, for nearly a millennium: nowhere have the two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity, been abused more dissolutely.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nietzsche critiques the self-imposed ignorance of society, influenced by alcohol and Christianity.
In this quote, Friedrich Nietzsche highlights the idea that society has willingly chosen ignorance over knowledge for centuries, attributing this to the excessive indulgence in alcohol and the dogmatic nature of Christianity. He suggests that these two elements have contributed to a decline in critical thinking and awareness, leading to a populace that is disengaged from the pursuit of intellectual and spiritual growth.
Themes
SocietyIgnoranceAlcoholChristianityCritique
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on societal influences, this quote can be used to highlight the dangers of complacency in thought.
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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