Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
It quite often happens that the old man is subject to the delusion of a great moral renewal and rebirth, and from this experience he passes judgments on the work and course of his life, as if he had only now become clear-sighted; and yet the inspiration behind this feeling of well-being and these confident judgements is not wisdom, but weariness .
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that old age may bring a false sense of clarity and moral renewal, but it often stems from exhaustion rather than true wisdom.
Friedrich Nietzsche points out that many elderly people may feel a sense of moral clarity and renewal in their judgments about life. However, this apparent insight is not a result of genuine wisdom but rather a product of weariness and fatigue that comes with age. It highlights the potential for misunderstanding one's own reflections as profound insights when they may simply be a response to the burdens of a long life.
Themes
WisdomOld AgeRenewalDelusionJudgments
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on aging and perspective, one might say, 'As Nietzsche highlights, many elders feel a false sense of clarity in their judgments.'
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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