Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
He who despises himself esteems himself as a self-despiser.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Self-hatred leads to a distorted self-image and affects one's perception of their worth.
In this quote, Nietzsche highlights the paradox of self-esteem, suggesting that to despise oneself is to carry a dual identity, where one acknowledges their self-loathing while simultaneously holding a sense of value in that self-awareness. Such a conflict reveals a deeper struggle within individuals, who may be trapped in a cycle of negative self-perception that prevents them from embracing their true worth.
Themes
Self-EsteemSelf-HatredSelf-WorthIdentityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational talk about self-acceptance, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of valuing oneself.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes βThat which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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The gigantic tension before the shooting of an arrow, and the total relaxation seconds later, is my way of connecting to the universe.
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Since the death instinct exists in the heart of everything that lives, since we suffer from trying to repress it, since everything that lives longs for rest, let us unfasten the ties that bind us to life, let us cultivate our death wish, let us develop it, water it like a plant, let it grow unhindered. Suffering and fear are born from the repression of the death wish.
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For the good, when praised, feel something of disgust, if to excess commended.
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Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution of your country and the government established under it. Leave evils which exist in some parts of the country, but which are beyond your control, to the all-wise direction of an over-ruling Providence. Perform those duties which are present, plain and positive. Respect the laws of your country.
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Every discourse, even a poetic or oracular sentence, carries with it a system of rules for producing analogous things and thus an outline of methodology.
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Plan for this world as if you expect to live forever; but plan for the hereafter as if you expect to die tomorrow.
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