QuoteProject
Species do not grow more perfect: the weaker dominate the strong, again and again- the reason being that they are the great majority, and they are also cleverer. Darwin forgot the mind (-that is English!): the weak possess more mind. ... To acquire mind, one must need mind-one loses it when one no longer needs it.
Friedrich Nietzsche
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote explores the dynamics of power and intelligence in species, suggesting that the weaker often prevail due to their numerical advantage and cleverness.

Nietzsche's quote reflects on the idea that strength and perfection are not the only determinants of survival or success in nature. He argues that the majority, often perceived as weaker, can outsmart the strong through their numbers and intellectual abilities. This challenges the traditional notion of survival of the fittest and highlights the importance of adaptability and cunning over brute strength.

Themes

SpeciesStrengthIntelligenceSurvivalCleverness

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about evolution and survival, one might say, 'As Nietzsche observed, the weaker can often outsmart the strong.'

More from Friedrich Nietzsche

Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
That 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 — 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.
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

Similar quotes

Climbing for speed records will probably become more popular, a mania which has just begun. Climbers climb not just to see how fast and efficiently they can do it, but far worse, to see how much faster and more efficiently they are than a party which did the same climb a few days before. The climb becomes secondary, no more important than a racetrack. Man is pitted against man.
Yvon ChouinardRead
It's a controlling thing on stage - you're directing the action, getting people to play their role. In real life, I take being kind and nice seriously, so the last thing I'd ever want to be is that weird, controlling, manipulative character.
Derren BrownRead
Whether our forebears were strangers who crossed the Atlantic or the Pacific or the Rio Grande, we are here only because this country welcomed them in and taught them that to be an American is about something more than what we look like, or what our last names are, or how we worship.
Barack ObamaRead
We are exploring together. We are cultivating a garden together, backs to the sun. The question is a hoe in our hands and we are digging beneath the hard and crusty surface to the rich humus of our lives.
Parker J. PalmerRead
This kind of gaping inequality gives lie to the promise that’s at the very heart of America: that this is a place where you can make it if you try. We tell people - we tell our kids - that in this country, even if you’re born with nothing, work hard and you can get into the middle class. We tell them that your children will have a chance to do even better than you do. That’s why immigrants from around the world historically have flocked to our shores.
Barack ObamaRead
Thats how we survive infinity - we kill it by breaking it up into small bits.
Terry PratchettRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Friedrich Nietzsche | QuoteProject