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They're so cold, these scholars! May lightning strike their food so that their mouths learn how to eat fire!
Friedrich Nietzsche
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Nietzsche criticizes scholars for being detached from passionate and vigorous living.

In this quote, Nietzsche expresses disdain for scholars who approach knowledge and life in a cold and analytical manner. He suggests that they need to experience the vibrancy and intensity of life, represented by 'eating fire,' to rekindle passion and excitement in their pursuits. The metaphor of lightning striking their food symbolizes the disruptive and transformative force of true understanding that awakens a more profound engagement with life.

Themes

ScholarsPassionKnowledgeLifeIntensity Nietzsche

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on the importance of passion in science, this quote exemplifies the need for enthusiasm in academia.

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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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The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
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