Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
We are, all of us, growing volcanoes that approach the hour of their eruption, but how near or distant that is, nobody knows- not even God.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that every person has the potential for explosive emotional or creative expression, but the timing of such eruptions is uncertain.
Friedrich Nietzsche's quote highlights the innate potential and latent emotions within individuals, comparing them to volcanoes that may erupt at any moment. He emphasizes the unpredictability of these emotional or creative outbursts, suggesting that even divine knowledge cannot ascertain when they will occur. This idea speaks to the complexity of human nature and the unseen forces that shape our behavior and experiences.
Themes
PotentialEmotionEruptionUncertaintyHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal growth, one might reference Nietzsche's quote to emphasize the hidden potential within everyone.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes →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
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What really counted was the possibility of escape, a leap to freedom, out of the implacable ritual, a wild run for it that would give whatever chance for hope there was. Of course, hope meant being cut down on some street corner, as you ran like mad, by a random bullet. But when I really thought it through, nothing was going to allow me such a luxury. Everything was against it; I would just be caught up in the machinery again.
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