Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
The usual false conclusions of mankind are these: a thing exists, therefore it has a right to exist.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nietzsche critiques the assumption that existence implies entitlement to continuation.
In this quote, Nietzsche challenges a common human belief that simply because something exists, it deserves to continue existing or have inherent value. He prompts us to question the nature of existence and entitlement, suggesting that existence alone does not justify the right or the necessity of something's permanence. This quote encourages deeper thought about values, ethics, and the arbitrary nature of existence.
Themes
ExistenceEntitlementValuePhilosophyEthics
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy class discussing existentialism.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes βThat 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 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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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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