Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Of all writings I love only that which is written with blood. Write with blood: and you will discover that blood is spirit.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the depth and passion required in writing, suggesting that true expression comes from one's very essence.
Friedrich Nietzsche highlights the idea that authentic writing stems from profound personal experience and emotional intensity. By metaphorically suggesting that one should 'write with blood,' he implies that true artistry and meaningful expression emerge when an individual pours their soul and deepest feelings into their work. This process not only reveals the true nature of the writer but also resonates with readers on a spiritual level, as it encapsulates the essence of one's being.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about creativity, I quoted Nietzsche to emphasize the importance of genuine expression.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes βThat which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
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.
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.
The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
Similar quotes
It is idle to say that nations can struggle to outdo each other in building armaments and never use them. History demonstrates the contrary, and we have but to go back to the last war to see the appalling effect of nations competing in great armaments.
... in practice the standard for what constitutes rape is set not at the level of women's experience of violation but just above the level of coercion acceptable to men.
Iconic Paris tells us: here are our three-star attractions, go thou and marvel. And so we gaze obediently at what we are told to gaze at, without exactly asking why.
In the alluvial sweep of the land, I thought I could see the past and the present and the future all at once, as though time were not sequential in nature but took place without a beginning or an end, like a flash of green light rippling outward from the center of creation, not unlike a dream inside the mind of God.
If there is existence, there must be non-existence. And if there was a time when nothing existed, there must have been a time before that - when even nothing did not exist. Suddenly, when nothing came into existence, could one really say whether it belonged to the category of existence or non-existence?
I don't want it to end, and so, as every therapist knows, the ego does not want an end to its βproblemsβ because they are part of its identity. If no one will listen to my sad story, I can tell it to myself in my head, over and over, and feel sorry for myself, and so have an identity as someone who is being treated unfairly by life or other people, fate or God. It gives definition to my self-image, makes me into someone, and that is all that matters to the ego.