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.
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In nature, the emphasis is in what is rather than what ought to be.
Everyone finds justification for his or her views in logic and analysis, but a personal philosophy often emerges from some archaic part of the mind, an early idea of how the world should be.
All Of Us Might Wish At Times That We Lived In A More Tranquil World....(yet) Our Times Are Challenging And Filled With Opportunity.
Do not fear death, but welcome it, since it too comes from nature. For just as we are young and grow old, and flourish and reach maturity, have teeth and a beard and grey hairs, conceive, become pregnant, and bring forth new life, and all the other natural processes that follow the seasons of our existence, so also do we have death. A thoughtful person will never take death lightly, impatiently, or scornfully, but will wait for it as one of life's natural processes.
There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder evenβthe French air clears up the brain and does goodβa world of good.