Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
I have not come to know atheism as a result of logical reasoning and still less as an event in my life: in me it is a matter of instinct.
Interpretation
Nietzsche expresses that his atheism stems from an innate intuition rather than rational thought or life experiences.
In this quote, Friedrich Nietzsche reveals that his rejection of theism is not rooted in strict logical arguments or significant life events but is instead a fundamental aspect of his being. He suggests that his atheism arises from a deep-seated instinct, emphasizing a more personal and subconscious realization of his beliefs rather than a reasoned conclusion.
In practice
During a debate on belief systems, one might quote Nietzsche to highlight how instinct can influence one's views on the existence of God.
Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
That 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.
Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He can deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their soals, and pour out peace.
I had a thought, on the way home from the rock field, that the things we don't know about a person are the things that make them human, and it made me feel sad to think that, but sad in that reassuring way that some sadness has, a sadness that says welcome home in twelve different languages.
Man who man would be, must rule the empire of himself.
No one hath seen beauty in its highest lustre who hath never seen it in distress.
I don't try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.
Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.
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