Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
We have to be careful that in throwing out the devil, we don't throw out the best part of ourselves.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Be cautious in rejecting negative aspects of oneself, as it may lead to losing valuable qualities.
Friedrich Nietzsche's quote reflects the idea that while it is important to eliminate harmful or negative traits, one must also be careful not to discard the positive and valuable aspects of their character. The 'devil' symbolizes the darker parts of ourselves, but those parts can also contribute significantly to our identity and humanity. Thus, a balance must be found to maintain both the good and the bad that make us whole.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal growth, one might say, 'We have to be careful that in throwing out the devil, we don't throw out the best part of ourselves.'
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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Helping others isn't a chore; it is one of the greatest gifts there is.
When human affairs are so ordered that there is no recognition of God, there is a belittling of man. That is why, in the final analysis, worship and law cannot be completely separated from each other. God has a right to a response from man, to man himself, and where that right of God totally disappears, the order of law among men is dissolved, because there is no cornerstone to keep the whole structure together.
Especially now when views are becoming more polarized, we must work to understand each other across political, religious and national boundaries.
To be choiceless is to be in meditation. To be choiceless is to enter the eternal. To be of choice is to enter the world: the dream world, the divided world, the false, the pseudo, the illusory world.