Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
One should not wish to enjoy where one does not give joy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
One should not seek personal pleasure without also providing happiness to others.
This quote by Friedrich Nietzsche emphasizes the importance of reciprocity in relationships and interactions. It suggests that true enjoyment comes not merely from self-gratification, but from also contributing joy and happiness to the lives of others. This notion encourages a sense of responsibility towards those around us, reminding us that our actions impact the happiness of others and that fulfillment is often rooted in shared experiences and mutual joy.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about community service to inspire others to contribute to the happiness of those in need.
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
I think of the trees and how simply they let go, let fall the riches of a season, how without grief (it seems) they can let go and go deep into their roots for renewal and sleep.... Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long, not even pain, psychic pain. Sit it out. Let it all pass. Let it go.
Apologies only account for that which they do not alter.
Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.
Manners are like zero in arithmetic. They may not be much in themselves, but they are capable of adding a great deal of value to everything else.
Risks are a measure of people. People who won't take them are trying to preserve what they have. People who do take them often end up having more. Some risks have a future, and some people call them wrong. But being right may be like walking backwards proving where you've been. Being wrong isn't in the future, or in the past. Being wrong isn't anywhere but being here. Best place to be, eh?
When Alekhine recognizes the weakness in his position he has a tendency to become very aggressive. Patient defence is not for him if he can see the slightest chance of creating an attack. Yet sound strategy often demands that you submit to the opponent's will so as to strengthen your weaknesses and get rid of defects in your game.