Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Do not paint a picture either of God or the devil on your walls: this will ruin both your walls and the atmosphere.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that depicting ultimate concepts like God or the devil can distort our perception and environment.
Friedrich Nietzsche warns against the act of illustrating grand metaphysical concepts such as God or the devil, as he believes these depictions not only misrepresent the complexities of such ideas but also influence the surroundings negatively. This reflects his perspective on the limitations of human understanding and the importance of leaving certain truths undefined and open to interpretation.
Themes
PhilosophyGodDevilArtTruthPerception
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on art and spirituality, one might cite this quote to highlight how representations can limit understanding.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes βThat which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Similar quotes
Glorious indeed is the world of God around us, but more glorious the world of God within us.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
Non-African missionaries, responding generously to the Lord's call with ardent apostolic zeal, came to share the joy of revelation. Following in their footsteps, Africans are today missionaries on other continents.
Pope Benedict XviRead
Belief, as I use the word here, is the insistence that the truth is what one would "lief" or wish it to be. The believer will open his mind to the truth on condition that it fits in with his preconceived ideas and wishes. Faith, on the other hand, is an unreserved opening of the mind to the truth, whatever it may turn out to be. Faith has no preconceptions; it is a plunge into the unknown. Belief clings, but faith lets go.
Alan WattsRead
The world doesn't want to be punished. It wants to remain in darkness. It doesn't want to be told that what it believes is false. If you also don't want to be corrected, then you might as well leave the church and spend your time at the bar and brothel. But if you want to be saved-and remember that there's another life after this one-you must accept correction.
Martin LutherRead
We do not have a money problem in America. We have a values and priorities problem.
Marian Wright EdelmanRead
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
Albert EinsteinRead