Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
The same relation exists between merchant and pirate, who for a long period are one and the same person: where the one function appears to them inadvisable, they exercise the other.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote illustrates the blurred lines between morality and survival, suggesting that one's role can change based on circumstances.
Friedrich Nietzsche's quote highlights the intrinsic connection between merchant and pirate, representing two often opposing roles in society. It suggests that both individuals may embody similar traits and motivations, only choosing to adopt one identity over the other based on situational factors, thus raising questions about ethics, morality, and human nature.
Themes
MoralityIdentityPhilosophySurvivalEthicsHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on ethics in business practices.
More from Friedrich Nietzsche
All quotes →That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
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Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
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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 — as if happiness sat on the throne. Often, mud sits on the throne — 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.
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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.
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The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
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