Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Or shall I go out as a light does, not first blown out by the wind, but grown tired and weary of itself - a burnt out light? Or finally, shall I blow myself out, so as not to burn out?
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the nature of existence and the choice between succumbing to exhaustion or taking control of one's end.
Friedrich Nietzsche's quote presents a deep philosophical inquiry into the condition of life and the struggle against fatigue and burnout. It suggests that one can either fade away passively, like a light extinguished by exhaustion, or take an active role in deciding when to end their own suffering, highlighting the existential dilemma of control over one's life and death.
In practice
In a motivational speech about mental health, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of recognizing burnout.
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 — 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.
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.
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.
I sometimes subscribe to the belief that all historical events occur simultaneously, like a dream in the mind of God. Perhaps it is only man who views time sequentially and tries to impose a solar calendar upon it. What if other people, both dead and unborn, are living out their lives in the same space we occupy, without our knowledge or consent?" The Glass Rainbow, p. 138
I want to be able to still surprise myself, even shock myself, whether it be sexual content, whether it be about the theological content, whatever. I want to be able to knock myself sideways. Otherwise, what a waste of a life that would be.
I turn and turn in my cell like a fly that doesn't know where to die.
Remember tonight... for it is the beginning of always.
Words form the thread on which we string our experiences.
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