Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Success has always been the greatest liar - and the "work" itself is a success; the great statesman, the conqueror, the discoverer is disguised by his creations, often beyond recognition; the "work," whether of the artist or the philosopher, invents the man who has created it, who is supposed to have create it; "great men," as they are venerated, are subsequent pieces of wretched minor fiction
Interpretation
What this quote means
Success can deceive us about the true nature of achievement and the individual behind it.
In this quote, Friedrich Nietzsche argues that success often obscures our understanding of the person who achieved it. The true value lies not in the recognition of the 'great man' but in the work itself, which can shape and sometimes mask the identity of its creator, reducing their reality to a mere fictional narrative constructed by society.
Themes
SuccessWorkCreativityIdentityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech to emphasize the value of hard work over recognition.
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.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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