Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
The tragedy is that we cannot believe the dogmas of religion and metaphysics if we have the strict methods of truth in heart and head, but on the other hand, we have become through the development of humanity so tenderly suffering that we need the highest kind of means of salvation and consolation: whence arises the danger that man may bleed to death through the truth that he realises.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the conflict between the pursuit of truth and the comfort found in religious beliefs.
Friedrich Nietzsche highlights the tension between rationality and the emotional need for solace in a world filled with suffering. He suggests that as humanity progresses and becomes more aware of harsh truths, the desire for comforting dogmas may lead to a perilous situation where the painful truths we acknowledge can overwhelm us, making us yearn for salvation found in belief systems that may not withstand critical scrutiny.
Themes
TruthReligionSufferingSalvationNietzsche
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the relevance of faith in modern times.
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.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
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