"Deification of success is truly commensurate with human meanness."
Friedrich Nietzsche
Notes, 1873
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Many Counselors
"In the natural order of things, there are always several geniuses who spur each other to action."
Friedrich Nietzsche
"Homer's Contest", 1872
Friedrich Nietzsche
"Homer's Contest", 1872
Monday, June 12, 2006
Personalism from a Virtue
"Every great virtue kindles a new greatness."
Friedrich Nietzsche
"Homer's Contest", 1872
Friedrich Nietzsche
"Homer's Contest", 1872
Retro Jealousy
"Even a dead man can still spur a live one to consuming jealousy."
Friedrich Nietzsche
"Homer's Contest", 1872
Friedrich Nietzsche
"Homer's Contest", 1872
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
You Owe! You Ought! You Must!
"What the philosophers call character is an incurable disease. An imperative ethics is one that deals with the symptoms of the disease, having the faith while it fights them that it is getting rid of the real origin, the basic evil."
-Friedrich Nietzsche
"On Ethics", 1868
-Friedrich Nietzsche
"On Ethics", 1868
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Pleasure and Inquiry
Faith does not offer the least support for a proof of objective truth. Here the ways of humans part. If you want to work for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe. If you want to be a devotee of truth, then inquire.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
In a letter to his sister
Bonn, 1865
-Friedrich Nietzsche
In a letter to his sister
Bonn, 1865
In A Letter To My Sister
"As for your principle that truth is always on the side of the more difficult, I partly agree.
But it's hard to believe that 2 times 2 is not 4. Does that make it true?
Is it really so difficult to just accept everything you've been brought up on, and what really comforts and elevates humanity?
Is that more difficult than to strike new paths, fighting the habitual, experiencing the insecurity of independence and the frequent wavering of one's feelings and even one's conscience, proceeding often without any consolation, but always with the eternal goal of the good, the true, and the beautiful?
After all, do we have to have a view of God and the world that makes us feel the most comfortable? Do we seek rest, peace,and pleasure in our inquiries?
No. Only truth. Even if it's the most repulsive and ugly truth."
Friedrich Nietzsche
In a letter to his sister
Bonn, 1865
But it's hard to believe that 2 times 2 is not 4. Does that make it true?
Is it really so difficult to just accept everything you've been brought up on, and what really comforts and elevates humanity?
Is that more difficult than to strike new paths, fighting the habitual, experiencing the insecurity of independence and the frequent wavering of one's feelings and even one's conscience, proceeding often without any consolation, but always with the eternal goal of the good, the true, and the beautiful?
After all, do we have to have a view of God and the world that makes us feel the most comfortable? Do we seek rest, peace,and pleasure in our inquiries?
No. Only truth. Even if it's the most repulsive and ugly truth."
Friedrich Nietzsche
In a letter to his sister
Bonn, 1865