Monday, June 28, 2010

Raptitude Does Nietzsche

by Dick Mac

"If there's one thing Friedrich Nietzsche did well," starts David's article at raptitude.com, "it’s obliterate feel-good beliefs people have about themselves."

David goes on to list "40 Belief-Shaking Remarks . . . " that I highlight here:

1. People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights.

2. He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.

3. The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

9. In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.

10. The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.

13. No victor believes in chance.

14. Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.

17. The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.

19. The most common lie is that which one tells himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.

20. I counsel you, my friends: Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.

21. Rejoicing in our joy, not suffering over our suffering, is what makes someone a friend.

24. Nothing on earth consumes a man more quickly than the passion of resentment.

30. All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.

32. Fear is the mother of morality.

34. Everyone who has ever built anywhere a new heaven first found the power thereto in his own hell.

35. There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.

36. The mother of excess is not joy but joylessness.

37. The Kingdom of Heaven is a condition of the heart — not something that comes upon the earth or after death.

38. What is the mark of liberation? No longer being ashamed in front of oneself.

Read David's most excellent article at raptitude.com.

Thanks to Yuka Honda for the tip.




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