Rudyard Kipling? Friedrich Nietzsche? Arthur Gordon? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The peer group exerts enormous pressure on the individual. Achieving and maintaining an independent viewpoint is arduous. An influential thinker stated the following: The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. The thinker believed that pursuing a …
Tag Archives: Friedrich Nietzsche
Quote Origin: The Labyrinthine Man Never Seeks the Truth but Always and Only His Ariadne
Friedrich Nietzsche? Claudia Crawford? Walter Kaufmann? Karl Jaspers? Roland Barthes? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: In Greek mythology, the Cretan princess Ariadne helped the hero Theseus slay the Minotaur and escape from the labyrinth. Ariadne gave Daedalus a ball of thread so he could successfully navigate through the deadly maze. While contemplating this myth, the …
Quote Origin: Nothing That Makes Us Happy Is an Illusion
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Jules Verne? Friedrich Nietzsche? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A character in a novel by the prominent German poet and novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe presented a radical stance on happiness and illusion. Here are two versions: (1) Nothing which makes us happy is an illusion?(2) Can that be a delusion …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Nothing That Makes Us Happy Is an Illusion”
Quote Origin: Better Know Nothing Than Half-Know Many Things
Friedrich Nietzsche? Josh Billings? Thomas Common? Alexander Tille? Walter Kaufmann? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular humorist or a famous philosopher said something like the following: It is better to know nothing than to half-know many topics. Would you please help me to find the correct statement of this adage and the name of …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Better Know Nothing Than Half-Know Many Things”
Quote Origin: This Is My Truth, Now Tell Me Yours
Aneurin Bevan? Jennie Lee? Michael Foot? Friedrich Nietzsche? Zarathustra? Manic Street Preachers? John Strachey? Hubert Griffith? Herbert L. Matthews? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A U.K politician expressed a willingness to hear alternative viewpoints by using the following expression: This is my truth; tell me yours. British Labour Party leader Aneurin Bevan has received credit …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: This Is My Truth, Now Tell Me Yours”
Quote Origin: This Is My Way; Where Is Yours?
Friedrich Nietzsche? Zarathustra? John Strachey? Hubert Griffith? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Different people hold divergent views of the world. Here are three versions of a germane remark: The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche has received credit for this comment. Would you please explore this topic? Reply from Quote Investigator: Between 1883 and 1885 Friedrich Nietzsche …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: This Is My Way; Where Is Yours?”
Quote Origin: If We Have Our Own ‘Why’ of Life, We Shall Get Along With Almost Any ‘How’
Friedrich Nietzsche? Viktor E. Frankl? Thomas Common? Anthony M. Ludovici? Walter Kaufmann? R. J. Hollingdale? Ilse Lasch? Question for Quote Investigator: Life can be aggravating and even agonizing. Yet, a steady internal purpose helps to make difficulties endurable together with the thought that happiness and pleasure will someday return. Here is an apposite adage: One …
Quote Origin: When We Are Tired, We Are Attacked by Ideas We Conquered Long Ago
Friedrich Nietzsche? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A fatigued philosopher may forgetfully return to previous ideas. The worn out thinker may fruitlessly reexamine notions that were rightfully rejected in the past. The famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche has received credit for the following remark: When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: When We Are Tired, We Are Attacked by Ideas We Conquered Long Ago”
Quote Origin: We Sometimes Remain Faithful To a Cause Merely Because Its Opponents Never Cease To Be Insipid
Creator: Friedrich Nietzsche Context: In 1878 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche published “Menschliches, Allzumenschliches: Ein Buch für Freie Geister” (“Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits”). He employed an aphoristic style that explicated topics with short numbered passages and sayings. Item number 536 consisted of the following: Werth abgeschmackter Gegner. — Man bleibt mitunter einer …
Quote Origin: It Is Better to Know Nothing than to Know What Ain’t So
Josh Billings? Artemus Ward? Will Rogers? Abraham Lincoln? Mark Twain? Friedrich Nietzsche? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Here are two versions of an expression I am trying to trace: 1) It’s better to know nothing than to know what ain’t so. 2) It is better not to know so much, than to know so many …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: It Is Better to Know Nothing than to Know What Ain’t So”