German philosophy · 1844–1900
Friedrich Nietzsche
He who has a why can bear almost any how.
The old sources of meaning have collapsed; we are called to create values that affirm this life, exactly as it is.
Every thinker worth reading has one true sentence. This is a place to find Friedrich Nietzsche's.
On meaning
The old sources of meaning have collapsed; we are called to create values that affirm this life, exactly as it is.
Why this thinker still matters
The specific circumstances of Friedrich Nietzsche's life are gone. The questions they wrestled with are not. Reading them now is less like consulting an authority and more like sitting across from someone who has already done a lot of the hard work of thinking.
Key insights
- ◆Read the primary sources when you can, not summaries of summaries.
- ◆Distinguish what the thinker actually wrote from what they are commonly quoted as saying.
- ◆Notice which of their answers resonate — that is data about you as much as about them.
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