Friedrich Nietzsche

*"Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."*
—Friedrich Nietzsche
**Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche** was a German philosopher. He is known for repudiating Christianity's compassion for the weak, exalting the "will to power," and formulating the idea of the *Übermensch* (superman), who can rise above the restrictions of ordinary mortality.

## Biography

### Philosopher: God is Dead

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844. He became a philosopher and cultural critic.

The philosopher Nietzsche believed we shouldn't live for the future, but for the present. He thought that people who chased after some far-off future dream were really running away from their true destiny. To him, the true hero was the person who embraced the life that he or she was given and made it better; taking control of the life one is given. He called that person "Übermensch." Nietzsche believed we could all be one in our own way.

Nietzsche pioneered Egoism: believing that morality is just a fiction used by the herd of inferior human beings to hold back the few superior men (the fiction created by the weak masses to hold back the strongest in society). One of his famous anecdotes was comparing the Greek Gods of Apollo, the rigid and rule-following, and Dionysus, the drunken party-goer. Nietzsche argued that we should be less like Apollo and more like Dionysus, and stop living in "God's Shadow" by disregarding the limitations set upon us by society.

Nietzsche also believed that most culture exists purely to distract people from the truth.

Nietzsche highlighted the death of God (predicting an end to traditional modes of philosophy and religion) and ushered in an era of nihilism. Though he rejected the notion of universal constraints or truth, it is debated as to whether or not Nietzsche was nihilistic or working towards overcoming nihilism.

He tried to plant a new German psyche but instead just spread hate.

### Legacy

*"I hate Friedrich Nietzsche with a burning passion. Dying of syphilis lookin' ass."*
—Ben Jacobson
Friedrich Nietzsche's work was misinterpreted by many, including a certain young man in early-20th century Germany. Believing that the truest way to achieve Nietzsche's Übermensch was to cleanse the genes of all those inferior, the infamous Adolf Hitler enacted his Final Solution. From this we can see the harmful effects of Nietzsche's theory of Egoism.

His ideas continue to ignite controversy and inspire debate.

Isaac Morov would subscribe to Nietzsche's concept of the overman.

## Abilities

* **Trilingualism:** Nietzsche spoke his native German in addition to Greek and Latin.

## Quotes

*"Behold the superman. Man is something to be overcome."*
—Friedrich Nietzsche in *The Will to Power*
*"That which is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil."*
—Friedrich Nietzsche, *Beyond Good and Evil*
*"Out of life's school of war, what does not destroy me, makes me stronger."*
—Friedrich Nietzsche
*"That which does not kill us makes us stronger."*
—Friedrich Nietzsche
*"Once upon a time in some remote corner of that universe, there was a star upon which clever beasts invented knowing."*
—Friedrich Nietzsche
*"Man is as a rope stretched between the animal and the superhuman. A rope over an abyss. It is a dangerous crossing, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting."*
—Friedrich Nietzsche
*"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy."*
—Friedrich Nietzsche
*"Without music, life would be a mistake."*
—Friedrich Nietzsche