Quotation by Friedrich Nietzsche

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a little old woman, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, First Part (1883)Assorted Opinions and Maxims (1879)Assorted Opinions and Maxims published as first supplement to Human, All-Too-Human (1879)Assorted Opinions and Maxims published as first supplement to Human, All Too Human (1879)attributed to a fool, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, First Part (1883)

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religion (14) reform (8) hypocrisy (8) virtue (7) life (7) literature (6) truth (6) evil (6) beauty (6) conscience (6)

This is the crux of the moral pessimists: if they really wanted to promote their neighbor's redemption, then they would have to resolve themselves to spoiling existence for him, and thus to being his misfortune; out of pity, they would have to—become evil!

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher, classical scholar, critic of culture. Friedrich Nietzsche, Sämtliche Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe, vol. 10, p. 188, selection 5[1], number 8, eds. Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari, Berlin, de Gruyter (1980). Unpublished fragments dating to November 1882February 1883.

The Latin crux refers figuratively to their "perplexing problem" and literally to their "cross."

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