"There are horrible people who, instead of solving a problem, tangle it up and make it harder to solve for anyone who wants to deal with it. Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all."

Life

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Life as articulated by Friedrich Nietzsche. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Life provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher and writer who started his career as a classical philologist and turned to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, at age 24, he was appointed Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Basel. Plagued by health problems for most of his life, he resigned from the university in 1879. He afterward lived as an independent writer, spending much of his life in relative solitude and financial insecurity while moving between Switzerland, Italy, and southern France in search of climates that might alleviate his condition, and in the following decade, he completed much of his core writing. In 1889, aged 44, he suffered a neurological collapse, and thereafter a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and vascular dementia; he lived out his remaining 11 years, first under the care of his mother, and later his sister, until his death. His works and his philosophy have fostered not only extensive scholarship but also much popular interest.

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More by Friedrich Nietzsche

"Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man."

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"In the course of history, men come to see that iron necessity is neither iron nor necessary."

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"Undeserved praise causes more pangs of conscience later than undeserved blame, but probably only for this reason, that our power of judgment are more completely exposed by being over praised than by being unjustly underestimated."

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"Man's maturity: to have regained the seriousness that he had as a child at play."

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More about Life

"Wisdom principle 78 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 8."

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"On several occasions, I discussed with Bill Clinton the subject of inquiries by the media about our relationship. He told me to continue to deny our relationship, that if we would stick together, everything would be okay."

— Gennifer Flowers
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"Wisdom principle 54 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 84."

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"Wisdom principle 64 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 18."

— Lloyd Alexander
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