Favorite Quotes

As this is my third entry and I'm already at a loss as to what to write I'm drawing inspiration from a few quotes I think are true...The first is this

When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you- Nietzsche

Now I've read some of Nietzsche's writings and I don't like him, nor do I agree with most of his views. In his book "Beyond Good and Evil" he unleashes some serious vitriol against women as selfish, vain creatures concerned only with themselves. Frankly, I think these views are just a result of his own unrequited love for a particular woman who refused to marry him despite his best efforts. He needs to give it a rest though. He can't take his failings out on an entire sex comprising 51% of the population.

I also dislike his whack ideas about the "superman." Ideas which suggest an inate hierarchy among humans, smack of bigotry, and later turned out to make a fine basis for Nazism.

However, what he says about the abyss is true. You can only stay in a poor or negative environment so long before "the abyss looks into you" or begins to affect who you are for the worse. I've found this to be true. When I'm around people who aren't good people I by necessity become less than nice in order to deal with them. It's know it's not a good thing to do because then I'm stooping to their level but it inevitably happens unless one make a concerted effort to stop it.

Here's another Nietzsche quote. This is by far my favorite because I think it applies to a lot one might encounter in life.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Nietzsche

It's true that the individual has to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe on a lot of different levels. For almost any life decision one might be confronted with there exists a decision endorsed by the majority and the majority exerts pressure either active or tacit on everyone that does not accept its opinion. Society as a whole as well as it's every cross section has its own ideas about what a person should hold in esteem or value. In some circles it's money and the acquisition of material things, in other circles it's higher education, in yet others spirituality or worship of God. Regardless of what circle a person finds themself in though they will meet pressure to live their life according to the values of that particular "tribe."

But a person has to go their own route. When you do that- walk an untrodden path by yourself it is lonely and frightening because you don't know exactly how it will work out and because people older and more experienced may tell you're going the wrong way, building your life around the wrong things but you have only yourself to live for.

You can't live for your mother, your brother, your father, your best friend, neighbors, aquaintances- "the tribe." In the end when all your days are through it will be only you alone and your bitter regrets about things that would have left you more satisfied more fulfilled but which you didn't do because you were worried about what others had to say about it.

Deep regret is a terrible thing to have to die with so I'm sure Nietzsche is right when he says that no price too high to pay for the privilege of owning oneself. To always be cowering before others- kneeling to suit their needs and whims, arbitarily allowing it to curtail your own will and desires- is no way to live. It is rough to be lonely, to walk alone, to have to hear the misgivings or scorn others may have for you but I prefer to put up with it and know I am my own person and that in deed and truth, not just thought I held to the values and principles I felt most important in life. Which leads me to my next quote.

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. -Mark Twain

I find this more humorous than anything. I love Mark Twain. Anyone who hasn't read him might begin with "Huckleberry Finn" or "Pudd'nHead Wilson". He's quite hilarious at times and "Pudd'nHead Wilson" includes a calendar at the beginning of each chapter with funny quotes. It's a very engaging tale about the murder of a prominent judge and a white boy and a slave swapped at birth....