Nieztzche

Man Alone With Himself

Truth

“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies”

• Once your brain is fixated on something. It is very difficult for it to believe anything else. Hitler for example, had a very strong sense of conviction that drove ordinary German men into committing evil acts… We have many convictions, such as our thoughts on University and our political views. But these are more dangerous than lies. Because there is a complete disregard of what might be.

Self-Observation

“Man is very well defended against himself, he usually able to perceive of himself only his outer walls. His actual fortress (true self) is inaccessible, even invisible to him, unless his friends or enemies play the traitor and conduct him in by a secret path’

• Unfortunately, the brain makes us all slightly delusional. It caresses us into thinking we’re almost always right, that we’re better looking that we are, and importantly, that we know our true selves. But according to Nieztzche, the only way to truly know yourself is to listen to the words of friends & enemies. What have your friends and family always said you are good at, these are your strengths. What have your enemies slyly said you were bad at, these are your weaknesses – Because even if you hated Cristiano Ronaldo, you would never say he’s a bad footballer.

Goal & Path

‘Many are stubborn with the path once they have entered upon it, few are stubborn with the goal.’

• You can’t afford to be stubborn with the path, because it will inevitably throw curve balls at you.

Heroes

‘If a man wants to become a hero the serpent must first have become a dragon: otherwise he will lack his proper enemy’

• Elon Musk once said: you get paid in proportion to the difficulty of the problem you solve. This is why McDonald’s workers don’t make more money than Brain surgeons. One could argue this isn’t fair, but that’s just the way the world works.

Morality & Quantity

“One man’s morality is higher compared with another’s often only because his goals are quantitatively greater. The latter is drawn down by his narrowly bounded occupation for the petty.”

• Those who have great dragon sized goals often don’t have time to consider small, trivial things that annoy most people. So create yourself a dragon sized goal and watch the petty stuff deflect off your brain like you were wearing armour.

Truth

‘No one dies of fatal truths, there are too many antidotes to them’

• Always tell the truth and don’t avoid it hearing it. This is an excellent way to be charismatic and win friends & influence people.

The Right Profession

“Men seldom endure a profession if they do not believe or persuade themselves that it is basically more important than all others. Women do the same with their lovers.”

• You better find a career you genuinely enjoy…

Talent

“The talent of some men appears slighter than it is because they have always set themselves tasks that are too great.”

• Peter Drucker spoke about having realistic goals and Aristotle spoke about proper ambition. Two smart fellas who know what they were talking about. Having realistic goals can actually be quite liberating, because it saves you from great disappointment and can allow you to make realistic strategies.

Greatness

“No river is great and bounteous through itself alone, but rather because it takes up so many tributaries and carries them onwards: that makes it great. It is the same with all great minds. All that matters is that one man give the direction, which the many tributaries must then follow; it does not matter whether he is poorly or richly endowed in the beginning.”

• The more things you take in, the better off you’ll be. There goes the Warren Buffet saying, “The more you learn the more you earn.”

Length of the Day

“When one has a great deal to put into it, a day has a hundred pockets.”

• As Seneca said, a busy man lives a long life. Being busy doesn’t have negative connotations. You can be busy by playing a spending a couple hours watching Game of Thrones, before you go to the gym, before you read a good book, before you go to a great house party, before you go eat hangover food on at a local high street restaurant. There’s nothing more noble than a day like that, lol.

Superficial knowledge

“He who speaks a bit of a foreign language has more delight in it than he who speaks it well; pleasure goes along with superficial knowledge.”

• If you don’t know everything there is to know about something, have some humility and learn more. Here’s a litmus test: Don’t have pride in your knowledge until you know so much about that subject that you can stand before a stadium full of the top scholars of that subject and deliver an insightful speech off the cuff.