He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.
Friedrich Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil, Chapter IV, Aphorism 146 (1886) Translated by Helen Zimmern
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When and why it was written
- When
- From Beyond Good and Evil, published in 1886.
- Why
- One of the aphorisms in the chapter of short sayings.
What it means
Nietzsche warns that what we oppose can shape us into its likeness. Long attention to darkness changes the one who attends.
It is a caution worth keeping when anger at someone starts to fill whole pages.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Beyond Good and Evil, 1886
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