“ The most common sort of lie is that by which a man deceives himself: the deception of others is a relatively rare offence. ”
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist (1895). copy citation
| Author | Friedrich Nietzsche |
|---|---|
| Source | The Antichrist |
| Topic | lies self deception |
| Date | 1895 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Henry Louis Mencken |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Antichrist |
Context
“What if falsehood be also one of these embryonic forms of conviction?—Sometimes all that is needed is a change in persons: what was a lie in the father becomes a conviction in the son.—I call it lying to refuse to see what one sees, or to refuse to see it as it is: whether the lie be uttered before witnesses or not before witnesses is of no consequence. The most common sort of lie is that by which a man deceives himself: the deception of others is a relatively rare offence.—Now, this will not to see what one sees, this will not to see it as it is, is almost the first requisite for all who belong to a party of whatever sort: the party man becomes inevitably a liar. For example, the German historians are convinced that Rome was synonymous with despotism and that the Germanic peoples brought the spirit of liberty into the world: what is the difference between this conviction and a lie?”
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Meaning and analysis
