Skip to content
quotesby

Freedom means that the manly instincts which delight in war and victory dominate over other instincts, for example, over those of 'pleasure.' The human being who has become free - and how much more the spirit who has become free - spits on the contemptible type of well-being dreamed of by shopkeepers, Christians, cows, females, Englishmen, and other democrats. The free man is a warrior. -

Friedrich Nietzsche#168

PsychologyCultureFreedomInstinctWarrior

About this quote

What does it mean?
Freedom is the triumph of war‑like instincts over pleasure, making the free man a warrior who rejects comfortable norms.
In plain terms
A free individual embraces struggle and opposes complacent values.
What can you take from it?
Value resilience and challenge over comfort.

Where it applies

  • self‑improvement
  • cultural critique

Putting it to work

  • physical training
  • mental toughness exercises

Questions to consider

  • Is war the only path to freedom?
  • Can one be free without embracing conflict?

Another view

The view marginalizes those who find meaning in peaceful pursuits.

More from Friedrich Nietzsche

  1. These same institutions produce quite different effects while they are still being fought for; then they really promote freedom in a powerful way. On closer in…

    Permalink to quote #167
  2. How is freedom measured, in individuals as in nations? By the resistance which must be overcome, by the effort [Muhe] it costs to remain on top. The highest ty…

    Permalink to quote #169
  3. We have already gone beyond whatever we have words for. In all talk there is a grain of contempt.

    Permalink to quote #166

Related quotes

  1. Today, anxiety is a first principle of social life, and the right knows how to exploit it. Capital foments the insecurity that impels people to submit to its d…

    Ellen WillisEllen Willis quote #33
  2. Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.

    John AdamsJohn Adams quote #45
  3. When Marilyn Monroe got out of the game, I wrote something like, 'Southern California's special horror notwithstanding, if the world offered nothing, nowhere t…

    Thomas PynchonThomas Pynchon quote #1