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First principle: one must need to be strong - otherwise one will never become strong. - Those large hothouses [Treibhauser] for the strong, for the strongest kind of human being that has ever been, the aristocratic commonwealths of the type of Rome or Venice, understood freedom exactly in the sense in which I understand the word freedom: as something one has and does not have, something one wants, something one conquers ...

Friedrich Nietzsche#170

PhilosophyMotivationStrengthFreedomDesire

About this quote

What does it mean?
Nietzsche argues that freedom is a desire for something one does not yet possess, which drives one to conquer it.
In plain terms
Freedom is wanting what you don’t have and striving to get it.
What can you take from it?
Seek what you lack and work to obtain it.

Where it applies

  • personal growth
  • political ambition

Putting it to work

  • setting challenging goals
  • pursuing self‑improvement

Questions to consider

  • What do you lack that could motivate you?
  • Does wanting something always lead to strength?

Another view

It assumes that lack always motivates rather than discourages.

More from Friedrich Nietzsche

  1. 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
  2. Einige werden posthum geboren.

    Permalink to quote #171
  3. 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 w…

    Permalink to quote #168

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