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About this quote

What does it mean?
Defending a cause with bad arguments actually harms it more than helping it.
In plain terms
Bad arguments hurt the cause they try to protect.
What can you take from it?
Use solid reasoning when supporting a cause.

Where it applies

  • political debate
  • activist campaigns

Putting it to work

  • review arguments before speaking
  • seek factual support

Questions to consider

  • How can you test the strength of your arguments?
  • When might a weak defense be better than no defense?

Another view

Even well‑intentioned defense can backfire if the reasoning is weak.

More from Friedrich Nietzsche

  1. We are always in our own company.

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  2. We have no dreams at all or interesting ones. We should learn to be awake the same way - not at all or in an interesting manner.

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  3. To find everything profound - that is an inconvenient trait. It makes one strain one's eyes all the time, and in the end one finds more than one might have wis…

    Permalink to quote #78

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