July 7, 2012
My 'compassion'. - This is a feeling for which no name satisfies me: I experience it when I see a waste of precious capacities, for example at the sight of Luther - what force, and what insipid provincial problems (at a time when in France, the bold and cheerful scepticism of a Montaigne had already become possible!). Or when I see a man falling behind what he could have become, due to some stupid chance. Or worse, when thinking about mankind's lot - as when, with fear and contempt, I happen to observe the European politics of today, which is certainly also helping to weave the fabric of all mankind's future. Yes, what might man 'become' if - -! This is my kind of 'compassion'; even if there is no one suffering whose suffering I would share.
Nietzsche - Writings from the Late Notebooks
Posted by amin at July 7, 2012 12:41 PM