--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Do not make passion an argument for…" description: "\"“Do not make passion an argument for truth! - O you good-natured and even noble enthusiasts, I know you! You want to win your argument against us, but ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ba/friedrich-nietzsche-15_bad-habit_do-not-make-passion-an-argument-for-trut_2526715.jpg" --- # Do not make passion an argument for truth! - O you… ![“Do not make passion an argument for truth! - O you good-natured and even noble enthusiasts, I know you! You want to win your argument against us, but also against yourself, and above all against yourself!and a subtle and tender bad conscience so often incites you against your enthusiasm! How…” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ba/friedrich-nietzsche-15_bad-habit_do-not-make-passion-an-argument-for-trut_2526715.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ba/friedrich-nietzsche-15_bad-habit_do-not-make-passion-an-argument-for-trut_2526715.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ba/friedrich-nietzsche-15_bad-habit_do-not-make-passion-an-argument-for-trut_2526715.jpg) > ““Do not make passion an argument for truth! - O you good-natured and even noble enthusiasts, I know you! You want to win your argument against us, but also against yourself, and above all against yourself!and a subtle and tender bad conscience so often incites you against your enthusiasm! How ingenious you then become in the outwitting and deadening of this conscience! How you hate the honest, the simple, the pure, how you avoid their innocent eyes! That knowing better whose representatives they are and whose voice you hear all too loudly within you, how it casts doubt on your belief- how you seek to make it suspect as a bad habit, as a sickness of the age, as neglect and infection of your own spiritual health! You drive yourself to the point of hating criticism, science, reason! You have to falsify history so that it may bear witness for you, you have to deny virtues so that they shall not cast into the shade those of your idols and ideals! Coloured pictures where what is needed is rational grounds! Ardour and power of expression! Silvery mists! Ambrosial nights! You understand how to illuminate and how to obscure, and how to obscure with light! And truly, when your passion rises to the point of frenzy, there comes a moment when you say to yourself: now I have conquered the good conscience, now I am light of heart, courageous, self-denying, magnificent, now I am honest! How you thirst for those moments when your passion bestows on you perfect self-justification and as it were innocence; when in struggle, intoxication, courage, hope, you are beside yourself and beyond all doubting; when you decree: 'he who is not beside himself as we are can in no way know what and where truth is!' How you thirst to discover people of your belief in this condition - it is that of intellectual vice - and ignite your flame at their torch! Oh your deplorable martyrdom! Oh your deplorable victory of the sanctified lie! Must you inflict so much suffering upon yourself? - Must you?”” [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Passion can blind reason, turning enthusiasm into self‑deception and a denial of criticism, science, and truth. **In simple terms:** Passion may hide truth and reason. Key Takeaway Question your motives and seek rational evidence. Themes philosophy self‑deception truth criticism intellectual honesty Mood reflective critical serious Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - academic debate - political discourse - personal reflection - ethical decision‑making Key Concepts egoism self‑justification intellectual vice rationalism Questions to Reflect On - Do you ever defend ideas only because they feel right? - How does passion affect your willingness to accept criticism? A Different Perspective Passion alone cannot justify truth; reason must guide belief. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bad habit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-habit/) [Dissimulation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dissimulation/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Innocent eyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocent-eyes/) [Intolerance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intolerance/) [Knowing better](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing-better/) [Narcissism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narcissism/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Self delusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-delusion/) [Self justification](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-justification/) [Spiritual health](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spiritual-health/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [Argument is not always truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lajos-kossuth/argument-is-not-always-truth/) [Lajos Kossuth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lajos-kossuth/) > [In argument, truth always prevails finally; in politics, falsehood always.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-savage-landor/in-argument-truth-always-prevails-finally-in-politics-falsehood-always/) [Walter Savage Landor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-savage-landor/) > [“practice dissimulation, and you will succeed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/practice-dissimulation-and-you-will-succeed/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [It may be objected, that I am now recommending dissimulation to you; I both own and justify it. It has been long said: Qui…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-chesterfield/it-may-be-objected-that-i-am-now-recommending-dissimulation-to-you-i/) [Lord Chesterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-chesterfield/) > [“15. In war, practice dissimulation, and you will succeed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/15-in-war-practice-dissimulation-and-you-will-succeed/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [“Nothing I do is natural, realistic, organic or accidental. 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First to lay asleep opposition and to surprise. For where a man's intentions are published,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/the-great-advantages-of-simulation-and-dissimulation-are-three-first/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [Dissimulation was his masterpiece; in which he so much excelled that men were not ashamed of being deceived but twice by him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hyde-1st-earl-of-clarendon/dissimulation-was-his-masterpiece-in-which-he-so-much-excelled-that/) [Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hyde-1st-earl-of-clarendon/) > [The world is grown so full of dissimulation and compliment, that men's words are hardly any signification of their thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-steele/the-world-is-grown-so-full-of-dissimulation-and-compliment-that-men-s/) [Richard Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-steele/) > [Truth at last cannot be hidden. Dissimulation is of no avail. Dissimulation is to no purpose before so great a judge. Falsehood puts on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/truth-at-last-cannot-be-hidden-dissimulation-is-of-no-avail/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) ## More by Friedrich Nietzsche > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, where he is FREE from the crowd, the many, the majority-- where he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-select-man-strives-instinctively-for-a-citadel-and-a-privacy/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“It breaks my heart. 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A soul which knows that it is loved, but does not itself love, betrays its sediment: its dregs come up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/79-a-soul-which-knows-that-it-is-loved-but-does-not-itself-love/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [We deceive ourselves when giving respect to the person for whom we have surrendered ourselves, when we respectively expect them to be as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-deceive-ourselves-when-giving-respect-to-the-person-for-whom-we/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“The great periods of our life occur when we gain the courage to rechristen what is bad about us as what is best.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-great-periods-of-our-life-occur-when-we-gain-the-courage-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“What is life? 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Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Pain makes hens and poets cackle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/pain-makes-hens-and-poets-cackle/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) [Explore all 3,486 Friedrich Nietzsche quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## More Bad habit quotes > [Working at home is hard. It tends to give you bad habits. 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They have slipped into the American mind more misinformation in one evening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-hecht/movies-are-one-of-the-bad-habits-that-have-corrupted-our-century-they/) [Ben Hecht](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-hecht/) [Browse all 567 Bad habit quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-habit/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Do not make passion an argument for truth! - O you good-natured and even noble enthusiasts, I know you! You want to win your argument against us, but also against yourself, and above all against yourself!and a subtle and tender bad conscience so often incites you against your enthusiasm! How ingenious you then become in the outwitting and deadening of this conscience! How you hate the honest, the simple, the pure, how you avoid their innocent eyes! That knowing better whose representatives they are and whose voice you hear all too loudly within you, how it casts doubt on your belief- how you seek to make it suspect as a bad habit, as a sickness of the age, as neglect and infection of your own spiritual health! You drive yourself to the point of hating criticism, science, reason! You have to falsify history so that it may bear witness for you, you have to deny virtues so that they shall not cast into the shade those of your idols and ideals! Coloured pictures where what is needed is rational grounds! Ardour and power of expression! Silvery mists! Ambrosial nights! You understand how to illuminate and how to obscure, and how to obscure with light! And truly, when your passion rises to the point of frenzy, there comes a moment when you say to yourself: now I have conquered the good conscience, now I am light of heart, courageous, self-denying, magnificent, now I am honest! How you thirst for those moments when your passion bestows on you perfect self-justification and as it were innocence; when in struggle, intoxication, courage, hope, you are beside yourself and beyond all doubting; when you decree: 'he who is not beside himself as we are can in no way know what and where truth is!' How you thirst to discover people of your belief in this condition - it is that of intellectual vice - and ignite your flame at their torch! Oh your deplorable martyrdom! Oh your deplorable victory of the sanctified lie! 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