--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: of us is the Oedipus here? Which the…" description: "\"“of us is the Oedipus here? Which the Sphinx? It would seem to be a rendezvous of questions and notes of interrogation. And could it be believed that i..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/friedrich-nietzsche-15_interrogation_of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphi_2399574.jpg" --- # of us is the Oedipus here? Which the Sphinx? It would seem… ![“of us is the Oedipus here? Which the Sphinx? It would seem to be a rendezvous of questions and notes of interrogation. And could it be believed that it at last seems to us as if the problem had never been propounded before, as if we were the first to discern it, get a sight of it, and RISK RAISING…” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/friedrich-nietzsche-15_interrogation_of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphi_2399574.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/friedrich-nietzsche-15_interrogation_of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphi_2399574.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/friedrich-nietzsche-15_interrogation_of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphi_2399574.jpg) > ““of us is the Oedipus here? Which the Sphinx? It would seem to be a rendezvous of questions and notes of interrogation. And could it be believed that it at last seems to us as if the problem had never been propounded before, as if we were the first to discern it, get a sight of it, and RISK RAISING it? For there is risk in raising it, perhaps there is no greater risk.”” [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. The quote questions the danger of confronting deep, novel questions, emphasizing that raising profound issues carries great risk. **In simple terms:** Raising deep questions is risky. Key Takeaway Embrace inquiry despite fear. Themes philosophy risk inquiry Mood thoughtful introspective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - academic research - personal introspection - creative problem solving Key Concepts Existentialism self‑reflection Questions to Reflect On - What risks do you avoid when confronting new ideas? - How can fear of risk be transformed into curiosity? A Different Perspective Risk may deter exploration of truth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Interrogation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interrogation/) [Sphinx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sphinx/) ## Related quotes > [There is nothing that has caused me to meditate more on Plato's secrecy and sphinx-like nature, than the happily preserved petit fait that under…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/there-is-nothing-that-has-caused-me-to-meditate-more-on-plato-s/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-lovecraft/for-the-cat-is-cryptic-and-close-to-strange-things-which-men-cannot/) [H. P. Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft/) > [When we find something new at Giza, we announce it to the world. The Sphinx and the Pyramids are world treasures. We are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zahi-hawass/when-we-find-something-new-at-giza-we-announce-it-to-the-world-the/) [Zahi Hawass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zahi-hawass/) > [I sit in the sky like a sphinx misunderstood; My heart of snow is wed to the whiteness of swans; I hate the movement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/i-sit-in-the-sky-like-a-sphinx-misunderstood-my-heart-of-snow-is-wed/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [The population question is the real riddle of the sphinx, to which no political Oedipus has as yet found the answer. In view of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/the-population-question-is-the-real-riddle-of-the-sphinx-to-which-no/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [“In our gradually shrinking world, everyone is in need of all the others. We must look for man wherever we can find him. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giorgos-seferis/in-our-gradually-shrinking-world-everyone-is-in-need-of-all-the/) [Giorgos Seferis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giorgos-seferis/) > [Las Vegas has become a child's picture-book dream of a city -- here a storybook castle, there a sphinx-flanked black pyramid beaming white light…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/las-vegas-has-become-a-child-s-picture-book-dream-of-a-city-here-a/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Creamy and leggy, with long azure hair and the eyes of a silent-movie star, she moved like a poem and smiled like a sphinx.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laini-taylor/creamy-and-leggy-with-long-azure-hair-and-the-eyes-of-a-silent-movie/) [Laini Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laini-taylor/) > [But Shakespeare knows what the sphinx thinks, if anybody does. His genius is penetrative as cold midwinter entering every room, and making warmth shiver…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-alfred-quayle/but-shakespeare-knows-what-the-sphinx-thinks-if-anybody-does-his/) [William Alfred Quayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-alfred-quayle/) > [You are afraid of me, because I talk like a sphinx.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/you-are-afraid-of-me-because-i-talk-like-a-sphinx/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [“What sphinx of cement and aluminium bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination? - Howl ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-ginsberg/what-sphinx-of-cement-and-aluminium-bashed-open-their-skulls-and-ate/) [Allen Ginsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-ginsberg/) > [Sometimes I think I am going mad. I live for days in the mystery and tears of things so that the commonest object, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-n-p-barbellion/sometimes-i-think-i-am-going-mad-i-live-for-days-in-the-mystery-and/) [W.N.P. Barbellion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-n-p-barbellion/) > [For I am I: ergo, the truth of myself; my own sphinx, conflict, chaos, vortex—asymmetric to all rhythms, oblique to all paths. I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/for-i-am-i-ergo-the-truth-of-myself-my-own-sphinx-conflict-chaos/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [I never saw a pyramid, but I've seen photographs; I know what a pyramid or a sphinx looks like. There are pictures that do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-winogrand/i-never-saw-a-pyramid-but-i-ve-seen-photographs-i-know-what-a-pyramid/) [Garry Winogrand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-winogrand/) > [It's like the riddle of the Sphinx... why are there so many great unmarried women, and no great unmarried men?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-jessica-parker/it-s-like-the-riddle-of-the-sphinx-why-are-there-so-many-great/) [Sarah Jessica Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-jessica-parker/) ## 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. Better than your words, your eye tells me all your peril. You are not yet free, you still search for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-breaks-my-heart-better-than-your-words-your-eye-tells-me-all-your/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“79. 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? Life - that is: continually shedding something that wants to die. Life - that is: being cruel and inexorable against everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/what-is-life-life-that-is-continually-shedding-something-that-wants/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [It is thus only this personal feeling of misery that we get rid of by acts of pity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-thus-only-this-personal-feeling-of-misery-that-we-get-rid-of-by/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Writers whose thoughts are expressed with clarity and precision are assumed by readers to be superficial. Where the meaning is obscured, then readers give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/writers-whose-thoughts-are-expressed-with-clarity-and-precision-are/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“he does not wear a twitching, mobile, human face, but rather a mask, as it were, with its features in dignified equilibrium; he does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/he-does-not-wear-a-twitching-mobile-human-face-but-rather-a-mask-as/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many it is almost a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/chastity-is-a-virtue-with-some-but-with-many-it-is-almost-a-vice/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The earth is like the breasts of a woman: useful as well as pleasing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-earth-is-like-the-breasts-of-a-woman-useful-as-well-as-pleasing/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Of all that is written I love only what a man has written in his own blood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-all-that-is-written-i-love-only-what-a-man-has-written-in-his-own/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [No shepherd and one herd! 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 Interrogation quotes > [A place has almost the shyness of a person, with strangers; and its secret is not to be surprised by a too direct interrogation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-symons/a-place-has-almost-the-shyness-of-a-person-with-strangers-and-its/) [Arthur Symons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-symons/) > [“But they argued as lawyers do, they twisted every answer I gave until it sounded like the opposite meaning, and I became so confused…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-j-parris/but-they-argued-as-lawyers-do-they-twisted-every-answer-i-gave-until/) [S.J. Parris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-j-parris/) > [“Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) is largely an interrogation agency for whistle-blowers that extracts their full range of knowledge without upholding their legal rights.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/occupational-safety-health-administration-osha-is-largely-an/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) > [ \[In geology,\] As in history, the material in hand remains silent if no questions are asked. The nature of these questions depends on the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-geology-as-in-history-the-material-in-hand-remains-silent-if-no/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I have never worked on interrogation; I have never seen an interrogation, and I have only a passing knowledge of the literature on interrogation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-seligman/i-have-never-worked-on-interrogation-i-have-never-seen-an/) [Martin Seligman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-seligman/) > [The greatest reward of this constant interrogation, confrontation with the brutality of my country, is that it has freed me from hosts and myths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/the-greatest-reward-of-this-constant-interrogation-confrontation-with/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [I met a woman in Albuquerque and she came and hung out with me in the trailer. It was really just more to kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlize-theron/i-met-a-woman-in-albuquerque-and-she-came-and-hung-out-with-me-in-the/) [Charlize Theron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlize-theron/) > [The novelist's intuition for the sacred differs from the translator's interrogation of the sacred.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/the-novelist-s-intuition-for-the-sacred-differs-from-the-translator-s/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [The CIA has acknowledged that it has detained about 100 terrorists since 9/11, and about a third of them have been subjected to what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-o-brennan/the-cia-has-acknowledged-that-it-has-detained-about-100-terrorists/) [John O. Brennan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-o-brennan/) > [“Lean in, invade that foot and a half that is all theirs, their own space. Lean back when you get what you want. It’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-connelly/lean-in-invade-that-foot-and-a-half-that-is-all-theirs-their-own/) [Michael Connelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-connelly/) > [Maugham then offers the greatest advice anyone could give to a young author: "At the end of an interrogation sentence, place a question mark.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/maugham-then-offers-the-greatest-advice-anyone-could-give-to-a-young/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [You've gotta understand - when you interview someone, it's not an interrogation. It's not the Nuremberg Trials.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-rivers/you-ve-gotta-understand-when-you-interview-someone-it-s-not-an/) [Joan Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-rivers/) > [The hon. gentleman had better spare his interrogations if they are as senseless as that one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-tupper/the-hon-gentleman-had-better-spare-his-interrogations-if-they-are-as/) [Charles Tupper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-tupper/) > [Photography is only intuition, a perpetual interrogation - everything except a stage set.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-cartier-bresson/photography-is-only-intuition-a-perpetual-interrogation-everything/) [Henri Cartier-Bresson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-cartier-bresson/) > [There is ...a huge tacit conspiracy between the U.S. government, its agencies and its multinational corporations, on the one hand, and local business and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-s-herman/there-is-a-huge-tacit-conspiracy-between-the-u-s-government-its/) [Edward S. Herman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-s-herman/) [Browse all 162 Interrogation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interrogation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“of us is the Oedipus here? Which the Sphinx? It would seem to be a rendezvous of questions and notes of interrogation. And could it be believed that it at last seems to us as if the problem had never been propounded before, as if we were the first to discern it, get a sight of it, and RISK RAISING it? For there is risk in raising it, perhaps there is no greater risk.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphinx-it-would-seem-to-be-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Interrogation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphinx-it-would-seem-to-be-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/friedrich-nietzsche-15_interrogation_of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphi_2399574.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/friedrich-nietzsche-15_interrogation_of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphi_2399574.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/friedrich-nietzsche-15_interrogation_of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphi_2399574.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“of us is the Oedipus here? Which the Sphinx? It would seem to be a rendezvous of questions and notes of…” — Friedrich Nietzsche", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“of us is the Oedipus here?...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphinx-it-would-seem-to-be-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-us-is-the-oedipus-here-which-the-sphinx-it-would-seem-to-be-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```