--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The unselective knowledge drive resembles…" description: "\"The unselective knowledge drive resembles the indiscriminate sexual drive--signs of vulgarity!\" — Friedrich Nietzsche" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/751/friedrich-nietzsche-15_knowledge_the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resemble_1012828.jpg" --- # The unselective knowledge drive resembles the… ![“The unselective knowledge drive resembles the indiscriminate sexual drive--signs of vulgarity!” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/751/friedrich-nietzsche-15_knowledge_the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resemble_1012828.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/751/friedrich-nietzsche-15_knowledge_the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resemble_1012828.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/751/friedrich-nietzsche-15_knowledge_the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resemble_1012828.jpg) > “The unselective knowledge drive resembles the indiscriminate sexual drive--signs of vulgarity!” [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. Nietzsche likens the unfiltered pursuit of knowledge to an uncontrolled sexual drive, suggesting it can become vulgar and lacking discernment. **In simple terms:** Blind knowledge seeking can be as reckless as uncontrolled desire. Key Takeaway Seek knowledge with discernment, not just appetite. Themes knowledge desire vulgarity critique philosophy Mood critical thoughtful philosophical Type analytical skeptical inquisitive When to use this quote - academic research - media consumption - personal learning - decision making Key Concepts unfiltered pursuit ethical limits intellectual humility Questions to Reflect On - What boundaries should guide your quest for knowledge? - How do you differentiate deep insight from mere information? A Different Perspective Unrestrained curiosity may lead to superficial or harmful conclusions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Motivation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motivation/) [Sexuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sexuality/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Vulgarity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vulgarity/) ## Related quotes > [Sexual freedom and liberation has to be of your own making. I'm stunned when I hear about friends' children, ten or twelve years old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-tomlin/sexual-freedom-and-liberation-has-to-be-of-your-own-making-i-m/) [Lily Tomlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-tomlin/) > [There is no scientific proof that any food increases sexual drive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-westheimer/there-is-no-scientific-proof-that-any-food-increases-sexual-drive/) [Ruth Westheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-westheimer/) > [The drive to learn is as strong as the sexual drive. It begins earlier and lasts longer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-t-hall/the-drive-to-learn-is-as-strong-as-the-sexual-drive-it-begins-earlier/) [Edward T. Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-t-hall/) > [“Surely it wouldn’t harm you to try.” “Oh, yes it would!” His jaw hardened as he labored to explain. “You’re too inexperienced to understand,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-kleypas/surely-it-wouldn-t-harm-you-to-try-oh-yes-it-would-his-jaw-hardened/) [Lisa Kleypas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-kleypas/) > [“The power and omnipresence of the sexual drive: Next to the love of life it shows itself here as the strongest and most active…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irvin-d-yalom/the-power-and-omnipresence-of-the-sexual-drive-next-to-the-love-of/) [Irvin D. Yalom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irvin-d-yalom/) > [ What \[Prozac\] does is completely annihilate the sexual drive, so the question of passion hardly arises. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/what-prozac-does-is-completely-annihilate-the-sexual-drive-so-the/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [The sexual drive is nothing but the motor memory of previously remembered pleasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-reich/the-sexual-drive-is-nothing-but-the-motor-memory-of-previously/) [Wilhelm Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-reich/) > [Every characteristic absence of spirituality, every piece of common vulgarity, is due to an inability to resist a stimulus - you have to react,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-characteristic-absence-of-spirituality-every-piece-of-common/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [A man who whinnies with noisy laughter, surpasses all the animals in vulgarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/a-man-who-whinnies-with-noisy-laughter-surpasses-all-the-animals-in/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The degree and kind of a man's sexuality reach up into the ultimate pinnacle of his spirit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-degree-and-kind-of-a-man-s-sexuality-reach-up-into-the-ultimate/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The states in which we infuse a transfiguration and a fullness into things and poetize about them until they reflect back our fullness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-states-in-which-we-infuse-a-transfiguration-and-a-fullness-into/) [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/) > [For every one pupil who needs to be guarded against a weak excess of sensibility there are three who need to be awakened from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-every-one-pupil-who-needs-to-be-guarded-against-a-weak-excess-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-marshall-harlan-ii/one-man-s-vulgarity-is-another-man-s-lyric/) [John Marshall Harlan II](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-marshall-harlan-ii/) > [In some sort of crude sense, which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/in-some-sort-of-crude-sense-which-no-vulgarity-no-humor-no/) [J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/) ## 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 Knowledge quotes > [“Knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabelaise/knowledge-without-conscience-is-but-the-ruin-of-the-soul/) Rabelaise > [For successful education there must always be a certain freshness in the knowledge dealt with. It must be either new in itself or invested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/for-successful-education-there-must-always-be-a-certain-freshness-in/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. If you know these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bernbach/nothing-is-so-powerful-as-an-insight-into-human-nature-what/) [William Bernbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bernbach/) > [But I already saw no great difference between the psyche and spirituality. To amass knowledge without becoming wise is not my idea of progress…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-scott-peck/but-i-already-saw-no-great-difference-between-the-psyche-and/) [M. Scott Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-scott-peck/) > [If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-we-will-not-interfere-with-our-thought-but-will-act-entirely-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [An enlightened awareness is within each one of us, right at this moment. This enlightened awareness is truly unborn and marvellously illuminating; and everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bankei-yotaku/an-enlightened-awareness-is-within-each-one-of-us-right-at-this/) [Bankei Yotaku](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bankei-yotaku/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I never knew any man who had once tasted the sweetness of experimental knowledge, that ever afterward fasted after ye Vapour garlick and onions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-zimmer/i-never-knew-any-man-who-had-once-tasted-the-sweetness-of/) [Carl Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-zimmer/) > [I would rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent than in the extent of my powers and dominion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-the-great/i-would-rather-excel-others-in-the-knowledge-of-what-is-excellent/) [Alexander the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-the-great/) > [We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/we-know-accurately-only-when-we-know-little-with-knowledge-doubt/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [I've always been a believer in research. It's great to have an instinctual human reaction to a character, too, of course, but it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chiwetel-ejiofor/i-ve-always-been-a-believer-in-research-it-s-great-to-have-an/) [Chiwetel Ejiofor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chiwetel-ejiofor/) > [I am an aware citizen, so I want my characters to be aware, too. They should be aware of what's happening in the society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-tripathi/i-am-an-aware-citizen-so-i-want-my-characters-to-be-aware-too-they/) [Pankaj Tripathi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-tripathi/) > [Technology means the systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/technology-means-the-systematic-application-of-scientific-or-other/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [Love is a vision,love carry our vision,and love by-step our vision. we carry our love to our by-step. once love is vision love is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-is-a-vision-love-carry-our-vision-and-love-by-step-our-vision-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Man is an ignoramus athirst for knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-wagner/man-is-an-ignoramus-athirst-for-knowledge/) [Charles Wagner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-wagner/) [Browse all 13,227 Knowledge quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The unselective knowledge drive resembles the indiscriminate sexual drive--signs of vulgarity!", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resembles-the-indiscriminate-sexual/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Knowledge" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resembles-the-indiscriminate-sexual/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/751/friedrich-nietzsche-15_knowledge_the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resemble_1012828.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/751/friedrich-nietzsche-15_knowledge_the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resemble_1012828.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/751/friedrich-nietzsche-15_knowledge_the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resemble_1012828.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The unselective knowledge drive resembles the indiscriminate sexual drive--signs of vulgarity!” — 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": "The unselective knowledge drive resembles the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resembles-the-indiscriminate-sexual/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-unselective-knowledge-drive-resembles-the-indiscriminate-sexual/#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 } } ] } ```