--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Whoever approaches these Olympians with…" description: "\"“Whoever approaches these Olympians with another religion in his heart, searching among them for moral elevation, even for sanctity, for disincarnate s..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ada/friedrich-nietzsche-15_generosity_whoever-approaches-these-olympians-with_924175.jpg" --- # Whoever approaches these Olympians with another religion… ![“Whoever approaches these Olympians with another religion in his heart, searching among them for moral elevation, even for sanctity, for disincarnate spirituality, for charity and benevolence, will soon be forced to turn his back on them, discouraged and disappointed. For there is nothing here that…” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ada/friedrich-nietzsche-15_generosity_whoever-approaches-these-olympians-with_924175.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ada/friedrich-nietzsche-15_generosity_whoever-approaches-these-olympians-with_924175.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ada/friedrich-nietzsche-15_generosity_whoever-approaches-these-olympians-with_924175.jpg) > ““Whoever approaches these Olympians with another religion in his heart, searching among them for moral elevation, even for sanctity, for disincarnate spirituality, for charity and benevolence, will soon be forced to turn his back on them, discouraged and disappointed. For there is nothing here that suggests asceticism, spirituality, or duty. We hear nothing but the accents of an exuberant, triumphant life in which all things, whether good or evil, are deified.”” [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 warns that seeking moral or spiritual elevation from external sources, like mythic heroes, leads to disappointment because such figures embody worldly triumph, not ascetic virtue. **In simple terms:** Chasing spiritual meaning in worldly heroes is futile. Key Takeaway Seek inner values rather than external idols. Themes spirituality disillusionment hero worship Mood critical philosophical Type analytical skeptical When to use this quote - religious practice - philosophical study - personal growth Key Concepts nihilism existential critique cultural critique Questions to Reflect On - What inner principles guide you? - How do you differentiate authentic spirituality from external spectacle? A Different Perspective Relying on external symbols may ignore personal moral development. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Approaches Olympians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/approaches-olympians-1453307/) [Asceticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asceticism/) [Generosity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generosity/) [Kindness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kindness/) [Olympians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/olympians/) [Olympians Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/olympians-religion-1453305/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Suggests Asceticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suggests-asceticism-1453306/) ## Related quotes > [The most spiritual men, as the strongest, find their happiness where others would find their destruction: in the labyrinth, in hardness against themselves and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-most-spiritual-men-as-the-strongest-find-their-happiness-where/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [In every ascetic morality man worships a part of himself as God and for that he needs to diabolize the other part.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/in-every-ascetic-morality-man-worships-a-part-of-himself-as-god-and/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The most intelligent men, like the strongest, find their happiness where others would find only disaster: in the labyrinth, in being hard with themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-most-intelligent-men-like-the-strongest-find-their-happiness-2/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The ascetic makes a necessity of virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-ascetic-makes-a-necessity-of-virtue/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [We find nothing easier than being wise, patient, superior. We drip with the oil of forbearance and sympathy, we are absurdly just, we forgive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-find-nothing-easier-than-being-wise-patient-superior-we-drip-with/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Asceticism is the right way of thinking for those who have to extirpate their sensual drives because they are ravening beasts of prey. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/asceticism-is-the-right-way-of-thinking-for-those-who-have-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The Ancient Games are relatively obscure to most Olympians, but to understand just what the Games are about, it is really necessary to investigate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-toomey/the-ancient-games-are-relatively-obscure-to-most-olympians-but-to/) [Bill Toomey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-toomey/) > [I beat Olympians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jermell-charlo/i-beat-olympians/) [Jermell Charlo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jermell-charlo/) > [Past Olympians have a continuing role within the Olympic family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-toomey/past-olympians-have-a-continuing-role-within-the-olympic-family/) [Bill Toomey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-toomey/) > [There's something about an Olympic Games and representing Canada and being part of that greater team, so when we're 70, we'll be wanting to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tessa-virtue/there-s-something-about-an-olympic-games-and-representing-canada-and/) [Tessa Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tessa-virtue/) > [This killing of Israel athletes is an act of war. And if there's one place that war doesn't belong, it's here. 1200 years. From…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bowerman/this-killing-of-israel-athletes-is-an-act-of-war-and-if-there-s-one/) [Bill Bowerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bowerman/) > [You start seeing all of the athlete profiles on NBC, and whenever the Summer Olympics come up, I feel like I share the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lindsey-vonn/you-start-seeing-all-of-the-athlete-profiles-on-nbc-and-whenever-the/) [Lindsey Vonn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lindsey-vonn/) > [What Olympians eat can vary tremendously depending not only on the events they're competing in, but also their body type and lifestyle outside the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-norris/what-olympians-eat-can-vary-tremendously-depending-not-only-on-the/) [Chuck Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-norris/) > [Former Olympians also get paid to make appearances. Many of them won their medals in an era when Olympic success didn't go hand-in-hand with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lou-retton/former-olympians-also-get-paid-to-make-appearances-many-of-them-won/) [Mary Lou Retton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lou-retton/) > [My participation in the Art of the Olympians is a natural extension of my athletic career. I find creating a piece of art in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-beamon/my-participation-in-the-art-of-the-olympians-is-a-natural-extension/) [Bob Beamon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-beamon/) ## 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 Asceticism quotes > [The religion of art, like the religion of politics, was born from the ruins of Christianity. Art inherited from the old religion the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/the-religion-of-art-like-the-religion-of-politics-was-born-from-the/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Fie on the eloquence that leaves us craving itself, not things!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/fie-on-the-eloquence-that-leaves-us-craving-itself-not-things/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [The beauty of a cuckoo is in its notes, that of a woman in her unalloyed devotion to her husband, that of an ugly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chanakya/the-beauty-of-a-cuckoo-is-in-its-notes-that-of-a-woman-in-her/) [Chanakya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chanakya/) > [The principle of asceticism never was, nor ever can be, consistently pursued by any living creature. Let but one tenth part of the inhabitants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-bentham/the-principle-of-asceticism-never-was-nor-ever-can-be-consistently/) [Jeremy Bentham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-bentham/) > [“In his treatise on the battles between the gods underlying ancient Dionysian theatre, the young Nietzsche notes: 'Alas! The magic of these struggles is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-sloterdijk/in-his-treatise-on-the-battles-between-the-gods-underlying-ancient/) [Peter Sloterdijk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-sloterdijk/) > [Catholicism is not ritualism; it may in the future be fighting some sort of superstitious and idolatrous exaggeration of ritual. Catholicism is not asceticism;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/catholicism-is-not-ritualism-it-may-in-the-future-be-fighting-some/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [“A Christian who practices asceticism trains himself to say no to his desires and yes to God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rod-dreher/a-christian-who-practices-asceticism-trains-himself-to-say-no-to-his/) [Rod Dreher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rod-dreher/) > [The main motive for nonattachment is a desire to escape from the pain of living, and above all from love, which, sexual or non-sexual,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/the-main-motive-for-nonattachment-is-a-desire-to-escape-from-the-pain/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Dieting is our last tie with asceticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/dieting-is-our-last-tie-with-asceticism/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [When you reach your sixties, you have to decide whether you're going to be a sot or an ascetic. In other words if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/when-you-reach-your-sixties-you-have-to-decide-whether-you-re-going/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [Everybody who does not live in a prostitute's bed and on a diet of cocaine snow is called an ascetic nowadays.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/everybody-who-does-not-live-in-a-prostitute-s-bed-and-on-a-diet-of/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Genuine asceticism for finding one's own soul and for the good of humanity is worthy of reverence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rama-swami/genuine-asceticism-for-finding-one-s-own-soul-and-for-the-good-of/) [Rama Swami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rama-swami/) > [Many modern scholars have found the asceticism expressed in Plato unacceptable; it does not sound like the advice of a reasonable man in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mcevilley/many-modern-scholars-have-found-the-asceticism-expressed-in-plato/) [Thomas McEvilley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mcevilley/) > [The dunyâ distracts and preoccupies the heart and body, but al-zuhd (asceticism, not giving importance to worldly things) gives rest to the heart and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hasan-of-basra/the-duny-distracts-and-preoccupies-the-heart-and-body-but-al-zuhd/) [Hasan of Basra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hasan-of-basra/) > [Asceticism is the right way of thinking for those who have to extirpate their sensual drives because they are ravening beasts of prey. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/asceticism-is-the-right-way-of-thinking-for-those-who-have-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) [Browse all 113 Asceticism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asceticism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Whoever approaches these Olympians with another religion in his heart, searching among them for moral elevation, even for sanctity, for disincarnate spirituality, for charity and benevolence, will soon be forced to turn his back on them, discouraged and disappointed. For there is nothing here that suggests asceticism, spirituality, or duty. 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