Out of the doctrine
Out of the doctrine of original sin grew the crimes and miseries of asceticism, celibacy and witchcraft; woman becoming the helpless victim of all these delusions. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Asceticism
The ascetic makes a
The ascetic makes a necessity of virtue. Friedrich Nietzsche
In every ascetic morality
In every ascetic morality man worships a part of himself as God and for that he needs to diabolize the other part. Friedrich Nietzsche
Asceticism is the right
Asceticism is the right way of thinking for those who have to extirpate their sensual drives because they are ravening beasts of prey. But only for those! Friedrich Nietzsche
We find nothing easier
We find nothing easier than being wise, patient, superior. We drip with the oil of forbearance and sympathy, we are absurdly just, we forgive everything. For that very reason we ought to discipline ourselves a little; for that very reason we ought to cultivate a little emotion, a little emotional vice, from time to time. … Read more
The most intelligent men,
The most intelligent men, like the strongest, find their happiness where others would find only disaster: in the labyrinth, in being hard with themselves and with others, in effort; their delight is self-mastery; in them asceticism becomes second nature, a necessity, as instinct. Friedrich Nietzsche
The most spiritual men,
The most spiritual men, as the strongest, find their happiness where others would find their destruction: in the labyrinth, in hardness against themselves and others, in experiments. Their joy is self-conquest: asceticism becomes in them nature, need, and instinct. Difficult tasks are a privilege to them; to play with burdens that crush others, a recreation. … Read more
Asceticism is the trifling
Asceticism is the trifling of an enthusiast with his power, a puerile coquetting with his selfishness or his vanity, in the absence of any sufficiently great object to employ the first or overcome the last. Florence Nightingale
The origin of the
The origin of the stupid ideal of womanhood against which men as well as women to-day are still fighting was the asceticism of the Christian religion; and, unless St. Paul was a woman in disguise, I fail to see how woman is to be blamed for a conception of her place and duty from which … Read more
If any man would
If any man would come after me, let him deny himself. The disciple must say to himself the same words Peter said of Christ when he denied him: I know not this man. Self-denial is never just a series of isolated acts of mortification or asceticism. It is not suicide, for there is an element … Read more