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The unreasonableness of a thing is no argument against its existence, but rather a condition thereof.
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“The unreasonableness of a thing is no argument against its existence, but rather a condition thereof.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

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Source
Human, All-Too-Human
Date
1909
English wording
Helen Zimmern — Translator · from German
Meaning

Meaning of “The unreasonableness of a thing is no argument…”

The aphorism separates the fact that something exists from the expectation that existence must be rational or well ordered.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Human, All-Too-Human, Part I, aphorism 515, “From Experience”; Helen Zimmern translation.

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Ideas connected with this quotation

AttitudeDeepMindPhilosophyThinking Quotes About Reasoning, Reflection & JudgmentThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite ReflectionTruthUnderstandingWisdom Quotes About Judgment & Living WellPerspectiveRealityReason
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To define is to limit.
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“To define is to limit.”

Oscar Wilde · The Picture of Dorian Gray — 1891 edition · 1891
Voice: Fictional character · Lord Henry Wotton
Meaning & context

Definitions clarify ideas but can also narrow them, especially when a label is treated as the complete reality of a person or experience.

Source details

The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891 edition, Chapter 17; Lord Henry answers the Duchess of Monmouth’s question “What are you?” with “To define is to limit.”

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There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
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“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

William Shakespeare · Hamlet · c. 1600
Voice: Fictional character · Hamlet
Meaning & context

The line separates events from the judgments people place on them, a useful distinction for thinking about perception and response.

Source details

Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2; Hamlet says this to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern while explaining that Denmark feels like a prison to him. The line is dramatic dialogue, not a detached psychological proposition by Shakespeare.

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A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
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“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”

Thomas Paine · Common Sense · 1776
Meaning & context

Custom can disguise error by making the familiar feel legitimate; critical judgment requires re-examining practices that have escaped scrutiny through repetition.

Source details

Common Sense (1776), Introduction. The represented opening sentence is verified in Project Gutenberg #147 and the validated scan-backed Wikisource transcription; Paine argues that familiarity can make a wrong practice appear right before public argument unsettles the custom.

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Partial knowledge is more triumphant than complete knowledge; it takes things to be simpler than they are.
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“Partial knowledge is more triumphant than complete knowledge; it takes things to be simpler than they are.”

Friedrich Nietzsche · Human, All-Too-Human · 1909
Meaning & context

The warning is that simplified partial explanations can spread more easily precisely because they remove the complications that fuller understanding would have to preserve.

Source details

Human, All-Too-Human, Part I, aphorism 578, “Partial Knowledge”; Helen Zimmern translation; sentence shortened before the final clause about popularity and persuasion.

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It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.
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“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.”

Arthur Conan Doyle · A Scandal in Bohemia · 1891
Meaning & context

Holmes argues that explanations should follow evidence because an early theory can tempt a person to force later facts into a preferred story.

Source details

“A Scandal in Bohemia,” The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891), Project Gutenberg #1661. Holmes immediately warns that premature theorizing leads people to twist facts to suit theories; it is fictional detective dialogue.

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