Beyond Good and Evil
Overview
Beyond Good and Evil is a book by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...

, first published in 1886.

It takes up and expands on the ideas of his previous work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None is a philosophical novel by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885...

, but approached from a more critical, polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...

al direction.

In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche accuses past philosophers of lacking critical sense and blindly accepting Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...

 premises in their consideration of morality.
Quotations

"Das habe ich getan" sagt mein Gedächtnis. Das kann ich nicht getan haben — sagt mein Stolz und bleibt unerbittlich. Endlich — gibt das Gedächtnis nach.

"I have done that", says my memory. "I cannot have done that" — says my pride, and remains adamant. At last — memory yields.

One has only seen little of life, if one hasn't also seen the hand that mercifully — kills.

The sage as astronomer. — If you still experience the stars as something "over you," you still don't have the eyes of a knower.

Anyone who despises himself will still respect himself as a despiser.

 
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