187

Even apart from the value of such claims as "There is in us a categorical imperative," we can still always ask: What does such a claim express about the person making it? There are moralities which are intended to justify their creators before other people; other moralities are meant to calm him down and make him satisfied with himself; with others he wants to nail himself to the cross and humiliate himself; with others he wants to practise revenge; with others to hide himself; with others to be transfigured and set himself above, high up and far away. This morality serves its originator so that he forgets; that morality so that he or something about him is forgotten; some moralists may want to exercise their power and creative mood on humanity, some others, perhaps even Kant as well, want us to understand with their morality: "What is respectable about me is that I can obey - and things should be no different for you than they are for me" - in short, moralities are also only a sign language of the feelings.

Friedrich Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil
Part V - Aphorism # 187

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