Nietzsche was wrong, says a group of American scientists led by Susan Charles from the University of California (USA). Their research suggests that negative experiences have the opposite effect on many of us.

Back in 1995, University of Pennsylvania psychologist David Almeida began an experiment in which 1,483 people, men and women of different ages, took part. They were asked to take two tests.

The first asked them to rate on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being “never” and 5 being “always”) how often during the past 30 days they felt: a) worthless/hopeless/nervous/twitchy/restless, b ) how often it seemed to them that everything they did required a lot of effort, c) how often they were so sad that nothing seemed to be able to cheer them up.

Small sources of everyday stress that happened in the past had a long-term impact on the mental health of respondents

In the second test, participants were asked to answer whether they had experienced any of the specified types of stress the day before the survey. Types of stress included arguments, situations in which one refrained from brewing arguments, problems at work, problems at home, and worries about friends' problems. Finally, respondents were asked whether they had received treatment for anxiety, depression, or any other emotional disorder during the previous year.

After 10 years, David Almeida tried again to contact the same respondents. Someone has already died, someone refused to take part in the survey a second time, someone has moved.

About half of the participants responded - 711 people aged 25 to 74 years. Almeida asked them to rate on the same scale how often they had experienced various negative emotions during the past 30 days. He also asked again if they had received treatment for any emotional disorders in the past 12 months.

The results of the two surveys were analyzed by a group of scientists from different American universities. They found that, contrary to Nietzsche's idea, small sources of everyday stress that happened in the past had a long-term impact on the mental health of respondents.

The more painful we perceive everyday minor difficulties, the more vulnerable our mental health will be in the future.

“The more often people felt worthless/hopeless/nervous/twitchy/anxious (even though they had not yet required treatment for a mental disorder), the more likely they were to develop a mental disorder 10 years later,” the authors concluded.

Of course, the reason may be personal characteristics rather than difficult circumstances. Different people react differently to similar unpleasant events. What makes one person feel insignificant, another will just give up on. However, the research shows that for some, even small turmoil has negative consequences - weakening rather than strengthening the psyche.

In other words, the more painful we perceive everyday small difficulties, the more vulnerable our mental health will be in the future. So Nietzsche’s catchphrase, if true, is, alas, not for everyone.

People inspire us in difficult situations, they can decorate your speech, use them in correspondence, on your page on social networks. Some people choose a quote they especially like as their motto, while others get a tattoo with it. One of the favorite phrases of many is “What does not kill us makes us stronger.” Let's get acquainted with its author, original, meaning and other interesting details.

Who said: “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger?” Meaning

The author of the catchphrase was the highly controversial thinker Friedrich Nietzsche. The quote is understood in different meanings, but the essence of the interpretation is the same: only by overcoming significant difficulties, and even troubles, and experiencing grief, will a person become a truly spiritually strong person.

The phrase, however, was taken out of context. Nietzsche did not want to put a romantic, motivational meaning into it and somehow urge his followers not to be afraid of life’s adversities. These words are connected with his doctrine of the superman.

Quote in original

Friedrich Nietzsche, as we know, was German. Therefore, it will be interesting to determine how “What does not kill us makes us stronger” sounds in the author’s native language.

Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker - this is what this quote will look like in German.

Superman Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche devoted a lot of time to exploring the limits of human capabilities. And he believed that it was the superman who could go beyond these boundaries to become who he is. Let us note that Nietzsche characterized superhumans with a rather large list of qualities, where going beyond the limits of emotional forces was just one of the points.

You can learn more about this topic by reading the work “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.” Superman (Übermensch) for Nietzsche is the image with which he denoted a being who will surpass modern people in spiritual power as much as we surpass monkeys. According to the scientist's hypothesis, Übermensch is the next evolutionary step that will follow man.

However, F. Nietzsche noted that superhumans are already among us, moreover, they were born a long time ago. He included Julius Caesar, C. Borgia, and Napoleon into this category.

about the author

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher, thinker, philologist, poet, and composer. In addition, he is known to the world as the creator of an original philosophical movement.

If we look at the leitmotif of Nietzsche’s works, we will note his new criteria for assessing the entire surrounding reality. He questioned all the principles and forms of morality, culture, art, and social relations existing in his era.

His most famous works are “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, “Beyond Good and Evil”, “Twilight of the Idols”, “Antichrist”, Ecce Homo.

Nietzsche and aphorism

It is no secret that the thinker’s teachings are divided into quotes. The reason is that, being a philologist by training, Nietzsche paid great attention to the style of presentation of his thoughts and views. They are not presented in a coherent system, but act as aphorisms - a laconic short statement, a fully completed thought. In this phrase, the author tries to maximally concentrate the essence of his judgments and reflect the context of the expression.

Of course, Nietzsche did not choose this style of presentation in order to become famous for quoting his words. He spent a lot of time on long walks, and it was also difficult for him to sit for a long time over notes - the thinker began to experience severe pain in his eyes. This is in particular why he chose such a short and succinct form of narration and reasoning.

How to understand the phrase?

Each of us is free to look for our own meaning in the phrase “What does not kill us makes us stronger.” But still, let's see how other people understand it:

• “There is no need to be afraid of difficulties and trials, or to become sour if failure occurs. We need all this to strengthen our character.”
• “We cannot try to avoid problems, we must not be afraid to face them. Only then, having overcome them, will we gain invaluable life experience.”
• “If you feel bad now, it’s temporary. You will definitely go through the test, transformed, becoming stronger.”
• “To understand something, to achieve something, you need to overcome obstacles, disappointments, pain. Only this will make you a spiritually strong person.”
• “A person needs a negative experience in order to understand and rethink something. Only personal experience of any difficulty can leave an imprint on the personality, character, and worldview.”
• “There are difficulties and obstacles that can crush a person morally - the death of a loved one, the loss of everything he treasured, the collapse of his ideals, faith, love. But if he copes with himself, finds the strength to move on, live and rejoice, this will be his victory. He became strong."

Is Nietzsche wrong?

• “The more difficulties a person experiences, the more indifferent and callous he becomes. But, is he stronger?”
• “When a person encounters something that can kill him, spiritually or physically, he needs to become cruel in order to defeat it, not to allow himself to be overcome. So it is more correct to say: what does not kill us makes us cruel.”
• “Not all the difficulties and troubles that a person encounters will necessarily make him strong. Something will deprive him of faith in people, kindness, gullibility, faith in a happy future. And some difficulties can actually drive him crazy.”
• “Constantly repeating misfortunes lead to neuroses, fears, depression, phobias. They make a person more embittered, more desperate, but hardly stronger.”
• “The phrase is applicable only to mental trials. A person will not be made stronger by a cancerous tumor that he managed to overcome, or by a serious injury that crippled his health but did not kill him.”
• “From this phrase it follows that everyone will someday encounter a test that they cannot cope with, and it will kill them. Not a very optimistic quote.”

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger?

The authority of Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as the words of his authorship, are so convincing that many take what he says on faith. And they continue to live by the principle: the more difficulties I go through, the stronger I will be as a person. But is it?

Surely you will be interested in an interesting study conducted by a team of scientists from the University of California (USA) led by S. Charles. Experts, of course, did not try to check exactly the relevance of the brilliant phrase “What does not kill us makes us stronger,” but decided to prove the fact that negative experience does not lead to good consequences.

In 1995, psychologist D. Almeida (USA, Pennsylvania) conducted an extensive survey in which 1,483 respondents of different ages, men and women, took part. They were asked to rate on a 5-point scale (from “never” to “always”) how often over the past month they experienced negative states: they felt unhappy, useless, nervous. People also had to note how many times they felt depressed, the feeling that nothing was working out, that the whole world was against them.

In another part of the test, the respondent noted whether he was stressed the day before participating in the survey. The last part of the questionnaire included questions about whether the participant had ever been treated for emotional disorders, prolonged depression, etc.

Ten years later, D. Almeida again tried to contact the respondents. However, some were no longer alive by that time, and some did not want to take the survey again. As a result, 711 people passed the second test. The questions in the questionnaire were the same.

A group of scientists led by S. Charles analyzed the results of D. Almeida's research. What this activity showed fundamentally negated the phrase “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger!” It turns out that the more often a person ten years ago felt unwanted, abandoned, useless, fell into depression and was in stressful situations, the more likely it is that he currently has a serious mental disorder.

Of course, this tendency is individual. Some people are strengthened by difficulties, while others are destroyed morally. But one cannot deny the fact that life’s troubles, weak or strong, can not only strengthen the psyche, but also greatly weaken it. Therefore, Nietzsche’s phrase “What does not kill us makes us stronger” is not relevant for everyone.

Other quotes from the author

We will present to you the lesser-known aphorisms of Friedrich Nietzsche, but just as interesting, inspiring and meaningful:

• "Superficial people always lie. After all, they are devoid of any content."
• “I don’t understand why slander? If you want to annoy someone, tell some truth about him.”
• "Winners don't believe in coincidences."
• "The herd is not attractive in any way. Even if it follows you."
• “He who is poor in love will be stingy even with politeness.”
• "A good marriage is built on friendship and talent."
• "Duty is the right of others to us."
• “There is a danger of being hit by a carriage for a person who has jumped out from under another carriage.”
• "A man is what he has overcome."
• "Excessiveness is the best guarantee of success."

So we got to know both the phrase itself and its author better. Although it is not known in the deep sense that Nietzsche put into it, the quote is very widespread and causes a lot of controversy and reasoning.

Probably everyone is familiar with the expression: “Everything that cannot kill us makes us stronger.” And I want to believe that failures strengthen us, and victories force us to move on. Let's figure out what makes us stronger.

Formula for fortitude

First, let’s define what a morally strong person means. Firstly, he steadfastly overcomes all the difficulties that fate has prepared. Secondly, he knows how to control himself and, in any situation, goes to achieve his goals.

Victories and defeats

As we wrote above, the strength of our spirit directly depends on success and failure. When faced with blows of fate, it is very important to be able to analyze your mistakes and try to avoid them in the future. Defeat always sets a person back, and the faster he can get back on his feet and move forward, the stronger he is.

Success inspires us and gives us faith in ourselves and our strength. Victory should drive you forward. Many people who were lucky stopped and began to mark time when they had to move forward with double strength so that a little luck would grow into a huge success.

Moral qualities

Of course, strength of spirit can be cultivated in oneself thanks to moral qualities. You need to have not only diligence and patience, but also be open, honest, and decisive. Our will will help us form all the necessary moral qualities in ourselves. Let's look at what strong-willed qualities you need to develop in yourself.

1. Initiative. This is the ability to voluntarily and independently decide on one’s affairs or implement new ideas. If necessary, you need to be able to involve outsiders to help.
2. Determination. The ability to set goals and go towards their implementation. In the article we will also touch on factors that influence the implementation of our plans.
3. Determination. It is important not only to make decisions, but also to follow them through.
4. Patience. This is the ability to accept reality, thereby affecting your comfort zone.
5. Perseverance. The ability to withstand failure and remain committed to a goal.
6. Discipline. This is compliance with norms of behavior.
7. Self-control. This is control of your feelings, speech and behavior. The ability to retain negative emotions is important.

How to become strong

• Get some physical activity. Choose the sport that you like and enjoy it. Gradually you can move on to more complex loads that are difficult. By overcoming this kind of difficulty, you strengthen your body and spirit;
• Improve yourself. If you are strong in a particular area, read as many books on that topic as possible. Participate in discussions, seminars, conferences. If there is no area where you can boast of knowledge, then just take time to read and gain useful information, thereby expanding your horizons. This also applies to sports; you can set yourself a goal - to become a candidate for master of sports or to achieve certain heights. Choose an area in which you want to excel - sports, music, dance, science and study, study, study;
• Set yourself a goal in life and go towards its implementation. It’s better to start small and take small steps towards your cherished goal, or maybe the goal of your whole life. After all, everyone knows: “If you really want to, you can fly into space”;
• Be prepared to change your habits and principles for the sake of your goal. Learn to overcome laziness. To achieve your goal, set tasks and solve them;
• Try to be concentrated. Don't spread yourself thin on several goals or tasks at once. Start with one, gradually increasing your needs. Concentration will help strengthen your spirit;
• Try to plan your day. It will be much easier for you if you know what awaits you tomorrow. This will not only make your life easier, but will also give you confidence;
• Know how to say “no” to your weaknesses. It will be some kind of struggle with yourself. For example, do not eat after 18 pm or give up cigarettes;
• Be patient. Not everything may turn out the way you planned right away;
• Learn to deal with failure. Believe that after defeat there will be victory, and continue to work on yourself;
• Try to fight your fears;
• Don't waste time feeling sorry for yourself, regretting the past. Spend it analyzing your actions and results;
• Don't be afraid of change. Know how to take risks. This will help you discover your best qualities;
• Don't envy the success of others;
• Don't be afraid of loneliness. Instead, use it to reflect on your present and plan for your future.

By adhering to these principles, you will build character and learn to make good decisions.

Friedrich Nietzsche

You must be proud of your enemy; then the successes of your enemy will also be your successes.

But the most dangerous enemy you can meet will always be yourself; you lie in wait for yourself everywhere

Where solitude ends, the bazaar begins, and where the bazaar begins, the buzzing of poisonous flies begins.

We act in reality the same way as in a dream: we invent and create for ourselves a person with whom we enter into communication...

What kept me going? It's always just pregnancy.
And every time with the birth of creation, my life hung by a thread.

Beware of small people! They feel small in front of you, and their baseness flares up against you...

"I don't like this." - Why? - “I haven’t grown up to that.” - Has at least one person ever answered this way?

Only now am I alone: ​​I craved people, I coveted people - I always found only myself.

Let them tell me anything to hurt me; too few people know me to know what hurts me the most.

When a hundred people stand next to each other, everyone loses his mind and gains some other one.

Be those who love themselves - love with great love, love with great contempt!

Even in the best there is something disgusting; and even the best man has something to overcome!

The crowd does not know what is great, what is small, what is direct and truthful: it is crooked in innocence, it always lies.

Perhaps I know better than anyone why only man laughs: he alone suffers so deeply that he was forced to invent laughter.
The most unhappy and the most melancholic animal is also, in fairness, the most cheerful.

Man is an inconspicuous animal species that thinks too highly of itself, whose time, fortunately, is limited...

A person as he should be sounds as absurd as “a tree as he should be.”

Shame, shame, shame - this is the story of man!

Do I love music? I don't know: too often I hate her.
But music loves me, and as soon as someone leaves me, it instantly rushes to me and wants to be loved.

I do not run away from the proximity of people: it is the distance, the eternal distance that lies between man and man, that drives me into loneliness.
*
Monkeys are too good for man to come from them
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Much that was called good by one people was called mockery and shame by another.
Much that was called evil here was adorned there with a purple mantle of honor...
Truly, people have given themselves all their good and all their evil...
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This life, as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live again and countless more times;
and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every pleasure, every thought and every sigh and everything unspeakably small and great in your life will have to return to you anew, and everything in the same order and in the same sequence - also and this spider, and this moonlight between the trees, also this moment, and I myself.
The eternal hourglass of existence turns over again and again - and you along with it, a grain of sand!
*
Look at the believers! Who do they hate the most?
He breaks the tablets of their values, destroys and transgresses, but he is a creator.

There is not enough love and goodness in the world to be lavished on imaginary beings.

“Love your neighbor” means first of all: “Leave your neighbor alone!”

There is nothing good about herds, even if they run after you.

They say “body”, but they think about what is below the body...

When a person puffs up, he becomes even more empty.

Superficial people must always lie because they have no substance.

The knower is reluctant to plunge into the water of truth, not when it is dirty, but when it is shallow.

For one, loneliness is the escape of the sick, and for the other, it is an escape from the sick.

People don't forgive me for not envying them.

If you are a slave, you cannot be a friend. If you are a tyrant, you cannot have friends.

Even the broadest soul, my brothers, what pitiful lands these are!

Love your neighbors as yourself - but first become those who love themselves - loves with great love, loves with great contempt!

The world revolves not around those who create new noise, but around those who create new values... it silently revolves.

Misfortune has escaped you; Enjoy this as your own happiness!

People who strive for greatness are usually evil people: this is their only way of standing with themselves.

Life is a source of joy; but wherever the crowd drinks, the springs are poisoned.

If a friend hurts you, say this:
“I forgive you for what you did to me; but how can you forgive the evil you have done to yourself?”

You will rarely make a mistake if you attribute exceptional actions to vanity, mediocre ones to habit, and minor ones to fear.

Like the sun, I love life and all the deep seas. And this is what I call knowledge: so that everything deep can rise to my height!

If we learn to rejoice more, then we will best forget how to offend others

A person's demand to be loved is the greatest of all conceits.

I love the brave: but it’s not enough to be a slasher, you also need to know who to slash!
And often there is more courage in holding back and passing by: and thereby saving yourself for a more worthy enemy!

Only where the state ends does man begin

All gods are symbols and intricacies of poets!

You were not yet looking for yourself when you found me.
This happens to all believers; and that is why all faith means so little.

You are entering into a marriage: be careful that it does not become a conclusion for you!

Mystical explanations are considered profound. The truth is that they are not even superficial.

There is no beautiful surface without terrible depth.

Facts do not exist - there are only interpretations.

There was only one Christian...

A blunt forehead requires, as an argument, a clenched fist.

Philosophy opens to man a refuge where no tyranny can penetrate, a valley of inner peace, a labyrinth of the heart, and this irritates tyrants.

We praise what suits our taste: this means that when we praise, we praise our own taste

All love thinks of the moment and eternity, but never of duration.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

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You have read “What does not kill us makes us stronger” and other quotes and author’s statements by the philosopher Nietzsche, from the collection of quotes and works by Friedrich Nietzsche.
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When a “dark streak” begins in life, many people become depressed, thereby further aggravating the current situation. By submitting to circumstances, they seem to admit in advance that they have lost. And they don’t even try to find a way out, deciding that nothing can be done anyway. Such thoughts are the first sign of weakness. You need to fight in any case, no matter what trials life has in store.

You don’t need to set yourself up for the bad, but you also shouldn’t expect only gifts from life. Any circumstances should be perceived as an experience, which shapes the attitude towards the surrounding reality.

You should not count on the help and support of loved ones. Yes, when there are sympathetic people around, it is easier to survive troubles. But, on the other hand, this is also a step back. Support and words of consolation very often give rise to feelings of self-pity. They rarely motivate decisive action. The words of loved ones have a calming effect, and there is a desire to come to terms with the situation rather than overcome it. This is why it is often more useful to try to sort out problems yourself. Of course, you shouldn’t refuse help. But also count on her, accusing others of indifference. Perhaps the self-removal of loved ones from solving your problems is the first step towards starting a new, brighter and richer life, which you will manage yourself.

Don't blame yourself for all your problems. Self-examination is the first step to deep depression. It is better to direct your energy to finding a way out of the current unpleasant situation.

Why life's difficulties make people stronger

Not everyone who has experienced unpleasant events is able to become stronger. Many “break down” and start drinking alcohol to forget. This is the way to the bottom. Intoxication only temporarily relieves problems and makes you stop thinking about them. But it doesn't solve them. Troubles accumulate, “wind up” on each other, and every day it becomes more and more difficult to find a way out. That is why you need to deal with difficult circumstances as soon as they appear. Think about solving problems, look for ways to overcome them, and not hide from them. Only such behavior can transform a person into a strong, integral personality. And the sooner this happens, the easier it will be to live on. Small troubles that previously seemed insoluble will simply cease to be noticed. And major problems will be perceived not as tragedies, but as another way to show your best qualities and gain new experience.