@philosophyminis: We often confuse strength for power. We think that a boss, or a leader, or a big-muscled man with a gun or a punch is strong. But according to Friedrich Nietzsche, true strength is something far, far harder to find and to build. Nietzsche wrote that he found strength in those few people that we might call simple, or mild, or pleasant, and they had no desire to rule whatsoever. Because Nietzsche thought that that desire to rule is a sign of inward weakness. People who like to strut and dominate needlessly fear their own slave soul. And so they wrap it up in a royal cloak. But in the end, Nietzsche argues, these people become slaves to their followers, to their fame, to their power, to the constant needs to one-up all of the time. Imagine somebody called Gary, who's just been promoted to manager, and so he wants to be copied into every email, and he takes credit for everything in every meeting. He checks who laughed at his jokes and who backed him up when and where. Gary thinks that he is running a team, but actually the team is running Gary. Meanwhile, three desks down, there is somebody called Olive who's never been asked to become a manager, but she is the first person that everybody turns to when something goes wrong. Nietzsche isn't praising meekness, and elsewhere he is scathing about people who do the opposite to this — those who weaponise their victimhood and dress up timidity as a virtue. But here he is saying that the rule cuts both ways, and so the strongest person in the room might be the gentlest, and the loudest person might be the most afraid. And so the question of strength is never about power or domination. It's about being able to live your own life according to the beat of your own drum.

Jonny Thomson

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Region: GB

Saturday 17 October 2026 13:15:00 GMT