Astrology and the Like.—It is probable that the objects of religious, moral, æsthetic and logical sentiment likewise belong only to the surface of things, while man willingly believes that here, at least, he has touched the heart of the world; he deceives himself, because those things enrapture him so profoundly, and make him so profoundly unhappy, and he therefore shows the same pride here as in astrology. For astrology believes that the firmament moves round the destiny of man; the moral man, however, takes it for granted that what he has essentially at heart must also be the essence and heart of things.

Astrology and the Like.—It is probable that the objects of religious, moral, æsthetic and logical sentiment likewise belong only to the surface of things, while man willingly believes that here, at least, he has touched the heart of the world; he deceives himself, because those things enrapture him so profoundly, and make him so profoundly unhappy, and he therefore shows the same pride here as in astrology. For astrology believes that the firmament moves round the destiny of man; the moral man, however, takes it for granted that what he has essentially at heart must also be the essence and heart of things.

Source

Human, All-Too-Human, Part 1 (1909 English edition)
Part1, complete printed aphorism 4; Helen Zimmern translation; Edinburgh and London: T.N. Foulis,1909
Read the original context ↗

Attribution confidence

attributed · historical anthology
Preserved as printed; independently unverified.

Historical coordinate

c. 1872 AD · industrial
author lifetime midpoint (1844–1900); not quotation composition date; not composition date.

Rights & edition

Public domain (United States)
Translations and rights may differ elsewhere.
Provenance and licences ↗