# 267 explained — Beyond Good and Evil

> Chapter companion for Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## What happens

The narrator contrasts the modern European tendency of self-diminishment ('making the heart small') with the expansive spirit of ancient Greece, suggesting a fundamental decline in civilization.

## Themes in this chapter

### Critique of Modernity

Directly criticizes the self-diminishing, small-hearted tendency as the fundamental trait of modern European civilization.

## Character check-ins

### The Narrator

Critiques modern European civilization by comparing it to ancient Greek sensibilities.

### The Germans

Implied as part of the modern Europeans embodying the self-dwarfing tendency.

### Europeans

Explicitly named as the subjects of the critique for their 'self-dwarfing' nature.

## Key lines

> “ Siao-sin ” (“Make thy heart small”). This is the essentially fundamental tendency in latter-day civilizations.

The core drive of modern civilization is to shrink one's spirit and ambition.

_Presents a foreign proverb as a diagnosis of modern decay._

> I have no doubt that an ancient Greek, also, would first of all remark the self-dwarfing in us Europeans of today⁠—in this respect alone we should immediately be “distasteful” to him.

An ancient Greek would be repelled by our modern habit of belittling ourselves.

_Uses a historical perspective (ancient Greece) as a standard to judge and condemn contemporary European culture._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/267
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters