ProverbWisdomGerman origin1886

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he does not become one

Meaning: In struggling against evil, we risk adopting the very characteristics we oppose.

Who said it? Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 1886

Origin: From Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil (1886), aphorism 146, which continues: "And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."

Equivalents in German

  • German: Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht zum Ungeheuer wird (literally: Whoever fights with monsters had better see to it that he does not become a monster)

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