The Twilight of the Idols · Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
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This “consequently” would be the _absurdum_ itself as a criterion of truth.—Let us be indulgent enough to assume, however, that salvation is proved by faith (—_not_ only desired, and _not_ merely promised by the somewhat suspicious lips of a priest): could salvation—or, in technical terminology, _happiness_—ever be a proof of truth? So little is it so that, when pleasurable sensations make their influence felt in replying to the question “what is true,” they furnish almost the contradiction of truth, or at any rate they make it in the highest degree suspicious. The proof through “happiness,” is a proof of happiness—and nothing else; why in the world should we take it for granted that _true_ judgments cause more pleasure than false ones, and that in accordance with a pre-established harmony, they necessarily bring pleasant feelings in their wake?—The experience of all strict and profound minds teaches the _reverse._ Every inch of truth has been conquered only after a struggle, almost everything to which our heart, our love and our trust in life cleaves, has had to be sacrificed for it Greatness of soul is necessary for this: the service of truth is the hardest of all services.—What then is meant by honesty in things intellectual? It means that a man is severe towards his own heart, that he scorns “beautiful feelings,” and that he makes a matter of conscience out of every Yea and Nay!—-Faith saveth: _consequently_ it lies....
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.