“Model for others. He who wants to set a good example must add a grain of foolishness to his virtue; then others can imitate and, at the same time, rise above the one being imitated - something which people love.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche, book Human, All Too Human

Section IX, "Man Alone with Himself" / aphorism 561
Human, All Too Human (1878), Helen Zimmern translation

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Friedrich Nietzsche655

German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and cl… 1844–1900

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“He loves to imitate. We often imitate the same person without perceiving it, and we neglect our own good qualities for the good qualities of others, which generally do not suit us.”

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Context: Few men, nevertheless, can have unison in many matters without being a copy of each other, if each follow his natural turn of mind. But in general a person will not wholly follow it. He loves to imitate. We often imitate the same person without perceiving it, and we neglect our own good qualities for the good qualities of others, which generally do not suit us.

“The original writer is not he who refrains from imitating others, but he who can be imitated by none.”

François-René de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) French writer, politician, diplomat and historian

L’écrivain original n’est pas celui qui n’imite personne, mais celui que personne ne peut imiter.
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1979) 3rd edition
Variant translations:
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“Model for others. He who wants to set a good example must add a grain of foolishness to his virtue; then others can imitate and, at the same time, rise above the one being imitated - something which people love.”

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Friedrich Nietzsche655

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