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Who really said it

A moral system valid for all is basically immoral

Not Friedrich Nietzsche — a modern paraphrase Friedrich Nietzsche 1844–1900 · German philosopher & philologist
Disputed In copyright

The thought is genuinely Nietzsche’s — it compresses aphorism 221 of ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ (1886), where he calls it “immoral” to insist that “what is right for one is proper for another.” But this exact, quotable sentence is not his: Wikiquote traces it to biographer Curtis Cate’s ‘Friedrich Nietzsche’ (2002), where it appears as Cate’s own paraphrase of §221.

Last verified 14 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

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Disputed — copy with the correction

“A moral system valid for all is basically immoral” Paraphrase of Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil §221 (1886); wording from Curtis Cate, Friedrich Nietzsche: A Biography (2002)

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Friedrich Nietzsche. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Estate of Curtis Cate and his publishers (Hutchinson, London; The Overlook Press, US)). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Friedrich Nietzsche — German philosopher & philologist. Theme: "A moral system valid for all is basically immoral". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "A moral system valid for all is basically immoral". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where the words actually come from

Popular wording
Curtis Cate’s paraphrase (2002)
Underlying source
Beyond Good and Evil, §221
Original work
Jenseits von Gut und Böse (1886)
Cited translation
Genuine line via Helen Zimmern (1907)

Moral systems must be compelled first of all to bow before the gradations of rank… until they thoroughly understand at last that it is immoral to say that ‘what is right for one is proper for another.’ the epigram vs. the original

This is the genuine passage from §221 (Zimmern’s 1907 translation). The familiar one-liner — “A moral system valid for all is basically immoral” — is Curtis Cate’s compression of the idea, not a sentence Nietzsche wrote.

Beyond Good and Evil §221 (Zimmern translation)

The paper trail

  • The line is filed under Misattributed on Wikiquote’s Beyond Good and Evil page, which states it is “a quotation from Curtis Cate’s Friedrich Nietzsche: A Biography (2003)… the author’s interpretation of Nietzsche’s Aphorism 221.”
  • The genuine §221 — readable in Zimmern’s public-domain translation at American Literature — makes the same point with different words.
  • Quote sites such as Goodreads circulate the epigram under Nietzsche’s name with no book, chapter, or page — the classic signature of a repackaged paraphrase.
In copyright

The idea traces to Nietzsche’s ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ (1886), long in the public domain. But this page’s exact wording originates in Curtis Cate’s biography ‘Friedrich Nietzsche’ (Hutchinson, 2002; Overlook, 2005), which is well within copyright, so the sentence as quoted is in-copyright.

Fact-check

The misattribution, untangled

This is a subtle case: not a fabrication and not a wrong author, but a biographer’s summary sentence that got promoted into a direct Nietzsche quotation.

Friedrich Nietzsche paraphrase

The sentence “A moral system valid for all is basically immoral” is not found in Nietzsche’s writings. Wikiquote documents it as a line from Curtis Cate’s biography — the biographer’s interpretation of aphorism 221, later quoted as if Nietzsche said it.

The idea is authentically Nietzsche’s (Beyond Good and Evil §221), but the crisp wording belongs to his biographer Curtis Cate (2002) — so quote it as a paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

Context

Why the idea matters

In §221 of ‘Beyond Good and Evil,’ Nietzsche argues that any “unegoistic” morality that declares itself unconditional and binding on everyone is not just tasteless but harmful — a leveling force that injures “the higher, rarer” types. He drives the point to a deliberate provocation: it is, he says, immoral to insist that what is right for one is right for all.

Cate’s one-line distillation captures that provocation neatly — which is exactly why it travels so well and gets mistaken for Nietzsche’s own aphorism.

The idea is Nietzsche’s; the sentence is his biographer’s.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Truth Justice

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Wikiquote — Beyond Good and Evil (Misattributed)en.wikiquote.org

Lists the epigram as misattributed and traces it to Curtis Cate’s biography as an interpretation of §221.
Beyond Good and Evil §221 — full textamericanliterature.com

Zimmern’s public-domain translation of the actual aphorism the line paraphrases.
Beyond Good and Evil — Project Gutenberggutenberg.org

Complete public-domain English text of the book for checking Nietzsche’s real wording.
Curtis Cate, Friedrich Nietzsche — Internet Archivearchive.org

The 2002/2005 biography that is the actual source of the polished epigram.
Goodreads — the quote in circulationgoodreads.com

Shows the line spread under Nietzsche’s name with no citation.

The philosopher behind the idea

Whose thought this really is

Friedrich Nietzsche

1844–1900 · German philosopher & philologist

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) was a German philosopher whose critiques of morality, truth, and religion reshaped modern thought. In ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ (1886) he attacked the idea of a single morality binding on everyone — the very argument this epigram condenses. He is also one of the internet’s most quote-magnetized names, so lines ‘about’ his ideas are routinely repackaged as things he literally wrote.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source & paraphrase origin

Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, §221 (1886), trans. Helen Zimmern (New York: Macmillan, 1907). The popular epigram derives from Curtis Cate, Friedrich Nietzsche: A Biography (London: Hutchinson, 2002; Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 2005).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘A moral system valid for all is basically immoral’?” Last verified 14 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/a-moral-system-valid-for-all-is-basically-immoral

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