Friedrich Nietzsche’s statement — “Everything the state says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen” — is a radical critique of the state and its relationship to truth, power, and individual freedom. To unpack this, we need to place it in the context of Nietzsche’s broader philosophy.
1. Distrust of Authority and Institutions
Nietzsche had deep skepticism toward centralized power and institutionalized authority, including the state, organized religion, and traditional morality. When he says “everything the state says is a lie”, he’s not just accusing governments of occasional falsehoods — he’s attacking the very legitimacy and nature of state power. For Nietzsche, the state distorts truth in order to maintain control, shape the masses, and suppress individual will.
2. The State as an Engine of Control
Nietzsche viewed the state as a mechanism that imposes conformity and weakens individuality. The “lie” is symbolic of the state’s propaganda: its ideals of justice, equality, patriotism, or law and order often serve to mask deeper power dynamics, maintaining the dominance of the ruling class or the “herd morality.”
3. “Everything it has it has stolen” — The Origin of State Power
This part reflects Nietzsche’s belief that the state originates in violence and theft, not in a social contract or noble consensus. He implies that:
- The state’s territory was seized by force.
- Its authority over people is not freely given but coerced.
- Even laws and institutions are built on the suppression of older, often more organic, forms of life and order.
4. Nietzsche’s Ideal: The Sovereign Individual
Nietzsche valued individual strength, creativity, and freedom, especially as embodied in the “sovereign individual” — someone who lives by their own values, beyond societal constraints. The state, by contrast, promotes uniformity, mediocrity, and the suppression of exceptional individuals.
In Summary:
Nietzsche’s quote is a provocative condemnation of the state as a deceptive and coercive force. It:
- Challenges the legitimacy of state power.
- Exposes the state’s reliance on violence, propaganda, and conformity.
- Contrasts with Nietzsche’s ideal of personal autonomy and self-overcoming.
It’s not meant to be taken as a literal, political theory — rather, it’s an existential and philosophical rejection of mass systems that inhibit the development of higher forms of human life.