"Every man is a creative cause of what happens, a primum mobile with an original movement"
About this Quote
The intent is polemical. Nietzsche is pushing against the 19th-century reflex to explain humans as products: of Christian sin, of rational duty, of bourgeois convention, of biology, of the herd. Calling each person a creative cause is a refusal of the alibi. It's also a rebuke to the modern habit of moralizing weakness into virtue: if you are a mover, your resentments and passivities are not tragic fate; they're authorship disguised as victimhood.
The subtext is less inspirational poster and more existential provocation. "Original movement" suggests self-overcoming: the capacity to initiate a new valuation rather than repeat inherited ones. It also hints at Nietzsche's suspicion of "free will" as a moral cudgel; he isn't defending a courtroom notion of choice so much as demanding a higher standard of agency, where living becomes an act of composition.
In context, this fits the broader project after the "death of God": once the old First Mover is gone, the burden and possibility of creation drop into human hands.
Quote Details
| Topic | Free Will & Fate |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Nietzsche, Friedrich. (2026, January 16). Every man is a creative cause of what happens, a primum mobile with an original movement. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/every-man-is-a-creative-cause-of-what-happens-a-133874/
Chicago Style
Nietzsche, Friedrich. "Every man is a creative cause of what happens, a primum mobile with an original movement." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/every-man-is-a-creative-cause-of-what-happens-a-133874/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Every man is a creative cause of what happens, a primum mobile with an original movement." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/every-man-is-a-creative-cause-of-what-happens-a-133874/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.











