"There are no facts, only interpretations"
About this Quote
The subtext is a power critique. Nietzsche is writing in a Europe that increasingly worships science, bureaucracy, and moral certainty, yet he suspects these institutions smuggle in metaphysics under a lab coat. “Facts” become a prestige label, a way to end arguments and discipline dissent. By denying facts, he’s not freeing us from reality so much as exposing how claims about reality are always made from somewhere, by someone, for some purpose.
Context matters: Nietzsche is reacting against Christian morality, German idealism, and the growing confidence of positivism. His “perspectivism” isn’t the lazy internet slogan “everything is subjective.” It’s a demand for better reading: ask what a claim costs, whom it serves, what kind of life it enables. The line works because it flips the burden of proof. Instead of asking whether an interpretation matches “the facts,” Nietzsche asks why you needed those facts to look that way in the first place.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
|---|---|
| Source | Friedrich Nietzsche, essay 'Wahrheit und Lüge im außermoralischen Sinne' ("Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense"), 1873 — original phrasing often given as 'Es gibt keine Tatsachen, nur Interpretationen' ("There are no facts, only interpretations"). |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Nietzsche, Friedrich. (2026, January 14). There are no facts, only interpretations. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-are-no-facts-only-interpretations-172650/
Chicago Style
Nietzsche, Friedrich. "There are no facts, only interpretations." FixQuotes. January 14, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-are-no-facts-only-interpretations-172650/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"There are no facts, only interpretations." FixQuotes, 14 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-are-no-facts-only-interpretations-172650/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.









