"Today I love myself as I love my god: who could charge me with a sin today? I know only sins against my god; but who knows my god?"
About this Quote
The subtext is pure Nietzsche: sin only exists inside a theological economy, and he is busy bankrupting it. "I know only sins against my god" sounds pious until the trapdoor opens: "but who knows my god?" If no one can name the deity, no one can enforce the code. He replaces the communal God of doctrine with a private, self-authored divinity-a provocation aimed at Christianity's claim to universal moral authority.
Context matters. Nietzsche is writing in the long shadow of "God is dead": not a triumphant atheist punchline, but a diagnosis that the old moral certainties are losing their credibility in modern Europe. When shared belief decays, inherited guilt starts to look arbitrary. This line stages the aftermath: a person experimenting with sovereignty, trying on an ethics that answers to an inward standard rather than a public altar.
It works because it is both confession and taunt. He doesn't argue; he performs the sensation of moral escape-then exposes its cost: once your god is unshareable, your innocence is unprovable, too.
Quote Details
| Topic | God |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Nietzsche, Friedrich. (n.d.). Today I love myself as I love my god: who could charge me with a sin today? I know only sins against my god; but who knows my god? FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/today-i-love-myself-as-i-love-my-god-who-could-34559/
Chicago Style
Nietzsche, Friedrich. "Today I love myself as I love my god: who could charge me with a sin today? I know only sins against my god; but who knows my god?" FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/today-i-love-myself-as-i-love-my-god-who-could-34559/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Today I love myself as I love my god: who could charge me with a sin today? I know only sins against my god; but who knows my god?" FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/today-i-love-myself-as-i-love-my-god-who-could-34559/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.



