"What can everyone do? Praise and blame. This is human virtue, this is human madness"

Praise and blame stand as two pillars by which society measures and shapes individuals. To praise is to endorse, uplift, and validate actions or character; to blame is to admonish, correct, or reject. Both arise inherently from human interaction and coexist as basic forces within every community. Human virtue is built upon this dynamic: ethical life depends on recognizing good and bad, on encouraging some behaviors while discouraging others, and on communicating socially shared values by expressing approval or disapproval. Praise can inspire greatness, fostering confidence and guiding the development of excellence. To blame can prevent harm and maintain order, signaling when boundaries have been crossed.

Yet, Nietzsche’s observation is that the ubiquity of praise and blame is also a source of collective madness. These acts, though necessary and rooted in virtue, can become mindless rituals or mechanisms for cruelty and conformity. Individuals are sometimes celebrated or shamed not out of reasoned judgment or true understanding, but from herd mentality, envy, prejudice, or fear. Over time, the constant search for validation or the anxiety of censure can warp authentic selfhood, binding people to the ever-shifting demands of public opinion. Instead of pursuing truth or individuality, many become captives to the whims of communal judgment.

Through praise and blame, humanity creates standards, but also perpetuates illusions and injustices. What is called virtue can mask mere obedience; what is deemed madness may only be nonconformity, creative difference, or honest dissent. Nietzsche compels us to be wary of both the power and the peril of these social mechanisms, urging consciousness in how we judge and how we allow ourselves to be judged. The capacity to praise and blame is a mark of moral agency, but unquestioned, it becomes its own kind of folly, blurring the boundary between virtue and madness.