Friedrich Nietzsche

Human, All Too Human II

The -wanderer and His Shadow

82 An affectation upon departure. -Someone who wants to separate himself from a party or a religion believes that it is now necessary for him to refute it. But this is sheer arrogance. It is only necessary that he clearly perceive the clamps that have been keeping him attached to this party or religion and the fact that they no longer do so, the motives that impelled him in that direction and the fact that they now impel him in a different one. We did not take sides with that party or religion on the basis of rigorously formulated reasons: we should also not affect having done so when we take our leave.