more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
The foundation of all aristocracies …is to resemble the ancestors as much as possible, which serves as the controlling morality: mourning at the thought of change and variation.
Gist of Idea
The controlling morality of aristocracy is the desire to resemble their ancestors
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1885-86 [1886], 35[22])
Book Ref
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Fragments from 1885-86 (v 16)', ed/tr. Del Caro,Adrian [Stanford 2020], p.87
A Reaction
This makes sense of the permanent residence of the family, full of portraits and family trees. Aristocrats preserve records of their predecessors, in a way that most of us don't, going back before grandparents.