Full Idea
The virtues are as dangerous as the vices, to the extent that one allows them to rule as authority and law from outside instead of generating them from within oneself.
Gist of Idea
Virtues from outside are dangerous, and they should come from within
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 07[6])
Book Reference
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Writings from the Late Notebooks', ed/tr. Bittner,Rüdiger [CUP 2003], p.132
A Reaction
Nietzsche was a romantic, who thought things only have worth if they are authentic, individual, autonomous, original. Existentialism is the last fling of romanticism, and expresses an adolescent yearning for 'freedom'. From what?