Full Idea
Man's complete lack of responsibility, for his behaviour and for his nature, is the bitterest drop which the man of knowledge must swallow, if he had been in the habit of seeing responsibility and duty as humanity's claim to nobility.
Gist of Idea
Ceasing to believe in human responsibility is bitter, if you had based the nobility of humanity on it
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Human, All Too Human [1878], 107)
Book Reference
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Human, All Too Human', ed/tr. Faber,Marion [Penguin 1994], p.74
A Reaction
If you were seeing humanity as little transient angels, living a moral life that was an echo of God's, then you needed cutting down to size. But if you ask if there is anything 'noble' in the universe, it will still be the fine deeds of humanity.