Full Idea
The so-called 'motive' is another error. Merely a surface phenomenon of consciousness - something alongside the deed which is more likely to cover up the antecedents of the deed than to represent them.
Gist of Idea
The 'motive' is superficial, and may even hide the antecedents of a deed
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Twilight of the Idols [1889], 6.3)
Book Reference
Leiter,Brian: 'Nietzsche On Morality (2nd Edn)' [Routledge 2015], p.73
A Reaction
[Leiter gives 'VI.3', but I can't find it] As far as you can get from intellectualism about action, and is more in accord with the picture found in modern neuro-science. No one knows why they are 'interested' in something, and that's the start of it.