Full Idea
"Everybody is farthest away - from himself"; and the maxim "know thyself" addressed to human beings by a god, is almost malicious.
Gist of Idea
'Know thyself' is impossible and ridiculous
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (The Gay (Joyful) Science [1882], §335)
Book Reference
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Gay Science', ed/tr. Kaufmann,Walter [Vintage 1974], p.263
A Reaction
Expressed with characteristcally Nietzschean brio, but I couldn't agree more, and it is a very important truth. You can only require full self-knowledge if the whole mind is available to be known, and that isn't even remotely the case.