This expression, common since F. Nietzsche, refers to an ethos that – allegedly as an act of self-effacement but in fact on account of deficient vitality – eschews direct self-assertion but subtly brings fatal consequences by distortion of a person’s life force.
Bibliography
F.D.E. Schleiermacher, “Rede zum Geburtstag Friedrichs des Großen,” 1817, in: idem, Kritische Gesamtausgabe, vol. I/11, 2002, 241–250
S. Kierkegaard, Frygt og Beeven, 1843; ET: Fear and Trembling, 1985
F. Nietzsche, “Jenseits von Gut und Böse,” 1886, in: idem, Werke, ed. K. S…