,,beyond ,,good ,,and ,,evil    ,by     
,friedrich ,nietzsche      ,translated  
by ,helen ,zimmern                      
,,transcriber',s ,,note ,,about ,,this  
,e-,,text ,,edition3    ,the following  
is a reprint of the ,helen ,zimmern     
translation from ,german  into ,english 
of ,beyond ,good and ,evil1 as published
 in ,the ,complete  ,works of ,friedrich
 ,nietzsche 7#aiji-aiac74 ,some         
adaptations from the  original text were
 made to format it into an e-text4      
,italics in the  original book are      
capitalized in this e-text1 except for  
most foreign  language phrases that were
 italicized4 ,original footnotes are put
 in  brackets  at the points where they 
are cited in the text4 ,some  spellings 
were altered4 ,to-day and ,to-morrow are
 spelled today  and tomorrow4 ,some     
words containing the letters ise in the 
original  text1 such as idealise1 had   
these letters changed to ize1 such as   
idealize4 ,sceptic was changed to       
skeptic4      ,,table ,,of ,,contents   

,,preface      ,,beyond ,,good ,,and    
,,evil        ,,chapter ,i3             
,,prejudices ,,of ,,philosophers        
,,chapter ,,ii3   ,,the ,,free ,,spirit 
,,chapter ,,iii3  ,,the ,,religious     
,,mood      ,,chapter ,,iv3             
,,apophthegms ,,and ,,interludes        
,,chapter ,v3    ,,the ,,natural        
,,history ,,of ,,morals      ,,chapter  
,,vi3   ,,we ,,scholars      ,,chapter  
,,vii3  ,,our ,,virtues      ,,chapter  
,,viii3 ,,peoples ,,and ,,countries     
,,chapter ,,ix3   ,,what ,,is ,,noble8  
,,from ,,the ,,heights 7,,poem          
,,translated ,,by ,l4,a4 ,,magnus7      
,,preface      ,,supposing that ,truth  
is a woman--what then8 ,is there not    
ground  for suspecting that all         
philosophers1 in so far as they have    
been  dogmatists1 have failed to        
understand women--that the terrible     
seriousness and clumsy importunity with 
which they have usually paid  their     
addresses to ,truth1 have been unskilled
 and unseemly methods for  winning a    

woman8 ,certainly she has never allowed 
herself to be won2 and  at present every
 kind of dogma stands with sad and      
discouraged mien--,,if1  indeed1 it     
stands at all6 ,for there are scoffers  
who maintain that it  has fallen1 that  
all dogma lies on the ground--nay more1 
that it is at  its last gasp4 ,but to   
speak seriously1 there are good grounds 
for hoping  that all dogmatizing in     
philosophy1 whatever solemn1 whatever   
conclusive  and decided airs it has     
assumed1 may have been only a noble     
puerilism  and tyronism2 and probably   
the time is at hand when it will be once
  and again understood ,,what has       
actually sufficed for the basis of such 
imposing and absolute philosophical     
edifices as the dogmatists have         
hitherto reared3 perhaps some popular   
superstition of immemorial time  7such  
as the soul-superstition1 which1 in the 
form of subject- and  ego-superstition1 
has not yet ceased doing mischief73     
perhaps some  play upon words1 a        

deception on the part of grammar1 or an 
audacious generalization of very        
restricted1 very personal1 very         
human--all-too-human facts4 ,the        
philosophy of the dogmatists1 it is to  
be hoped1 was only a promise for        
thousands of years afterwards1 as was   
astrology in still earlier times1 in the
 service of which probably more  labour1
 gold1 acuteness1 and patience have been
 spent than on any  actual science      
hitherto3 we owe to it1 and to its      
super-terrestrial  pretensions in ,asia 
and ,egypt1 the grand style of          
architecture4 ,it seems  that in order  
to inscribe themselves upon the heart of
 humanity with  everlasting claims1 all 
great things have first to wander about 
the  earth as enormous and awe-inspiring
 caricatures3 dogmatic philosophy has   
been a caricature of this kind--for     
instance1 the ,vedanta doctrine in      
,asia1 and ,platonism in ,europe4 ,let  
us not be ungrateful to it1 although  it
 must certainly be confessed that the   

worst1 the most tiresome1  and the most 
dangerous of errors hitherto has been a 
dogmatist  error--namely1 ,plato's      
invention of ,pure ,spirit and the ,good
 in ,itself4  ,but now when it has been 
surmounted1 when ,europe1 rid of this   
nightmare1  can again draw breath freely
 and at least enjoy a healthier--sleep1 
we1 ,,whose ,,duty ,,is ,,wakefulness   
,,itself1 are the heirs of all the      
strength  which the struggle against    
this error has fostered4 ,it amounted to
  the very inversion of truth1 and the  
denial of the ,,perspective--the        
fundamental condition--of life1 to speak
 of ,spirit and the ,good as ,plato     
spoke of them2 indeed one might ask1 as 
a physician3 ,how did such a  malady    
attack that finest product of antiquity1
 ,plato8 ,had the wicked  ,socrates     
really corrupted him8 ,was ,socrates    
after all a corrupter of  youths1 and   
deserved his hemlock8 ,but the struggle 
against ,plato1  or--to speak plainer1  
and for the people--the struggle against

  the ecclesiastical oppression of      
millenniums of ,christianity 7,,for     
,,christianity ,,is ,,platonism ,,for   
,,the ,,people71 produced in ,europe  a 
magnificent tension of soul1 such as had
 not existed anywhere  previously2 with 
such a tensely strained bow one can now 
aim at the  furthest goals4 ,as a matter
 of fact1 the ,european feels this      
tension as  a state of distress1 and    
twice attempts have been made in grand  
style to  unbend the bow3 once by means 
of ,jesuitism1 and the second time by   
means  of democratic                    
enlightenment--which1 with the aid of   
liberty of the press  and               
newspaper-reading1 might1 in fact1 bring
 it about that the spirit  would not so 
easily find itself in distress6 7,the   
,germans invented  gunpowder--all credit
 to them6 but they again made things    
square--they  invented printing47 ,but  
we1 who are neither ,jesuits1 nor       
democrats1  nor even sufficiently       
,germans1 we ,,good ,,europeans1 and    

free1 ,,very free  spirits--we have it  
still1 all the distress of spirit and   
all the  tension of its bow6 ,and       
perhaps also the arrow1 the duty1 and1  
who  knows8 ,,the ,,goal ,,to ,,aim     
,,at4444    ,sils ,maria ,upper         
,engadine1 ,,june1 #ahhe4               
,,chapter ,i4 ,,prejudices ,,of         
,,philosophers      #a4 ,the ,will to   
,truth1 which is to tempt us to many a  
hazardous  enterprise1 the famous       
,truthfulness of which all philosophers 
have  hitherto spoken with respect1 what
 questions has this ,will to ,truth not 
laid before us6 ,what strange1          
perplexing1 questionable questions6 ,it 
is  already a long story2 yet it seems  
as if it were hardly commenced4 ,is  it 
any wonder if we at last grow           
distrustful1 lose patience1 and turn    
impatiently away8 ,that this ,sphinx    
teaches us at last to ask questions     
ourselves8 ,,who is it really that puts 
questions to us here8 ,,what really  is 
this ,will to ,truth in us8 ,in fact we 

made a long halt at the  question as to 
the origin of this ,will--until at last 
we came to an  absolute standstill      
before a yet more fundamental question4 
,we inquired  about the ,,value of this 
,will4 ,granted that we want the truth3 
,,why ,,not  ,,rather untruth8 ,and     
uncertainty8 ,even ignorance8 ,the      
problem of the  value of truth presented
 itself before us--or was it we who     
presented  ourselves before the problem8
 ,which of us is the ,oedipus here8     
,which  the ,sphinx8 ,it would seem to  
be a rendezvous of questions and notes  
of  interrogation4 ,and could it be     
believed that it at last seems to us as 
if the problem had never been propounded
 before1 as if we were the first  to    
discern it1 get a sight of it1 and      
,,risk ,,raising it8 ,for there is risk 
in raising it1 perhaps there is no      
greater risk4    #b4 ,,how ,,could      
anything originate out of its opposite8 
,for example1 truth  out of error8 or   
the ,will to ,truth out of the will to  

deception8 or the  generous deed out of 
selfishness8 or the pure sun-bright     
vision of the  wise man out of          
covetousness8 ,such genesis is          
impossible2 whoever dreams  of it is a  
fool1 nay1 worse than a fool2 things of 
the highest  value must have a different
 origin1 an origin of ,,their own--in   
this  transitory1 seductive1 illusory1  
paltry world1 in this turmoil of        
delusion and cupidity1 they cannot have 
their source4 ,but rather in  the lap of
 ,being1 in the intransitory1 in the    
concealed ,god1 in the                  
',thing-in-itself--,,there must be their
 source1 and nowhere else6--,this  mode 
of reasoning discloses the typical      
prejudice by which  metaphysicians of   
all times can be recognized1 this mode  
of valuation  is at the back of all     
their logical procedure2 through this   
belief of  theirs1 they exert themselves
 for their knowledge1 for something that
  is in the end solemnly christened the 
,truth4 ,the fundamental belief of      

metaphysicians is ,,the ,,belief ,,in   
,,antitheses ,,of ,,values4 ,it never   
occurred  even to the wariest of them to
 doubt here on the very threshold 7where
  doubt1 however1 was most necessary72  
though they had made a solemn  vow1 ,,de
 ,,omnibus ,,dubitandum4 ,for it may be 
doubted1 firstly1 whether  antitheses   
exist at all2 and secondly1 whether the 
popular valuations  and antitheses of   
value upon which metaphysicians have set
 their  seal1 are not perhaps merely    
superficial estimates1 merely           
provisional  perspectives1 besides being
 probably made from some corner1 perhaps
 from  below--frog perspectives1 as it  
were1 to borrow an expression current   
among painters4 ,in spite of all the    
value which may belong to the true1  the
 positive1 and the unselfish1 it might  
be possible that a higher  and more     
fundamental value for life generally    
should be assigned to  pretence1 to the 
will to delusion1 to selfishness1 and   
cupidity4 ,it  might even be possible   

that ,,what constitutes the value of    
those good and  respected things1       
consists precisely in their being       
insidiously  related1 knotted1 and      
crocheted to these evil and apparently  
opposed  things--perhaps even in being  
essentially identical with them4        
,perhaps6  ,but who wishes to concern   
himself with such dangerous ,perhapses6 
,for that investigation one must await  
the advent of a new order of            
philosophers1 such as will have other   
tastes and inclinations1 the  reverse of
 those hitherto prevalent--philosophers 
of the dangerous  ,perhaps in every     
sense of the term4 ,and to speak in all 
seriousness1 ,i  see such new           
philosophers beginning to appear4    #c4
 ,having kept a sharp eye on            
philosophers1 and having read between   
their lines long enough1 ,i now say to  
myself that the greater part of         
conscious thinking must be counted among
 the instinctive functions1 and  it is  
so even in the case of philosophical    

thinking2 one has here to  learn anew1  
as one learned anew about heredity and  
innateness4 ,as  little as the act of   
birth comes into consideration in the   
whole process  and procedure of         
heredity1 just as little is             
being-conscious ,,opposed  to the       
instinctive in any decisive sense2 the  
greater part of the  conscious thinking 
of a philosopher is secretly influenced 
by his  instincts1 and forced into      
definite channels4 ,and behind all logic
 and  its seeming sovereignty of        
movement1 there are valuations1 or to   
speak  more plainly1 physiological      
demands1 for the maintenance of a       
definite  mode of life ,for example1    
that the certain is worth more than the 
uncertain1 that illusion is less        
valuable than truth such valuations1  in
 spite of their regulative importance   
for ,,us1 might notwithstanding be  only
 superficial valuations1 special kinds  
of niaiserie1 such as may  be necessary 
for the maintenance of beings such as   

ourselves4 ,supposing1  in effect1 that 
man is not just the measure of things4  
#d4 ,the falseness of an opinion is not 
for us any objection to it3 it is  here1
 perhaps1 that our new language sounds  
most strangely4 ,the  question is1 how  
far an opinion is life-furthering1      
life-preserving1  species-preserving1   
perhaps species-rearing1 and we are     
fundamentally  inclined to maintain that
 the falsest opinions 7to which the     
synthetic  judgments a priori belong71  
are the most indispensable to us1 that  
without a recognition of logical        
fictions1 without a comparison of       
reality with the purely ,,imagined world
 of the absolute and immutable1  without
 a constant counterfeiting of the world 
by means of numbers1  man could not     
live--that the renunciation of false    
opinions would be  a renunciation of    
life1 a negation of life4 ,,to          
,,recognise ,,untruth ,,as ,a           
,,condition ,,of ,,life2 that is        
certainly to impugn the traditional     

ideas of  value in a dangerous manner1  
and a philosophy which ventures to do   
so1  has thereby alone placed itself    
beyond good and evil4    #e4 ,that which
 causes philosophers to be regarded     
half-distrustfully  and half-mockingly1 
is not the oft-repeated discovery how   
innocent they  are--how often and easily
 they make mistakes and lose their way1 
in  short1 how childish and childlike   
they are1--but that there is not  enough
 honest dealing with them1 whereas they 
all raise a loud and  virtuous outcry   
when the problem of truthfulness is even
 hinted at in  the remotest manner4     
,they all pose as though their real     
opinions had  been discovered and       
attained through the self-evolving of a 
cold1 pure1  divinely indifferent       
dialectic 7in contrast to all sorts of  
mystics1  who1 fairer and foolisher1    
talk of inspiration71 whereas1 in fact1 
a  prejudiced proposition1 idea1 or     
suggestion1 which is generally  their   
heart's desire abstracted and refined1  

is defended by them with  arguments     
sought out after the event4 ,they are   
all advocates who do not  wish to be    
regarded as such1 generally astute      
defenders1 also1 of their  prejudices1  
which they dub truths1--and ,,very far  
from having the  conscience which       
bravely admits this to itself1 very far 
from having  the good taste of the      
courage which goes so far as to let this
 be  understood1 perhaps to warn friend 
or foe1 or in cheerful confidence  and  
self-ridicule4 ,the spectacle of the    
,tartuffery of old ,kant1 equally  stiff
 and decent1 with which he entices us   
into the dialectic  by-ways that lead   
7more correctly mislead7 to his         
categorical  imperative--makes us       
fastidious ones smile1 we who find no   
small  amusement in spying out the      
subtle tricks of old moralists and      
ethical  preachers4 ,or1 still more so1 
the hocus-pocus in mathematical form1 by
  means of which ,spinoza has1 as it    
were1 clad his philosophy in mail and   

mask--in fact1 the love of ,,his wisdom1
 to translate the term fairly  and      
squarely--in order thereby to strike    
terror at once into the heart  of the   
assailant who should dare to cast a     
glance on that invincible  maiden1 that 
,pallas ,athene3--how much of personal  
timidity and  vulnerability does this   
masquerade of a sickly recluse betray6  
#f4 ,it has gradually become clear to me
 what every great philosophy up  till   
now has consisted of--namely1 the       
confession of its originator1 and  a    
species of involuntary and unconscious  
auto-biography2 and moreover  that the  
moral 7or immoral7 purpose in every     
philosophy has constituted  the true    
vital germ out of which the entire plant
 has always grown4  ,indeed1 to         
understand how the abstrusest           
metaphysical assertions of a            
philosopher have been arrived at1 it is 
always well 7and wise7 to first  ask    
oneself3 ,what morality do they 7or does
 he7 aim at8 ,accordingly1  ,i do not   

believe that an impulse to knowledge is 
the father of  philosophy2 but that     
another impulse1 here as elsewhere1 has 
only made  use of knowledge 7and        
mistaken knowledge67 as an instrument4  
,but whoever  considers the fundamental 
impulses of man with a view to          
determining  how far they may have here 
acted as ,,inspiring ,,genii 7or as     
demons and  cobolds71 will find that    
they have all practiced philosophy at   
one time  or another1 and that each one 
of them would have been only too glad to
  look upon itself as the ultimate end  
of existence and the legitimate  ,,lord 
over all the other impulses4 ,for every 
impulse is imperious1 and as  ,,such1   
attempts to philosophize4 ,to be sure1  
in the case of scholars1 in  the case of
 really scientific men1 it may be       
otherwise--better1 if  you will2 there  
there may really be such a thing as an  
impulse to  knowledge1 some kind of     
small1 independent clock-work1 which1   
when well  wound up1 works away         

industriously to that end1 ,,without the
 rest of  the scholarly impulses taking 
any material part therein4 ,the actual  
interests of the scholar1 therefore1 are
 generally in quite another             
direction--in the family1 perhaps1 or in
 money-making1 or in politics2  it is1  
in fact1 almost indifferent at what     
point of research his little  machine is
 placed1 and whether the hopeful young  
worker becomes a  good philologist1 a   
mushroom specialist1 or a chemist2 he is
 not  ,,characterised by becoming this  
or that4 ,in the philosopher1 on the    
contrary1 there is absolutely nothing   
impersonal2 and above all1  his morality
 furnishes a decided and decisive       
testimony as to ,,who ,,he  ,,is1--that 
is to say1 in what order the deepest    
impulses of his nature  stand to each   
other4    #g4 ,how malicious            
philosophers can be6 ,i know of nothing 
more stinging  than the joke ,epicurus  
took the liberty of making on ,plato and
 the  ,platonists2 he called them       

,dionysiokolakes4 ,in its original      
sense1  and on the face of it1 the word 
signifies ,flatterers of                
,dionysius--consequently1 tyrants'      
accessories and lick-spittles2  besides 
this1 however1 it is as much as to say1 
,they are all ,,actors1  there is       
nothing genuine about them 7for         
,dionysiokolax was a popular  name for  
an actor74 ,and the latter is really the
 malignant reproach that  ,epicurus cast
 upon ,plato3 he was annoyed by the     
grandiose manner1 the  mise en scene    
style of which ,plato and his scholars  
were masters--of  which ,epicurus was   
not a master6 ,he1 the old              
school-teacher of ,samos1  who sat      
concealed in his little garden at       
,athens1 and wrote three  hundred books1
 perhaps out of rage and ambitious envy 
of ,plato1 who  knows6 ,greece took a   
hundred years to find out who the       
garden-god  ,epicurus really was4 ,did  
she ever find out8    #h4 ,there is a   
point in every philosophy at which the  

conviction of  the philosopher appears  
on the scene2 or1 to put it in the words
 of an  ancient mystery3    ,adventavit 
asinus1 ,pulcher et fortissimus4    #i4 
,you desire to ,,live according to      
,nature8 ,oh1 you noble ,stoics1 what   
fraud of words6 ,imagine to yourselves a
 being like ,nature1 boundlessly        
extravagant1 boundlessly indifferent1   
without purpose or consideration1       
without pity or justice1 at once        
fruitful and barren and uncertain3      
imagine to yourselves ,,indifference as 
a power--how ,,could you live  in       
accordance with such indifference8 ,to  
live--is not that just  endeavouring to 
be otherwise than this ,nature8 ,is not 
living valuing1  preferring1 being      
unjust1 being limited1 endeavouring to  
be different8  ,and granted that your   
imperative1 living according to ,nature1
 means  actually the same as living     
according to life--how could you do     
,,differently8 ,why should you make a   
principle out of what you yourselves    

are1 and must be8 ,in reality1 however1 
it is quite otherwise with you3  while  
you pretend to read with rapture the    
canon of your law in ,nature1  you want 
something quite the contrary1 you       
extraordinary stage-players  and        
self-deluders6 ,in your pride you wish  
to dictate your morals and  ideals to   
,nature1 to ,nature herself1 and to     
incorporate them therein2  you insist   
that it shall be ,nature according to   
the ,stoa1 and would  like everything to
 be made after your own image1 as a     
vast1 eternal  glorification and        
generalism of ,stoicism6 ,with all your 
love for truth1  you have forced        
yourselves so long1 so persistently1 and
 with such  hypnotic rigidity to see    
,nature ,,falsely1 that is to say1      
,stoically1  that you are no longer able
 to see it otherwise--and to crown all1 
some  unfathomable superciliousness     
gives you the ,bedlamite hope that      
,,because you are able to tyrannize over
 yourselves--,stoicism is               

self-tyranny--,nature will also allow   
herself to be tyrannized over3 is  not  
the ,stoic a ,,part of ,nature8444 ,but 
this is an old and everlasting  story3  
what happened in old times with the     
,stoics still happens today1  as soon as
 ever a philosophy begins to believe in 
itself4 ,it always  creates the world in
 its own image2 it cannot do otherwise2 
philosophy  is this tyrannical impulse  
itself1 the most spiritual ,will to     
,power1 the  will to creation of the    
world1 the will to the causa prima4     
#aj4 ,the eagerness and subtlety1 ,i    
should even say craftiness1 with  which 
the problem of the real and the apparent
 world is dealt with at  present        
throughout ,europe1 furnishes food for  
thought and attention2 and  he who hears
 only a ,will to ,truth in the          
background1 and nothing else1  cannot   
certainly boast of the sharpest ears4   
,in rare and isolated  cases1 it may    
really have happened that such a ,will  
to ,truth--a certain  extravagant and   

adventurous pluck1 a metaphysician's    
ambition of the  forlorn hope--has      
participated therein3 that which in the 
end always  prefers a handful of        
certainty to a whole cartload of        
beautiful  possibilities2 there may even
 be puritanical fanatics of conscience1 
who prefer to put their last trust in a 
sure nothing1 rather than in an         
uncertain something4 ,but that is       
,nihilism1 and the sign of a despairing1
  mortally wearied soul1 notwithstanding
 the courageous bearing such a  virtue  
may display4 ,it seems1 however1 to be  
otherwise with stronger  and livelier   
thinkers who are still eager for life4  
,in that they side  ,,against           
appearance1 and speak superciliously of 
perspective1 in  that they rank the     
credibility of their own bodies about as
 low as the  credibility of the ocular  
evidence that the earth stands still1   
and  thus1 apparently1 allowing with    
complacency their securest possession   
to escape 7for what does one at present 

believe in more firmly than  in one's   
body871--who knows if they are not      
really trying to win back  something    
which was formerly an even securer      
possession1 something  of the old domain
 of the faith of former times1 perhaps  
the immortal  soul1 perhaps the old     
,god1 in short1 ideas by which they     
could live  better1 that is to say1 more
 vigorously and more joyously1 than by  
modern ideas8 ,there is ,,distrust of   
these modern ideas in this mode  of     
looking at things1 a disbelief in all   
that has been constructed  yesterday and
 today2 there is perhaps some slight    
admixture of satiety  and scorn1 which  
can no longer endure the                
,,bric-,a-,,brac of ideas of the  most  
varied origin1 such as so-called        
,positivism at present throws on  the   
market2 a disgust of the more refined   
taste at the village-fair  motleyness   
and patchiness of all these             
reality-philosophasters1 in whom  there 
is nothing either new or true1 except   

this motleyness4 ,therein it  seems to  
me that we should agree with those      
skeptical anti-realists and             
knowledge-microscopists of the present  
day2 their instinct1 which repels  them 
from ,,modern reality1 is unrefuted444  
what do their retrograde  by-paths      
concern us6 ,the main thing about them  
is ,,not that they wish  to go back1 but
 that they wish to get ,,away therefrom4
 ,a little ,,more  strength1 swing1     
courage1 and artistic power1 and they   
would be ,,off--and  not back6    #aa4  
,it seems to me that there is everywhere
 an attempt at present to  divert       
attention from the actual influence     
which ,kant exercised on  ,german       
philosophy1 and especially to ignore    
prudently the value which  he set upon  
himself4 ,kant was first and foremost   
proud of his ,table of  ,categories2    
with it in his hand he said3 ,this is   
the most difficult  thing that could    
ever be undertaken on behalf of         
metaphysics4 ,let us  only understand   

this could be6 ,he was proud of having  
,,discovered a  new faculty in man1 the 
faculty of synthetic judgment a priori4 
,granting  that he deceived himself in  
this matter2 the development and rapid  
flourishing of ,german philosophy       
depended nevertheless on his pride1 and 
on the eager rivalry of the younger     
generation to discover if possible      
something--at all events new            
faculties--of which to be still         
prouder6--,but let us reflect for a     
moment--it is high time to do so4  ,how 
are synthetic judgments a priori        
,,possible8 ,kant asks himself--and     
what is really his answer8 ,,by ,,means 
,,of ,a ,,means 7faculty7--but          
unfortunately not in five words1 but so 
circumstantially1 imposingly1  and with 
such display of ,german profundity and  
verbal flourishes1 that  one altogether 
loses sight of the comical niaiserie    
allemande involved  in such an answer4  
,people were beside themselves with     
delight over this  new faculty1 and the 

jubilation reached its climax when ,kant
 further  discovered a moral faculty in 
man--for at that time ,germans were     
still  moral1 not yet dabbling in the   
,politics of hard fact4 ,then came  the 
honeymoon of ,german philosophy4 ,all   
the young theologians of the  ,tubingen 
institution went immediately into the   
groves--all seeking for  faculties4 ,and
 what did they not find--in that        
innocent1 rich1 and  still youthful     
period of the ,german spirit1 to which  
,romanticism1 the  malicious fairy1     
piped and sang1 when one could not yet  
distinguish  between finding and        
inventing6 ,above all a faculty for the 
transcendental2 ,schelling christened   
it1 intellectual intuition1  and thereby
 gratified the most earnest longings of 
the naturally  pious-inclined ,germans4 
,one can do no greater wrong to the     
whole of  this exuberant and eccentric  
movement 7which was really youthfulness1
  notwithstanding that it disguised     
itself so boldly1 in hoary and senile   

conceptions71 than to take it seriously1
 or even treat it with moral            
indignation4 ,enough1 however--the world
 grew older1 and the dream  vanished4 ,a
 time came when people rubbed their     
foreheads1 and they still  rub them     
today4 ,people had been dreaming1 and   
first and foremost--old  ,kant4 ,by     
means of a means 7faculty7--he had said1
 or at least meant to  say4 ,but1 is    
that--an answer8 ,an explanation8 ,or is
 it not rather merely  a repetition of  
the question8 ,how does opium induce    
sleep8 ,by means of  a means 7faculty71 
namely the virtus dormitiva1 replies the
 doctor in  ,moliere1        ,quia est  
in eo virtus dormitiva1      ,cujus est 
natura sensus assoupire4    ,but such   
replies belong to the realm of comedy1  
and it is high time  to replace the     
,kantian question1 ,how are synthetic   
judgments a ,,priori  possible8 by      
another question1 ,why is belief in such
 judgments  necessary8--in effect1 it is
 high time that we should understand    

that such judgments must be believed to 
be true1 for the sake of the            
preservation of creatures like          
ourselves2 though they still might      
naturally be false judgments6 ,or1 more 
plainly spoken1 and roughly and         
readily--synthetic judgments a priori   
should not be possible at all2  we have 
no right to them2 in our mouths they are
 nothing but false  judgments4 ,only1 of
 course1 the belief in their truth is   
necessary1 as  plausible belief and     
ocular evidence belonging to the        
perspective view  of life4 ,and finally1
 to call to mind the enormous influence 
which  ,german philosophy--,i hope you  
understand its right to inverted commas 
7goosefeet78--has exercised throughout  
the whole of ,europe1 there is  no doubt
 that a certain ,,virtus ,,dormitiva had
 a share in it2 thanks to  ,german      
philosophy1 it was a delight to the     
noble idlers1 the virtuous1  the        
mystics1 the artiste1 the three-fourths 
,christians1 and the  political         

obscurantists of all nations1 to find an
 antidote to the still  overwhelming    
sensualism which overflowed from the    
last century into  this1 in             
short--sensus assoupire4444    #ab4 ,as 
regards materialistic atomism1 it is one
 of the best-refuted  theories that have
 been advanced1 and in ,europe there is 
now perhaps  no one in the learned world
 so unscholarly as to attach serious    
signification to it1 except for         
convenient everyday use 7as an          
abbreviation of the means of            
expression7--thanks chiefly to the ,pole
  ,boscovich3 he and the ,pole          
,copernicus have hitherto been the      
greatest  and most successful opponents 
of ocular evidence4 ,for while          
,copernicus  has persuaded us to        
believe1 contrary to all the senses1    
that the earth  does ,,not stand fast1  
,boscovich has taught us to abjure the  
belief in the  last thing that stood    
fast of the earth--the belief in        
substance1 in  matter1 in the           

earth-residuum1 and particle-atom3 it is
 the greatest  triumph over the senses  
that has hitherto been gained on earth4 
,one  must1 however1 go still further1  
and also declare war1 relentless war  to
 the knife1 against the atomistic       
requirements which still lead a         
dangerous after-life in places where no 
one suspects them1 like the more        
celebrated metaphysical requirements3   
one must also above all give  the       
finishing stroke to that other and more 
portentous atomism which  ,christianity 
has taught best and longest1 the        
,,soul-,,atomism4 ,let it be  permitted 
to designate by this expression the     
belief which regards the  soul as       
something indestructible1 eternal1      
indivisible1 as a monad1  as an atomon3 
this belief ought to be expelled from   
science6 ,between  ourselves1 it is not 
at all necessary to get rid of the soul 
thereby1  and thus renounce one of the  
oldest and most venerated hypotheses--as
  happens frequently to the clumsiness  

of naturalists1 who can hardly  touch on
 the soul without immediately losing it4
 ,but the way is open  for new          
acceptations and refinements of the     
soul-hypothesis2 and such  conceptions  
as mortal soul1 and soul of subjective  
multiplicity1  and soul as social       
structure of the instincts and passions1
 want  henceforth to have legitimate    
rights in science4 ,in that the ,,new   
psychologist is about to put an end to  
the superstitions which have  hitherto  
flourished with almost tropical         
luxuriance around the idea of  the soul1
 he is really1 as it were1 thrusting    
himself into a new desert  and a new    
distrust--it is possible that the older 
psychologists had a  merrier and more   
comfortable time of it2 eventually1     
however1 he finds  that precisely       
thereby he is also condemned to         
,,invent--and1 who knows8  perhaps to   
,,discover the new4    #ac4             
,psychologists should bethink themselves
 before putting down the  instinct of   

self-preservation as the cardinal       
instinct of an organic  being4 ,a living
 thing seeks above all to ,,discharge   
its strength--life  itself is ,,will    
,,to ,,power2 self-preservation is only 
one of the indirect  and most frequent  
,,results thereof4 ,in short1 here1 as  
everywhere else1  let us beware of      
,,superfluous teleological              
principles6--one of which  is the       
instinct of self-preservation 7we owe it
 to ,spinoza's  inconsistency74 ,it is  
thus1 in effect1 that method ordains1   
which must  be essentially economy of   
principles4    #ad4 ,it is perhaps just 
dawning on five or six minds that       
natural  philosophy is only a           
world-exposition and world-arrangement  
7according  to us1 if ,i may say so67   
and ,,not a world-explanation2 but in so
 far as  it is based on belief in the   
senses1 it is regarded as more1 and for 
a  long time to come must be regarded as
 more--namely1 as an explanation4  ,it  
has eyes and fingers of its own1 it has 

ocular evidence and  palpableness of its
 own3 this operates fascinatingly1      
persuasively1 and  ,,convincingly upon  
an age with fundamentally plebeian      
tastes--in fact1 it  follows            
instinctively the canon of truth of     
eternal popular sensualism4  ,what is   
clear1 what is explained8 ,only that    
which can be seen and  felt--one must   
pursue every problem thus far4          
,obversely1 however1 the  charm of the  
,platonic mode of thought1 which was an 
,,aristocratic mode1  consisted         
precisely in ,,resistance to obvious    
sense-evidence--perhaps  among men who  
enjoyed even stronger and more          
fastidious senses than our              
contemporaries1 but who knew how to find
 a higher triumph in remaining  masters 
of them3 and this by means of pale1     
cold1 grey conceptional  networks which 
they threw over the motley whirl of the 
senses--the  mob of the senses1 as      
,plato said4 ,in this overcoming of the 
world1 and  interpreting of the world in

 the manner of ,plato1 there was an     
,,enjoyment  different from that which  
the physicists of today offer us--and   
likewise  the ,darwinists and           
anti-teleologists among the             
physiological workers1  with their      
principle of the smallest possible      
effort1 and the greatest  possible      
blunder4 ,where there is nothing more to
 see or to grasp1 there  is also nothing
 more for men to do--that is certainly  
an imperative  different from the       
,platonic one1 but it may               
notwithstanding be the right  imperative
 for a hardy1 laborious race of         
machinists and bridge-builders  of the  
future1 who have nothing but ,,rough    
work to perform4    #ae4 ,to study      
physiology with a clear conscience1 one 
must insist on  the fact that the       
sense-organs are not phenomena in the   
sense of the  idealistic philosophy2 as 
such they certainly could not be causes6
  ,sensualism1 therefore1 at least as   
regulative hypothesis1 if not as        

heuristic principle4 ,what8 ,and others 
say even that the external world  is the
 work of our organs8 ,but then our body1
 as a part of this external  world1     
would be the work of our organs6 ,but   
then our organs themselves  would be the
 work of our organs6 ,it seems to me    
that this is a  complete ,,reductio ,,ad
 ,,absurdum1 if the conception ,,causa  
,,sui is something  fundamentally       
absurd4 ,consequently1 the external     
world is ,,not the work  of our         
organs--8    #af4 ,there are still      
harmless self-observers who believe that
 there are  immediate certainties2 for  
instance1 ,i think1 or as the           
superstition  of ,schopenhauer puts it1 
,i will2 as though cognition here got   
hold  of its object purely and simply as
 the thing in itself1 without any       
falsification taking place either on the
 part of the subject or the  object4 ,i 
would repeat it1 however1 a hundred     
times1 that immediate  certainty1 as    
well as absolute knowledge and the thing

 in itself1  involve a ,,contradictio   
,,in ,,adjecto2 we really ought to free 
ourselves  from the misleading          
significance of words6 ,the people on   
their part may  think that cognition is 
knowing all about things1 but the       
philosopher  must say to himself3 ,when 
,i analyze the process that is expressed
 in  the sentence1 ',i think1' ,i find a
 whole series of daring assertions1 the 
argumentative proof of which would be   
difficult1 perhaps impossible3  for     
instance1 that it is ,i who think1 that 
there must necessarily be  something    
that thinks1 that thinking is an        
activity and operation on the  part of a
 being who is thought of as a cause1    
that there is an 'ego1'  and finally1   
that it is already determined what is to
 be designated by  thinking--that ,i    
,,know what thinking is4 ,for if ,i had 
not already decided  within myself what 
it is1 by what standard could ,i        
determine whether  that which is just   
happening is not perhaps 'willing' or   

'feeling'8 ,in  short1 the assertion ',i
 think1' assumes that ,i ,,compare my   
state at the  present moment with other 
states of myself which ,i know1 in order
 to  determine what it is2 on account of
 this retrospective connection with     
further 'knowledge1' it has1 at any     
rate1 no immediate certainty for        
me4--,in place of the immediate         
certainty in which the people may       
believe in the special case1 the        
philosopher thus finds a series of      
metaphysical questions presented to him1
 veritable conscience questions  of the 
intellect1 to wit3 ,whence did ,i get   
the notion of 'thinking'8  ,why do ,i   
believe in cause and effect8 ,what gives
 me the right to speak  of an 'ego1' and
 even of an 'ego' as cause1 and finally 
of an 'ego'  as cause of thought8 ,he   
who ventures to answer these            
metaphysical  questions at once by an   
appeal to a sort of ,,intuitive         
perception1 like  the person who says1  
,i think1 and know that this1 at least1 

is  true1 actual1 and certain--will     
encounter a smile and two notes of      
interrogation in a philosopher nowadays4
 ,sir1 the philosopher will  perhaps    
give him to understand1 it is improbable
 that you are not  mistaken1 but why    
should it be the truth8    #ag4 ,with   
regard to the superstitions of          
logicians1 ,i shall never tire  of      
emphasizing a small1 terse fact1 which  
is unwillingly recognized by  these     
credulous minds--namely1 that a thought 
comes when it wishes1  and not when ,i  
wish2 so that it is a ,,perversion of   
the facts of the  case to say that the  
subject ,i is the condition of the      
predicate  think4 ,,one thinks2 but that
 this one is precisely the famous old   
ego1 is1 to put it mildly1 only a       
supposition1 an assertion1 and          
assuredly not an immediate certainty4   
,after all1 one has even gone too  far  
with this one thinks--even the one      
contains an ,,interpretation of  the    
process1 and does not belong to the     

process itself4 ,one infers here        
according to the usual grammatical      
formula--,to think is an activity2      
every activity requires an agency that  
is active2 consequently444 ,it  was     
pretty much on the same lines that the  
older atomism sought1 besides  the      
operating power1 the material particle  
wherein it resides and out  of which it 
operates--the atom4 ,more rigorous      
minds1 however1 learnt at  last to get  
along without this earth-residuum1 and  
perhaps some day we  shall accustom     
ourselves1 even from the logician's     
point of view1 to  get along without the
 little one 7to which the worthy old ego
 has  refined itself74    #ah4 ,it is   
certainly not the least charm of a      
theory that it is  refutable2 it is     
precisely thereby that it attracts the  
more subtle  minds4 ,it seems that the  
hundred-times-refuted theory of the free
 will  owes its persistence to this     
charm alone2 some one is always         
appearing  who feels himself strong     

enough to refute it4    #ai4            
,philosophers are accustomed to speak of
 the will as though it were  the        
best-known thing in the world2 indeed1  
,schopenhauer has given us  to          
understand that the will alone is really
 known to us1 absolutely and  completely
 known1 without deduction or addition4  
,but it again and  again seems to me    
that in this case ,schopenhauer also    
only did what  philosophers are in the  
habit of doing--he seems to have adopted
 a  ,,popular ,,prejudice and           
exaggerated it4 ,willing seems to me to 
be above  all something ,,complicated1  
something that is a unity only in       
name--and  it is precisely in a name    
that popular prejudice lurks1 which has 
got  the mastery over the inadequate    
precautions of philosophers in all ages4
  ,so let us for once be more cautious1 
let us be unphilosophical3 let  us say  
that in all willing there is firstly a  
plurality of sensations1  namely1 the   
sensation of the condition ,,away ,,from

 ,,which we go1 the  sensation of the   
condition ,,towards ,,which we go1 the  
sensation of this  ,,from and ,,towards 
itself1 and then besides1 an            
accompanying muscular  sensation1 which1
 even without our putting in motion arms
 and legs1  commences its action by     
force of habit1 directly we will        
anything4  ,therefore1 just as          
sensations 7and indeed many kinds of    
sensations7 are  to be recognized as    
ingredients of the will1 so1 in the     
second place1  thinking is also to be   
recognized2 in every act of the will    
there is  a ruling thought2--and let us 
not imagine it possible to sever this   
thought from the willing1 as if the will
 would then remain over6  ,in the third 
place1 the will is not only a complex of
 sensation and  thinking1 but it is     
above all an ,,emotion1 and in fact the 
emotion of the  command4 ,that which is 
termed freedom of the will is           
essentially the  emotion of supremacy in
 respect to him who must obey3 ,i am    

free1 'he'  must obey--this             
consciousness is inherent in every will2
 and equally  so the straining of the   
attention1 the straight look which fixes
 itself  exclusively on one thing1 the  
unconditional judgment that this and    
nothing else is necessary now1 the      
inward certainty that obedience  will be
 rendered--and whatever else pertains to
 the position of the  commander4 ,a man 
who ,,wills commands something within   
himself which  renders obedience1 or    
which he believes renders obedience4    
,but now let  us notice what is the     
strangest thing about the will1--this   
affair so  extremely complex1 for which 
the people have only one name4 ,inasmuch
 as  in the given circumstances we are  
at the same time the commanding ,,and   
the obeying parties1 and as the obeying 
party we know the sensations of         
constraint1 impulsion1 pressure1        
resistance1 and motion1 which usually   
commence immediately after the act of   
will2 inasmuch as1 on the other  hand1  

we are accustomed to disregard this     
duality1 and to deceive  ourselves about
 it by means of the synthetic term ,i3 a
 whole series  of erroneous conclusions1
 and consequently of false judgments    
about the  will itself1 has become      
attached to the act of willing--to such 
a degree  that he who wills believes    
firmly that willing ,,suffices for      
action4  ,since in the majority of cases
 there has only been exercise of will   
when the effect of the                  
command--consequently obedience1 and    
therefore  action--was to be ,,expected1
 the ,,appearance has translated itself 
into  the sentiment1 as if there were a 
,,necessity ,,of ,,effect2 in a word1 he
 who  wills believes with a fair amount 
of certainty that will and action are   
somehow one2 he ascribes the success1   
the carrying out of the willing1  to the
 will itself1 and thereby enjoys an     
increase of the sensation  of power     
which accompanies all success4 ,freedom 
of ,will--that is the  expression for   

the complex state of delight of the     
person exercising  volition1 who        
commands and at the same time identifies
 himself with  the executor of the      
order--who1 as such1 enjoys also the    
triumph over  obstacles1 but thinks     
within himself that it was really his   
own will  that overcame them4 ,in this  
way the person exercising volition adds 
the  feelings of delight of his         
successful executive instruments1 the   
useful  underwills or                   
under-souls--indeed1 our body is but a  
social structure  composed of many      
souls--to his feelings of delight as    
commander4 ,l',,effet  ,c',,est ,,moi4  
what happens here is what happens in    
every well-constructed  and happy       
commonwealth1 namely1 that the governing
 class identifies  itself with the      
successes of the commonwealth4 ,in all  
willing it is  absolutely a question of 
commanding and obeying1 on the basis1 as
  already said1 of a social structure   
composed of many souls1 on which        

account a philosopher should claim the  
right to include willing-as-such  within
 the sphere of morals--regarded as the  
doctrine of the relations  of supremacy 
under which the phenomenon of life      
manifests itself4    #bj4 ,that the     
separate philosophical ideas are not    
anything optional or  autonomously      
evolving1 but grow up in connection and 
relationship with  each other1 that1    
however suddenly and arbitrarily they   
seem to appear  in the history of       
thought1 they nevertheless belong just  
as much to  a system as the collective  
members of the fauna of a ,continent--is
  betrayed in the end by the            
circumstance3 how unfailingly the most  
diverse philosophers always fill in     
again a definite fundamental scheme  of 
,,possible philosophies4 ,under an      
invisible spell1 they always revolve    
once more in the same orbit1 however    
independent of each other they  may feel
 themselves with their critical or      
systematic wills1 something  within them

 leads them1 something impels them in   
definite order the  one after the       
other--to wit1 the innate methodology   
and relationship  of their ideas4 ,their
 thinking is1 in fact1 far less a       
discovery than a  re-recognizing1 a     
remembering1 a return and a home-coming 
to a far-off1  ancient common-household 
of the soul1 out of which those ideas   
formerly  grew3 philosophizing is so far
 a kind of atavism of the highest order4
  ,the wonderful family resemblance of  
all ,indian1 ,greek1 and ,german        
philosophizing is easily enough         
explained4 ,in fact1 where there is     
affinity of language1 owing to the      
common philosophy of grammar--,i mean   
owing to the unconscious domination and 
guidance of similar grammatical         
functions--it cannot but be that        
everything is prepared at the outset    
for a similar development and succession
 of philosophical systems1  just as the 
way seems barred against certain other  
possibilities of  world-interpretation4 

,it is highly probable that philosophers
 within the  domain of the ,ural-,altaic
 languages 7where the conception of the 
subject  is least developed7 look       
otherwise into the world1 and will be   
found on paths of thought different from
 those of the ,indo-,germans and        
,mussulmans1 the spell of certain       
grammatical functions is ultimately     
also the spell of ,,physiological       
valuations and racial conditions4--,so  
much by way of rejecting ,locke's       
superficiality with regard to the       
origin of ideas4    #ba4 ,the ,,causa   
,,sui is the best self-contradiction    
that has yet been  conceived1 it is a   
sort of logical violation and           
unnaturalness2 but the  extravagant     
pride of man has managed to entangle    
itself profoundly and  frightfully with 
this very folly4 ,the desire for freedom
 of will  in the superlative1           
metaphysical sense1 such as still holds 
sway1  unfortunately1 in the minds of   
the half-educated1 the desire to bear   

the entire and ultimate responsibility  
for one's actions oneself1 and  to      
absolve ,god1 the world1 ancestors1     
chance1 and society therefrom1  involves
 nothing less than to be precisely this 
,,causa ,,sui1 and1 with  more than     
,munchausen daring1 to pull oneself up  
into existence by the  hair1 out of the 
slough of nothingness4 ,if any one      
should find out in  this manner the     
crass stupidity of the celebrated       
conception of free  will and put it out 
of his head altogether1 ,i beg of him to
 carry  his enlightenment a step        
further1 and also put out of his head   
the  contrary of this monstrous         
conception of free will3 ,i mean        
non-free  will1 which is tantamount to a
 misuse of cause and effect4 ,one       
should not wrongly ,,materialise cause  
and effect1 as the natural  philosophers
 do 7and whoever like them naturalize in
 thinking at  present71 according to the
 prevailing mechanical doltishness which
 makes  the cause press and push until  

it effects its end2 one should use      
cause and effect only as pure           
,,conceptions1 that is to say1 as       
conventional fictions for the purpose of
 designation and mutual                 
understanding1--,,not for explanation4  
,in being-in-itself there is  nothing of
 casual-connection1 of necessity1 or of 
psychological  non-freedom2 there the   
effect does ,,not follow the cause1     
there law  does not obtain4 ,it is ,,we 
alone who have devised cause1 sequence1 
reciprocity1 relativity1 constraint1    
number1 law1 freedom1 motive1  and      
purpose2 and when we interpret and      
intermix this symbol-world1  as         
being-in-itself1 with things1 we act    
once more as we have always             
acted--,,mythologically4 ,the non-free  
will is mythology2 in real life  it is  
only a question of ,,strong and ,,weak  
wills4--,it is almost always  a symptom 
of what is lacking in himself1 when a   
thinker1 in every  causal-connection and
 psychological necessity1 manifests     

something  of compulsion1 indigence1    
obsequiousness1 oppression1 and         
non-freedom2  it is suspicious to have  
such feelings--the person betrays       
himself4 ,and  in general1 if ,i have   
observed correctly1 the non-freedom of  
the will  is regarded as a problem from 
two entirely opposite standpoints1 but  
always in a profoundly ,,personal       
manner3 some will not give up their     
responsibility1 their belief in         
,,themselves1 the personal right to     
,,their merits1 at any price 7the vain  
races belong to this class72 others  on 
the contrary1 do not wish to be         
answerable for anything1 or blamed  for 
anything1 and owing to an inward        
self-contempt1 seek to ,,get ,,out ,,of 
,,the ,,business1 no matter how4 ,the   
latter1 when they write books1 are  in  
the habit at present of taking the side 
of criminals2 a sort of  socialistic    
sympathy is their favourite disguise4   
,and as a matter of  fact1 the fatalism 
of the weak-willed embellishes itself   

surprisingly  when it can pose as la    
religion de la souffrance humaine2 that 
is ,,its  good taste4    #bb4 ,let me be
 pardoned1 as an old philologist who    
cannot desist from  the mischief of     
putting his finger on bad modes of      
interpretation1 but  ,nature's          
conformity to law1 of which you         
physicists talk so proudly1  as         
though--why1 it exists only owing to    
your interpretation and bad  philology4 
,it is no matter of fact1 no text1 but  
rather just a  naively humanitarian     
adjustment and perversion of meaning1   
with which  you make abundant           
concessions to the democratic instincts 
of the modern  soul6 ,everywhere        
equality before the law--,nature is not 
different in  that respect1 nor better  
than we3 a fine instance of secret      
motive1  in which the vulgar antagonism 
to everything privileged and            
autocratic--likewise a second and more  
refined atheism--is once more           
disguised4 ,ni dieu1 ni maitre--that1   

also1 is what you want2 and  therefore  
,cheers for natural law6--is it not so8 
,but1 as has been  said1 that is        
interpretation1 not text2 and somebody  
might come along1  who1 with opposite   
intentions and modes of interpretation1 
could read  out of the same ,nature1 and
 with regard to the same phenomena1 just
  the tyrannically inconsiderate and    
relentless enforcement of the claims  of
 power--an interpreter who should so    
place the unexceptionalness and         
unconditionalness of all ,will to ,power
 before your eyes1 that almost  every   
word1 and the word tyranny itself1 would
 eventually seem  unsuitable1 or like a 
weakening and softening metaphor--as    
being too  human2 and who should1       
nevertheless1 end by asserting the same 
about  this world as you do1 namely1    
that it has a necessary and calculable  
course1 ,,not1 however1 because laws    
obtain in it1 but because they are      
absolutely ,,lacking1 and every power   
effects its ultimate consequences  every

 moment4 ,granted that this also is only
 interpretation--and you  will be eager 
enough to make this objection8--well1 so
 much the better4    #bc4 ,all          
psychology hitherto has run aground on  
moral prejudices and  timidities1 it has
 not dared to launch out into the       
depths4 ,in so far  as it is allowable  
to recognize in that which has hitherto 
been written1  evidence of that which   
has hitherto been kept silent1 it seems 
as if  nobody had yet harboured the     
notion of psychology as the ,morphology 
and ,,development-,,doctrine ,,of ,,the 
,,will ,,to ,,power1 as ,i conceive of  
it4  ,the power of moral prejudices has 
penetrated deeply into the most         
intellectual world1 the world apparently
 most indifferent and  unprejudiced1 and
 has obviously operated in an injurious1
 obstructive1  blinding1 and distorting 
manner4 ,a proper physio-psychology has 
to  contend with unconscious antagonism 
in the heart of the investigator1  it   
has the heart against it even a doctrine

 of the reciprocal  conditionalness of  
the good and the bad impulses1 causes   
7as  refined immorality7 distress and   
aversion in a still strong and manly    
conscience--still more so1 a doctrine of
 the derivation of all good  impulses   
from bad ones4 ,if1 however1 a person   
should regard even  the emotions of     
hatred1 envy1 covetousness1 and         
imperiousness  as life-conditioning     
emotions1 as factors which must be      
present1  fundamentally and essentially1
 in the general economy of life 7which  
must1 therefore1 be further developed if
 life is to be further  developed71 he  
will suffer from such a view of things  
as from  sea-sickness4 ,and yet this    
hypothesis is far from being the        
strangest  and most painful in this     
immense and almost new domain of        
dangerous  knowledge1 and there are in  
fact a hundred good reasons why every   
one  should keep away from it who ,,can 
do so6 ,on the other hand1 if one has   
once drifted hither with one's bark1    

well6 very good6 now let us set our     
teeth firmly6 let us open our eyes and  
keep our hand fast on the helm6  ,we    
sail away right ,,over morality1 we     
crush out1 we destroy perhaps the       
remains of our own morality by daring to
 make our voyage thither--but  what do  
,,we matter4 ,never yet did a           
,,profounder world of insight reveal    
itself to daring travelers and          
adventurers1 and the psychologist who   
thus makes a sacrifice--it is not the   
sacrifizio dell' intelletto1  on the    
contrary6--will at least be entitled to 
demand in return that  psychology shall 
once more be recognized as the queen of 
the sciences1  for whose service and    
equipment the other sciences exist4 ,for
 psychology  is once more the path to   
the fundamental problems4               
,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,free ,,spirit   
#bd4 ,o sancta simplicitas6 ,in what    
strange simplification and              
falsification man lives6 ,one can never 
cease wondering when once one has  got  

eyes for beholding this marvel6 ,how we 
have made everything around  us clear   
and free and easy and simple6 how we    
have been able to give  our senses a    
passport to everything superficial1 our 
thoughts a godlike  desire for wanton   
pranks and wrong inferences6--how from  
the beginning1  we have contrived to    
retain our ignorance in order to enjoy  
an almost  inconceivable freedom1       
thoughtlessness1 imprudence1 heartiness1
  and gaiety--in order to enjoy life6   
,and only on this solidified1           
granite-like foundation of ignorance    
could knowledge rear itself  hitherto1  
the will to knowledge on the foundation 
of a far more powerful  will1 the will  
to ignorance1 to the uncertain1 to the  
untrue6 ,not as  its opposite1 but--as  
its refinement6 ,it is to be hoped1     
indeed1 that  ,,language1 here as       
elsewhere1 will not get over its        
awkwardness1 and that  it will continue 
to talk of opposites where there are    
only degrees  and many refinements of   

gradation2 it is equally to be hoped    
that the  incarnated ,tartuffery of     
morals1 which now belongs to our        
unconquerable  flesh and blood1 will    
turn the words round in the mouths of us
  discerning ones4 ,here and there we   
understand it1 and laugh at the way  in 
which precisely the best knowledge seeks
 most to retain us in this              
,,simplified1 thoroughly artificial1    
suitably imagined1 and suitably         
falsified world3 at the way in which1   
whether it will or not1 it loves  error1
 because1 as living itself1 it loves    
life6    #be4 ,after such a cheerful    
commencement1 a serious word would fain 
be  heard2 it appeals to the most       
serious minds4 ,take care1 ye           
philosophers  and friends of knowledge1 
and beware of martyrdom6 ,of suffering  
for the  truth's sake6 even in your own 
defense6 ,it spoils all the innocence   
and fine neutrality of your conscience2 
it makes you headstrong against         
objections and red rags2 it stupefies1  

animalizes1 and brutalizes1 when  in the
 struggle with danger1 slander1         
suspicion1 expulsion1 and even  worse   
consequences of enmity1 ye have at last 
to play your last card  as protectors of
 truth upon earth--as though the ,truth 
were such an  innocent and incompetent  
creature as to require protectors6 and  
you of  all people1 ye knights of the   
sorrowful countenance1 ,messrs ,loafers 
and  ,cobweb-spinners of the spirit6    
,finally1 ye know sufficiently well that
  it cannot be of any consequence if    
,,ye just carry your point2 ye know     
that hitherto no philosopher has carried
 his point1 and that there might  be a  
more laudable truthfulness in every     
little interrogative mark  which you    
place after your special words and      
favourite doctrines 7and  occasionally  
after yourselves7 than in all the solemn
 pantomime and  trumping games before   
accusers and law-courts6 ,rather go out 
of the way6  ,flee into concealment6    
,and have your masks and your ruses1    

that ye may  be mistaken for what you   
are1 or somewhat feared6 ,and pray1     
don't forget  the garden1 the garden    
with golden trellis-work6 ,and have     
people around  you who are as a         
garden--or as music on the waters at    
eventide1 when  already the day becomes 
a memory4 ,choose the ,,good solitude1  
the free1  wanton1 lightsome solitude1  
which also gives you the right still to 
remain good in any sense whatsoever6    
,how poisonous1 how crafty1 how bad1    
does every long war make one1 which     
cannot be waged openly by means  of     
force6 ,how ,,personal does a long fear 
make one1 a long watching  of enemies1  
of possible enemies6 ,these pariahs of  
society1 these  long-pursued1           
badly-persecuted ones--also the         
compulsory recluses1 the  ,spinozas or  
,giordano ,brunos--always become in the 
end1 even under the  most intellectual  
masquerade1 and perhaps without being   
themselves aware  of it1 refined        
vengeance-seekers and poison-,brewers   

7just lay bare  the foundation of       
,spinoza's ethics and theology671 not to
 speak of  the stupidity of moral       
indignation1 which is the unfailing sign
 in a  philosopher that the sense of    
philosophical humour has left him4 ,the 
martyrdom of the philosopher1 his       
sacrifice for the sake of truth1  forces
 into the light whatever of the agitator
 and actor lurks in him2  and if one has
 hitherto contemplated him only with    
artistic curiosity1  with regard to many
 a philosopher it is easy to understand 
the dangerous  desire to see him also in
 his deterioration 7deteriorated into a 
martyr1 into a                          
stage-and-tribune-bawler74 ,only1 that  
it is necessary  with such a desire to  
be clear ,,what spectacle one will see  
in any  case--merely a satyric play1    
merely an epilogue farce1 merely the    
continued proof that the long1 real     
tragedy ,,is ,,at ,,an ,,end1 supposing 
that  every philosophy has been a long  
tragedy in its origin4    #bf4 ,every   

select man strives instinctively for a  
citadel and a privacy1  where he is     
,,free from the crowd1 the many1 the    
majority--where he may  forget men who  
are the rule1 as their                  
exception2--exclusive only of  the case 
in which he is pushed straight to such  
men by a still stronger  instinct1 as a 
discerner in the great and exceptional  
sense4 ,whoever1 in  intercourse with   
men1 does not occasionally glisten in   
all the green  and grey colours of      
distress1 owing to disgust1 satiety1    
sympathy1  gloominess1 and solitariness1
 is assuredly not a man of elevated     
tastes2  supposing1 however1 that he    
does not voluntarily take all this      
burden  and disgust upon himself1 that  
he persistently avoids it1 and remains1 
as ,i said1 quietly and proudly hidden  
in his citadel1 one thing is then       
certain3 he was not made1 he was not    
predestined for knowledge4 ,for as      
such1 he would one day have to say to   
himself3 ,the devil take my good  taste6

 but 'the rule' is more interesting than
 the exception--than  myself1 the       
exception6 ,and he would go ,,down1 and 
above all1 he would  go inside4 ,the    
long and serious study of the ,,average 
man--and  consequently much disguise1   
self-overcoming1 familiarity1 and bad   
intercourse 7all intercourse is bad     
intercourse except with one's           
equals73--that constitutes a necessary  
part of the life-history of every       
philosopher2 perhaps the most           
disagreeable1 odious1 and disappointing 
part4 ,if he is fortunate1 however1 as a
 favourite child of knowledge  should   
be1 he will meet with suitable          
auxiliaries who will shorten and        
lighten his task2 ,i mean so-called     
cynics1 those who simply recognize  the 
animal1 the commonplace and the rule in 
themselves1 and at the  same time have  
so much spirituality and ticklishness as
 to make them  talk of themselves and   
their like ,,before                     
,,witnesses--sometimes they  wallow1    

even in books1 as on their own          
dung-hill4 ,cynicism is the only  form  
in which base souls approach what is    
called honesty2 and the  higher man must
 open his ears to all the coarser or    
finer cynicism1 and  congratulate       
himself when the clown becomes shameless
 right before  him1 or the scientific   
satyr speaks out4 ,there are even cases 
where  enchantment mixes with the       
disgust--namely1 where by a freak of    
nature1  genius is bound to some such   
indiscreet billy-goat and ape1 as in the
  case of the ,abbe ,galiani1 the       
profoundest1 acutest1 and perhaps also  
filthiest man of his century--he was far
 profounder than ,voltaire1 and         
consequently also1 a good deal more     
silent4 ,it happens more frequently1  as
 has been hinted1 that a scientific head
 is placed on an ape's body1 a  fine    
exceptional understanding in a base     
soul1 an occurrence by no means  rare1  
especially among doctors and moral      
physiologists4 ,and whenever  anyone    

speaks without bitterness1 or rather    
quite innocently1 of man  as a belly    
with two requirements1 and a head with  
one2 whenever any one  sees1 seeks1 and 
,,wants to see only hunger1 sexual      
instinct1 and vanity  as the real and   
only motives of human actions2 in short1
 when any one  speaks badly--and not    
even ill--of man1 then ought the lover  
of  knowledge to hearken attentively and
 diligently2 he ought1 in general1  to  
have an open ear wherever there is talk 
without indignation4 ,for the  indignant
 man1 and he who perpetually tears and  
lacerates himself with  his own teeth   
7or1 in place of himself1 the world1    
,god1 or society71  may indeed1 morally 
speaking1 stand higher than the laughing
 and  self-satisfied satyr1 but in every
 other sense he is the more ordinary1   
more indifferent1 and less instructive  
case4 ,and no one is such a ,,liar  as  
the indignant man4    #bg4 ,it is       
difficult to be understood1 especially  
when one thinks and  lives              

gangasrotogati ,footnote3 ,like the     
river ,ganges3 presto4 among  those only
 who think and live otherwise--namely1  
kurmagati ,footnote3  ,like the         
tortoise3 lento41 or at best froglike1  
mandeikagati  ,footnote3 ,like the frog3
 staccato4 7,i do everything to be      
difficultly  understood myself67--and   
one should be heartily grateful for the 
good will to some refinement of         
interpretation4 ,as regards the good    
friends1 however1 who are always too    
easy-going1 and think that as  friends  
they have a right to ease1 one does well
 at the very first to  grant them a     
play-ground and romping-place for       
misunderstanding--one can  thus laugh   
still2 or get rid of them altogether1   
these good friends--and  laugh then     
also6    #bh4 ,what is most difficult to
 render from one language into another  
is the ,,tempo of its style1 which has  
its basis in the character of the  race1
 or to speak more physiologically1 in   
the average ,,tempo of the  assimilation

 of its nutriment4 ,there are honestly  
meant translations1  which1 as          
involuntary vulgarizations1 are almost  
falsifications of the  original1 merely 
because its lively and merry ,,tempo    
7which overleaps and  obviates all      
dangers in word and expression7 could   
not also be  rendered4 ,a ,german is    
almost incapacitated for ,,presto in his
 language2  consequently also1 as may be
 reasonably inferred1 for many of the   
most  delightful and daring ,,nuances of
 free1 free-spirited thought4 ,and just 
as the buffoon and satyr are foreign to 
him in body and conscience1  so         
,aristophanes and ,petronius are        
untranslatable for him4 ,everything     
ponderous1 viscous1 and pompously       
clumsy1 all long-winded and wearying    
species of style1 are developed in      
profuse variety among ,germans--pardon  
me for stating the fact that even       
,goethe's prose1 in its mixture of      
stiffness and elegance1 is no exception1
 as a reflection of the good  old time  

to which it belongs1 and as an          
expression of ,german taste at a  time  
when there was still a ,german taste1   
which was a rococo-taste  in moribus et 
artibus4 ,lessing is an exception1 owing
 to his histrionic  nature1 which       
understood much1 and was versed in many 
things2 he who was  not the translator  
of ,bayle to no purpose1 who took refuge
 willingly in  the shadow of ,diderot   
and ,voltaire1 and still more willingly 
among the  ,roman                       
comedy-writers--,lessing loved also     
free-spiritism in the ,,tempo1  and     
flight out of ,germany4 ,but how could  
the ,german language1 even  in the prose
 of ,lessing1 imitate the ,,tempo of    
,machiavelli1 who in his  ,principe     
makes us breathe the dry1 fine air of   
,florence1 and cannot  help presenting  
the most serious events in a boisterous 
allegrissimo1  perhaps not without a    
malicious artistic sense of the contrast
 he  ventures to present--long1 heavy1  
difficult1 dangerous thoughts1 and  a   

,,tempo of the gallop1 and of the best1 
wantonest humour8 ,finally1 who  would  
venture on a ,german translation of     
,petronius1 who1 more than any  great   
musician hitherto1 was a master of      
,,presto in invention1 ideas1 and       
words8 ,what matter in the end about the
 swamps of the sick1 evil world1  or of 
the ancient world1 when like him1 one   
has the feet of a wind1  the rush1 the  
breath1 the emancipating scorn of a     
wind1 which makes  everything healthy1  
by making everything ,,run6 ,and with   
regard to  ,aristophanes--that          
transfiguring1 complementary genius1 for
 whose  sake one ,,pardons all          
,hellenism for having existed1 provided 
one has  understood in its full         
profundity ,,all that there requires    
pardon and  transfiguration2 there is   
nothing that has caused me to meditate  
more on  ,,plato',s secrecy and         
sphinx-like nature1 than the happily    
preserved petit  fait that under the    
pillow of his death-bed there was found 

no  ,bible1 nor anything ,egyptian1     
,pythagorean1 or ,platonic--but a book  
of  ,aristophanes4 ,how could even      
,plato have endured life--a ,greek life 
which  he repudiated--without an        
,aristophanes6    #bi4 ,it is the       
business of the very few to be          
independent2 it is a  privilege of the  
strong4 ,and whoever attempts it1 even  
with the best  right1 but without being 
,,obliged to do so1 proves that he is   
probably  not only strong1 but also     
daring beyond measure4 ,he enters into a
  labyrinth1 he multiplies a            
thousandfold the dangers which life in  
itself  already brings with it2 not the 
least of which is that no one can see   
how and where he loses his way1 becomes 
isolated1 and is torn piecemeal  by some
 minotaur of conscience4 ,supposing such
 a one comes to grief1 it  is so far    
from the comprehension of men that they 
neither feel it1 nor  sympathize with   
it4 ,and he cannot any longer go back6  
,he cannot even go  back again to the   

sympathy of men6    #cj4 ,our deepest   
insights must--and should--appear as    
follies1 and under  certain             
circumstances as crimes1 when they come 
unauthorizedly to  the ears of those who
 are not disposed and predestined for   
them4 ,the  exoteric and the esoteric1  
as they were formerly distinguished by  
philosophers--among the ,indians1 as    
among the ,greeks1 ,persians1 and       
,mussulmans1 in short1 wherever people  
believed in gradations of rank and      
,,not in equality and equal rights--are 
not so much in contradistinction  to one
 another in respect to the exoteric     
class1 standing without1 and  viewing1  
estimating1 measuring1 and judging from 
the outside1 and not  from the inside2  
the more essential distinction is that  
the class in  question views things from
 below upwards--while the esoteric class
 views  things ,,from ,,above           
,,downwards4 ,there are heights of the  
soul from which  tragedy itself no      
longer appears to operate tragically2   

and if all the  woe in the world were   
taken together1 who would dare to decide
 whether  the sight of it would         
,,necessarily seduce and constrain to   
sympathy1 and  thus to a doubling of the
 woe8444 ,that which serves the higher  
class of  men for nourishment or        
refreshment1 must be almost poison to an
 entirely  different and lower order of 
human beings4 ,the virtues of the common
  man would perhaps mean vice and       
weakness in a philosopher2 it might be  
possible for a highly developed man1    
supposing him to degenerate and go  to  
ruin1 to acquire qualities thereby      
alone1 for the sake of which he  would  
have to be honoured as a saint in the   
lower world into which he  had sunk4    
,there are books which have an inverse  
value for the soul and  the health      
according as the inferior soul and the  
lower vitality1 or the  higher and more 
powerful1 make use of them4 ,in the     
former case they are  dangerous1        
disturbing1 unsettling books1 in the    

latter case they are  herald-calls which
 summon the bravest to ,,their bravery4 
,books for the  general reader are      
always ill-smelling books1 the odour of 
paltry people  clings to them4 ,where   
the populace eat and drink1 and even    
where they  reverence1 it is accustomed 
to stink4 ,one should not go into       
churches if  one wishes to breathe      
,,pure air4    #ca4 ,in our youthful    
years we still venerate and despise     
without the art  of ,,nuance1 which is  
the best gain of life1 and we have      
rightly to do  hard penance for having  
fallen upon men and things with ,yea and
 ,nay4  ,everything is so arranged that 
the worst of all tastes1 ,,the ,,taste  
,,for  ,,the ,,unconditional1 is cruelly
 befooled and abused1 until a man learns
  to introduce a little art into his    
sentiments1 and prefers to try          
conclusions with the artificial1 as do  
the real artists of life4 ,the  angry   
and reverent spirit peculiar to youth   
appears to allow itself no  peace1 until

 it has suitably falsified men and      
things1 to be able  to vent its passion 
upon them3 youth in itself even1 is     
something  falsifying and deceptive4    
,later on1 when the young soul1 tortured
 by  continual disillusions1 finally    
turns suspiciously against itself--still
  ardent and savage even in its         
suspicion and remorse of conscience3 how
  it upbraids itself1 how impatiently it
 tears itself1 how it revenges  itself  
for its long self-blinding1 as though it
 had been a voluntary  blindness6 ,in   
this transition one punishes oneself by 
distrust of one's  sentiments2 one      
tortures one's enthusiasm with doubt1   
one feels even the  good conscience to  
be a danger1 as if it were the          
self-concealment and  lassitude of a    
more refined uprightness2 and above all1
 one espouses  upon principle the cause 
,,against youth4--,a decade later1 and  
one  comprehends that all this was also 
still--youth6    #cb4 ,throughout the   
longest period of human history--one    

calls it the  prehistoric period--the   
value or non-value of an action was     
inferred  from its ,,consequences2 the  
action in itself was not taken into     
consideration1 any more than its origin2
 but pretty much as in ,china at        
present1 where the distinction or       
disgrace of a child redounds to  its    
parents1 the retro-operating power of   
success or failure was what  induced men
 to think well or ill of an action4 ,let
 us call this period  the ,,pre-,,moral 
period of mankind2 the imperative1 ,know
 thyself6 was  then still unknown4--,in 
the last ten thousand years1 on the     
other hand1  on certain large portions  
of the earth1 one has gradually got so  
far1  that one no longer lets the       
consequences of an action1 but its      
origin1  decide with regard to its      
worth3 a great achievement as a whole1  
an  important refinement of vision and  
of criterion1 the unconscious effect  of
 the supremacy of aristocratic values   
and of the belief in origin1  the mark  

of a period which may be designated in  
the narrower sense as  the ,,moral one3 
the first attempt at self-knowledge is  
thereby  made4 ,instead of the          
consequences1 the origin--what an       
inversion  of perspective6 ,and         
assuredly an inversion effected only    
after long  struggle and wavering6 ,to  
be sure1 an ominous new superstition1 a 
peculiar narrowness of interpretation1  
attained supremacy precisely  thereby3  
the origin of an action was interpreted 
in the most definite  sense possible1 as
 origin out of an ,,intention2 people   
were agreed in the  belief that the     
value of an action lay in the value of  
its intention4  ,the intention as the   
sole origin and antecedent history of an
 action3  under the influence of this   
prejudice moral praise and blame have   
been  bestowed1 and men have judged and 
even philosophized almost up to the     
present day4--,is it not possible1      
however1 that the necessity may now     
have arisen of again making up our minds

 with regard to the reversing  and      
fundamental shifting of values1 owing to
 a new self-consciousness  and acuteness
 in man--is it not possible that we may 
be standing on  the threshold of a      
period which to begin with1 would be    
distinguished  negatively as            
,,ultra-,,moral3 nowadays when1 at least
 among us immoralists1  the suspicion   
arises that the decisive value of an    
action lies precisely  in that which is 
,,not ,,intentional1 and that all its   
intentionalness1 all  that is seen1     
sensible1 or sensed in it1 belongs to   
its surface or  skin--which1 like every 
skin1 betrays something1 but ,,conceals 
still  more8 ,in short1 we believe that 
the intention is only a sign or symptom1
  which first requires an explanation--a
 sign1 moreover1 which has too  many    
interpretations1 and consequently hardly
 any meaning in itself  alone3 that     
morality1 in the sense in which it has  
been understood  hitherto1 as           
intention-morality1 has been a          

prejudice1 perhaps a  prematureness or  
preliminariness1 probably something of  
the same rank  as astrology and alchemy1
 but in any case something which must be
  surmounted4 ,the surmounting of       
morality1 in a certain sense even the   
self-mounting of morality--let that be  
the name for the long-secret  labour    
which has been reserved for the most    
refined1 the most upright1  and also the
 most wicked consciences of today1 as   
the living touchstones  of the soul4    
#cc4 ,it cannot be helped3 the sentiment
 of surrender1 of sacrifice for  one's  
neighbour1 and all                      
self-renunciation-morality1 must be     
mercilessly  called to account1 and     
brought to judgment2 just as the        
aesthetics  of disinterested            
contemplation1 under which the          
emasculation of art  nowadays seeks     
insidiously enough to create itself a   
good conscience4  ,there is far too much
 witchery and sugar in the sentiments   
for others  and ,,not for myself1 for   

one not needing to be doubly distrustful
 here1  and for one asking promptly3    
,are they not                           
perhaps--,,deceptions8--,that  they     
,,please--him who has them1 and him who 
enjoys their fruit1 and also  the mere  
spectator--that is still no argument in 
their ,,favour1 but just  calls for     
caution4 ,let us therefore be cautious6 
#cd4 ,at whatever standpoint of         
philosophy one may place oneself        
nowadays1  seen from every position1 the
 ,,erroneousness of the world in which  
we  think we live is the surest and most
 certain thing our eyes can light  upon3
 we find proof after proof thereof1     
which would fain allure us into         
surmises concerning a deceptive         
principle in the nature of things4  ,he1
 however1 who makes thinking itself1 and
 consequently the spirit1  responsible  
for the falseness of the world--an      
honourable exit1 which  every conscious 
or unconscious advocatus dei avails     
himself of--he  who regards this world1 

including space1 time1 form1 and        
movement1 as  falsely ,,deduced1 would  
have at least good reason in the end to 
become  distrustful also of all         
thinking2 has it not hitherto been      
playing upon  us the worst of scurvy    
tricks8 and what guarantee would it give
 that  it would not continue to do what 
it has always been doing8 ,in all       
seriousness1 the innocence of thinkers  
has something touching and              
respect-inspiring in it1 which even     
nowadays permits them to wait upon      
consciousness with the request that it  
will give them ,,honest answers3  for   
example1 whether it be real or not1 and 
why it keeps the outer  world so        
resolutely at a distance1 and other     
questions of the same  description4 ,the
 belief in immediate certainties is a   
,,moral ,,naivete  which does honour to 
us philosophers2 but--we have now to    
cease being  ,,merely moral men6 ,apart 
from morality1 such belief is a folly   
which  does little honour to us6 ,if in 

middle-class life an ever-ready distrust
  is regarded as the sign of a bad      
character1 and consequently as an       
imprudence1 here among us1 beyond the   
middle-class world and its ,yeas  and   
,nays1 what should prevent our being    
imprudent and saying3 the  philosopher  
has at length a ,,right to bad          
character1 as the being who  has        
hitherto been most befooled on earth--he
 is now under ,,obligation  to          
distrustfulness1 to the wickedest       
squinting out of every abyss of         
suspicion4--,forgive me the joke of this
 gloomy grimace and turn of  expression2
 for ,i myself have long ago learned to 
think and estimate  differently with    
regard to deceiving and being deceived1 
and ,i keep at  least a couple of pokes 
in the ribs ready for the blind rage    
with which  philosophers struggle       
against being deceived4 ,why ,,not8 ,it 
is nothing  more than a moral prejudice 
that truth is worth more than semblance2
 it  is1 in fact1 the worst proved      

supposition in the world4 ,so much must 
be  conceded3 there could have been no  
life at all except upon the basis  of   
perspective estimates and semblances2   
and if1 with the virtuous  enthusiasm   
and stupidity of many philosophers1 one 
wished to do away  altogether with the  
seeming world--well1 granted that ,,you 
could do  that1--at least nothing of    
your truth would thereby remain6        
,indeed1  what is it that forces us in  
general to the supposition that there is
 an  essential opposition of true and   
false8 ,is it not enough to suppose     
degrees of seemingness1 and as it were  
lighter and darker shades and  tones of 
semblance--different valeurs1 as the    
painters say8 ,why might  not the world 
,,which ,,concerns ,,us--be a fiction8  
,and to any one who  suggested3 ,but to 
a fiction belongs an originator8--might 
it not be  bluntly replied3 ,,why8 ,may 
not this belong also belong to the      
fiction8  ,is it not at length permitted
 to be a little ironical towards the    

subject1 just as towards the predicate  
and object8 ,might not the  philosopher 
elevate himself above faith in grammar8 
,all respect  to governesses1 but is it 
not time that philosophy should renounce
  governess-faith8    #ce4 ,o ,voltaire6
 ,o humanity6 ,o idiocy6 ,there is      
something ticklish in  the truth1 and in
 the ,,search for the truth2 and if man 
goes about it  too humanely--il ne      
cherche le vrai que pour faire le       
bien--,i wager he  finds nothing6       
#cf4 ,supposing that nothing else is    
given as real but our world of  desires 
and passions1 that we cannot sink or    
rise to any other reality  but just that
 of our impulses--for thinking is only a
 relation of these  impulses to one     
another3--are we not permitted to make  
the attempt and  to ask the question    
whether this which is given does not    
,,suffice1 by  means of our             
counterparts1 for the understanding even
 of the so-called  mechanical 7or       
material7 world8 ,i do not mean as an   

illusion1 a  semblance1 a representation
 7in the ,berkeleyan and                
,schopenhauerian  sense71 but as        
possessing the same degree of reality as
 our emotions  themselves--as a more    
primitive form of the world of emotions1
 in  which everything still lies locked 
in a mighty unity1 which afterwards     
branches off and develops itself in     
organic processes 7naturally also1      
refines and debilitates7--as a kind of  
instinctive life in which all  organic  
functions1 including self-regulation1   
assimilation1 nutrition1  secretion1 and
 change of matter1 are still            
synthetically united with  one          
another--as a ,,primary ,,form of       
life8--,in the end1 it is not only      
permitted to make this attempt1 it is   
commanded by the conscience of          
,,logical ,,method4 ,not to assume      
several kinds of causality1 so long as  
the attempt to get along with a single  
one has not been pushed to its  furthest
 extent 7to absurdity1 if ,i may be     

allowed to say so73 that is  a morality 
of method which one may not repudiate   
nowadays--it follows  from its          
definition1 as mathematicians say4 ,the 
question is ultimately  whether we      
really recognize the will as            
,,operating1 whether we believe in  the 
causality of the will2 if we do so--and 
fundamentally our belief ,,in  ,,this is
 just our belief in causality itself--we
 ,,must make the attempt  to posit      
hypothetically the causality of the will
 as the only causality4  ,will can      
naturally only operate on will--and not 
on matter 7not  on nerves1 for          
instance73 in short1 the hypothesis must
 be  hazarded1 whether will does not    
operate on will wherever effects  are   
recognized--and whether all mechanical  
action1 inasmuch as a power  operates   
therein1 is not just the power of will1 
the effect of will4  ,granted1 finally1 
that we succeeded in explaining our     
entire instinctive  life as the         
development and ramification of one     

fundamental form of  will--namely1 the  
,will to ,power1 as my thesis puts it2  
granted that all  organic functions     
could be traced back to this ,will to   
,power1 and that  the solution of the   
problem of generation and nutrition--it 
is one  problem--could also be found    
therein3 one would thus have acquired   
the  right to define ,,all active force 
unequivocally as ,,will ,,to ,,power4   
,the  world seen from within1 the world 
defined and designated according to  its
 intelligible character--it would simply
 be ,will to ,power1 and  nothing else4 
#cg4 ,what8 ,does not that mean in      
popular language3 ,god is disproved1 but
  not the devil8--,on the contrary6 ,on 
the contrary1 my friends6 ,and who  the 
devil also compels you to speak         
popularly6    #ch4 ,as happened finally 
in all the enlightenment of modern times
 with  the ,french ,revolution 7that    
terrible farce1 quite superfluous when  
judged close at hand1 into which1       
however1 the noble and visionary        

spectators of all ,europe have          
interpreted from a distance their own   
indignation and enthusiasm so long and  
passionately1 ,,until ,,the ,,text ,,has
  ,,disappeared ,,under ,,the           
,,interpretation71 so a noble posterity 
might once  more misunderstand the whole
 of the past1 and perhaps only thereby  
make  ,,its aspect endurable4--,or      
rather1 has not this already happened8  
,have  not we ourselves been--that noble
 posterity8 ,and1 in so far as we now   
comprehend this1 is it not--thereby     
already past8    #ci4 ,nobody will very 
readily regard a doctrine as true merely
 because  it makes people happy or      
virtuous--excepting1 perhaps1 the       
amiable  ,idealists1 who are            
enthusiastic about the good1 true1 and  
beautiful1  and let all kinds of motley1
 coarse1 and good-natured desirabilities
  swim about promiscuously in their     
pond4 ,happiness and virtue are no      
arguments4 ,it is willingly forgotten1  
however1 even on the part of  thoughtful

 minds1 that to make unhappy and to make
 bad are just as  little                
counter-arguments4 ,a thing could be    
,,true1 although it were in  the highest
 degree injurious and dangerous2 indeed1
 the fundamental  constitution of       
existence might be such that one        
succumbed by a full  knowledge of it--so
 that the strength of a mind might be   
measured by  the amount of truth it     
could endure--or to speak more plainly1 
by the  extent to which it ,,required   
truth attenuated1 veiled1 sweetened1    
damped1  and falsified4 ,but there is no
 doubt that for the discovery of certain
  ,,portions of truth the wicked and    
unfortunate are more favourably         
situated and have a greater likelihood  
of success2 not to speak of the  wicked 
who are happy--a species about whom     
moralists are silent4 ,perhaps  severity
 and craft are more favourable          
conditions for the development of       
strong1 independent spirits and         
philosophers than the gentle1 refined1  

yielding good-nature1 and habit of      
taking things easily1 which are  prized1
 and rightly prized in a learned man4   
,presupposing always1  to begin with1   
that the term philosopher be not        
confined to the  philosopher who writes 
books1 or even introduces ,,his         
philosophy into  books6--,stendhal      
furnishes a last feature of the portrait
 of the  free-spirited philosopher1     
which for the sake of ,german taste ,i  
will  not omit to underline--for it is  
,,opposed to ,german taste4 ,pour etre  
bon philosophe1 says this last great    
psychologist1 il faut etre sec1  clair1 
sans illusion4 ,un banquier1 qui a fait 
fortune1 a une partie du  caractere     
requis pour faire des decouvertes en    
philosophie1 c'est-a-dire  pour voir    
clair dans ce qui est4    #dj4          
,everything that is profound loves the  
mask3 the profoundest things  have a    
hatred even of figure and likeness4     
,should not the ,,contrary only  be the 
right disguise for the shame of a ,god  

to go about in8 ,a question  worth      
asking6--it would be strange if some    
mystic has not already  ventured on the 
same kind of thing4 ,there are          
proceedings of such a  delicate nature  
that it is well to overwhelm them with  
coarseness  and make them               
unrecognizable2 there are actions of    
love and of an  extravagant magnanimity 
after which nothing can be wiser than to
 take  a stick and thrash the witness   
soundly3 one thereby obscures his       
recollection4 ,many a one is able to    
obscure and abuse his own memory1 in    
order at least to have vengeance on this
 sole party in the secret3  shame is    
inventive4 ,they are not the worst      
things of which one is  most ashamed3   
there is not only deceit behind a       
mask--there is so much  goodness in     
craft4 ,i could imagine that a man with 
something costly and  fragile to        
conceal1 would roll through life        
clumsily and rotundly like  an old1     
green1 heavily-hooped wine-cask3 the    

refinement of his shame  requiring it to
 be so4 ,a man who has depths in his    
shame meets his  destiny and his        
delicate decisions upon paths which few 
ever reach1  and with regard to the     
existence of which his nearest and most 
intimate  friends may be ignorant2 his  
mortal danger conceals itself from their
  eyes1 and equally so his regained     
security4 ,such a hidden nature1  which 
instinctively employs speech for silence
 and concealment1 and is  inexhaustible 
in evasion of communication1 ,,desires  
and insists that a  mask of himself     
shall occupy his place in the hearts and
 heads of his  friends2 and supposing he
 does not desire it1 his eyes will some 
day be  opened to the fact that there is
 nevertheless a mask of him there--and  
that it is well to be so4 ,every        
profound spirit needs a mask2 nay1 more1
  around every profound spirit there    
continually grows a mask1 owing to  the 
constantly false1 that is to say1       
,,superficial interpretation  of every  

word he utters1 every step he takes1    
every sign of life he  manifests4       
#da4 ,one must subject oneself to one's 
own tests that one is destined  for     
independence and command1 and do so at  
the right time4 ,one must not  avoid    
one's tests1 although they constitute   
perhaps the most dangerous  game one can
 play1 and are in the end tests made    
only before ourselves  and before no    
other judge4 ,not to cleave to any      
person1 be it even the  dearest--every  
person is a prison and also a recess4   
,not to cleave to  a fatherland1 be it  
even the most suffering and             
necessitous--it is even  less difficult 
to detach one's heart from a victorious 
fatherland4 ,not  to cleave to a        
sympathy1 be it even for higher men1    
into whose peculiar  torture and        
helplessness chance has given us an     
insight4 ,not to cleave  to a science1  
though it tempt one with the most       
valuable discoveries1  apparently       
specially reserved for us4 ,not to      

cleave to one's own  liberation1 to the 
voluptuous distance and remoteness of   
the bird1 which  always flies further   
aloft in order always to see more under 
it--the  danger of the flier4 ,not to   
cleave to our own virtues1 nor become as
  a whole a victim to any of our        
specialties1 to our hospitality for     
instance1 which is the danger of dangers
 for highly developed  and wealthy      
souls1 who deal prodigally1 almost      
indifferently with  themselves1 and push
 the virtue of liberality so far that it
 becomes  a vice4 ,one must know how    
,,to ,,conserve ,,oneself--the best test
 of  independence4    #db4 ,a new order 
of philosophers is appearing2 ,i shall  
venture to baptize  them by a name not  
without danger4 ,as far as ,i understand
 them1 as far  as they allow themselves 
to be understood--for it is their nature
 to  ,,wish to remain something of a    
puzzle--these philosophers of the       
future might rightly1 perhaps also      
wrongly1 claim to be designated as      

tempters4 ,this name itself is after all
 only an attempt1 or1 if it be          
preferred1 a temptation4    #dc4 ,will  
they be new friends of truth1 these     
coming philosophers8 ,very  probably1   
for all philosophers hitherto have loved
 their truths4 ,but  assuredly they will
 not be dogmatists4 ,it must be contrary
 to their  pride1 and also contrary to  
their taste1 that their truth should    
still  be truth for every one--that     
which has hitherto been the secret wish 
and ultimate purpose of all dogmatic    
efforts4 ,my opinion is ,,my opinion3   
another person has not easily a right to
 it--such a philosopher of the  future  
will say1 perhaps4 ,one must renounce   
the bad taste of wishing to  agree with 
many people4 ,good is no longer good    
when one's neighbour  takes it into his 
mouth4 ,and how could there be a common 
good6 ,the  expression contradicts      
itself2 that which can be common is     
always of  small value4 ,in the end     
things must be as they are and have     

always  been--the great things remain   
for the great1 the abysses for the      
profound1 the delicacies and thrills for
 the refined1 and1 to sum up  shortly1  
everything rare for the rare4      #dd4 
,need ,i say expressly after all this   
that they will be free1 ,,very  free    
spirits1 these philosophers of the      
future--as certainly also they  will not
 be merely free spirits1 but something  
more1 higher1 greater1  and             
fundamentally different1 which does not 
wish to be misunderstood and  mistaken8 
,but while ,i say this1 ,i feel under   
,,obligation almost as much  to them as 
to ourselves 7we free spirits who are   
their heralds and  forerunners71 to     
sweep away from ourselves altogether a  
stupid old  prejudice and               
misunderstanding1 which1 like a fog1 has
 too long made the  conception of free  
spirit obscure4 ,in every country of    
,europe1 and the  same in ,america1     
there is at present something which     
makes an abuse of  this name a very     

narrow1 prepossessed1 enchained class of
 spirits1  who desire almost the        
opposite of what our intentions and     
instincts  prompt--not to mention that  
in respect to the ,,new philosophers who
 are  appearing1 they must still more be
 closed windows and bolted doors4       
,briefly and regrettably1 they belong to
 the ,,levellers1 these wrongly  named  
free spirits--as glib-tongued and       
scribe-fingered slaves of  the          
democratic taste and its modern ideas   
all of them men without  solitude1      
without personal solitude1 blunt honest 
fellows to whom  neither courage nor    
honourable conduct ought to be denied1  
only1 they  are not free1 and are       
ludicrously superficial1 especially in  
their  innate partiality for seeing the 
cause of almost ,,all human misery and  
failure in the old forms in which       
society has hitherto existed--a notion  
which happily inverts the truth         
entirely6 ,what they would fain attain  
with all their strength1 is the         

universal1 green-meadow happiness of the
  herd1 together with security1 safety1 
comfort1 and alleviation of life  for   
every one1 their two most frequently    
chanted songs and doctrines  are called 
,equality of ,rights and ,sympathy with 
,all ,sufferers--and  suffering itself  
is looked upon by them as something     
which must be  ,,done ,,away ,,with4 ,we
 opposite ones1 however1 who have opened
 our eye and  conscience to the question
 how and where the plant man has        
hitherto  grown most vigorously1 believe
 that this has always taken place under 
the opposite conditions1 that for this  
end the dangerousness of his  situation 
had to be increased enormously1 his     
inventive faculty and  dissembling power
 7his spirit7 had to develop into       
subtlety and daring  under long         
oppression and compulsion1 and his ,will
 to ,life had to be  increased to the   
unconditioned ,will to ,power--we       
believe that severity1  violence1       
slavery1 danger in the street and in the

 heart1 secrecy1  stoicism1 tempter's   
art and devilry of every kind1--that    
everything  wicked1 terrible1           
tyrannical1 predatory1 and serpentine in
 man1 serves  as well for the elevation 
of the human species as its opposite--we
 do  not even say enough when we only   
say ,,this ,,much1 and in any case we   
find ourselves here1 both with our      
speech and our silence1 at the ,,other  
extreme of all modern ideology and      
gregarious desirability1 as their       
antipodes perhaps8 ,what wonder that we 
free spirits are not exactly  the most  
communicative spirits8 that we do not   
wish to betray in every  respect ,,what 
a spirit can free itself from1 and      
,,where perhaps it will  then be driven8
 ,and as to the import of the dangerous 
formula1 ,beyond  ,good and ,evil1 with 
which we at least avoid confusion1 we   
,,are something  else than              
libres-penseurs1 liben pensatori        
free-thinkers1  and whatever these      
honest advocates of modern ideas like to

 call  themselves4 ,having been at home1
 or at least guests1 in many realms of  
the spirit1 having escaped again and    
again from the gloomy1 agreeable  nooks 
in which preferences and prejudices1    
youth1 origin1 the accident  of men and 
books1 or even the weariness of travel  
seemed to confine us1  full of malice   
against the seductions of dependency    
which he concealed  in honours1 money1  
positions1 or exaltation of the senses1 
grateful even  for distress and the     
vicissitudes of illness1 because they   
always free  us from some rule1 and its 
prejudice1 grateful to the ,god1 devil1 
sheep1 and worm in us1 inquisitive to a 
fault1 investigators to the  point of   
cruelty1 with unhesitating fingers for  
the intangible1 with  teeth and stomachs
 for the most indigestible1 ready for   
any business  that requires sagacity and
 acute senses1 ready for every          
adventure1  owing to an excess of free  
will1 with anterior and posterior souls1
  into the ultimate intentions of which 

it is difficult to pry1 with            
foregrounds and backgrounds to the end  
of which no foot may run1 hidden  ones  
under the mantles of light1             
appropriators1 although we resemble     
heirs and spendthrifts1 arrangers and   
collectors from morning till  night1    
misers of our wealth and our            
full-crammed drawers1 economical  in    
learning and forgetting1 inventive in   
scheming1 sometimes proud of  tables of 
categories1 sometimes pedants1 sometimes
 night-owls of  work even in full day1  
yea1 if necessary1 even scarecrows--and 
it is  necessary nowadays1 that is to   
say1 inasmuch as we are the born1 sworn1
  jealous friends of ,,solitude1 of our 
own profoundest midnight and midday     
solitude--such kind of men are we1 we   
free spirits6 ,and perhaps ye are  also 
something of the same kind1 ye coming   
ones8 ye ,,new philosophers8            
,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,religious      
,,mood      #de4 ,the human soul and its
 limits1 the range of man's inner       

experiences  hitherto attained1 the     
heights1 depths1 and distances of these 
experiences1 the entire history of the  
soul ,,up ,,to ,,the ,,present ,,time1  
and its still unexhausted possibilities3
 this is the preordained  hunting-domain
 for a born psychologist and lover of a 
big hunt4 ,but  how often must he say   
despairingly to himself3 ,a single      
individual6  alas1 only a single        
individual6 and this great forest1 this 
virgin  forest6 ,so he would like to    
have some hundreds of hunting           
assistants1  and fine trained hounds1   
that he could send into the history of  
the  human soul1 to drive ,,his game    
together4 ,in vain3 again and again he  
experiences1 profoundly and bitterly1   
how difficult it is to find  assistants 
and dogs for all the things that        
directly excite his  curiosity4 ,the    
evil of sending scholars into new and   
dangerous  hunting-domains1 where       
courage1 sagacity1 and subtlety in every
 sense  are required1 is that they are  

no longer serviceable just when the     
,,big  hunt1 and also the great danger  
commences1--it is precisely then that   
they lose their keen eye and nose4 ,in  
order1 for instance1 to divine and      
determine what sort of history the      
problem of ,,knowledge ,,and            
,,conscience  has hitherto had in the   
souls of homines religiosi1 a person    
would  perhaps himself have to possess  
as profound1 as bruised1 as immense an  
experience as the intellectual          
conscience of ,pascal2 and then he would
  still require that wide-spread heaven 
of clear1 wicked spirituality1  which1  
from above1 would be able to oversee1   
arrange1 and effectively  formulize this
 mass of dangerous and painful          
experiences4--,but who  could do me this
 service6 ,and who would have time to   
wait for such  servants6--they evidently
 appear too rarely1 they are so         
improbable at  all times6 ,eventually   
one must do everything ,,oneself in     
order to know  something2 which means   

that one has ,,much to do6--,but a      
curiosity like  mine is once for all the
 most agreeable of vices--pardon me6 ,i 
mean to  say that the love of truth has 
its reward in heaven1 and already upon  
earth4    #df4 ,faith1 such as early    
,christianity desired1 and not          
infrequently  achieved in the midst of a
 skeptical and southernly free-spirited 
world1  which had centuries of struggle 
between philosophical schools behind  it
 and in it1 counting besides the        
education in tolerance which  the       
,imperium ,romanum gave--this faith is  
,,not that sincere1 austere  slave-faith
 by which perhaps a ,luther or a        
,cromwell1 or some other  northern      
barbarian of the spirit remained        
attached to his ,god and  ,christianity1
 it is much rather the faith of ,pascal1
 which resembles in  a terrible manner a
 continuous suicide of reason--a tough1 
long-lived1  worm-like reason1 which is 
not to be slain at once and with a      
single  blow4 ,the ,christian faith from

 the beginning1 is sacrifice the        
sacrifice  of all freedom1 all pride1   
all self-confidence of spirit1 it is at 
the same time subjection1 self-derision1
 and self-mutilation4 ,there is  cruelty
 and religious ,phoenicianism in this   
faith1 which is adapted to a  tender1   
many-sided1 and very fastidious         
conscience1 it takes for granted  that  
the subjection of the spirit is         
indescribably ,,painful1 that all the   
past and all the habits of such a spirit
 resist the absurdissimum1 in  the form 
of which faith comes to it4 ,modern men1
 with their obtuseness  as regards all  
,christian nomenclature1 have no longer 
the sense for the  terribly superlative 
conception which was implied to an      
antique taste by  the paradox of the    
formula1 ,god on the ,cross4 ,hitherto  
there had never  and nowhere been such  
boldness in inversion1 nor anything at  
once so  dreadful1 questioning1 and     
questionable as this formula3 it        
promised a  transvaluation of all       

ancient values--,it was the ,orient1 the
 ,,profound  ,orient1 it was the        
,oriental slave who thus took revenge on
 ,rome and its  noble1 light-minded     
toleration1 on the ,roman ,catholicism  
of non-faith1  and it was always not the
 faith1 but the freedom from the faith1 
the  half-stoical and smiling           
indifference to the seriousness of the  
faith1  which made the slaves indignant 
at their masters and revolt against     
them4 ,enlightenment causes revolt1 for 
the slave desires the  unconditioned1 he
 understands nothing but the tyrannous1 
even in morals1  he loves as he hates1  
without ,,nuance1 to the very depths1 to
 the point  of pain1 to the point of    
sickness--his many ,,hidden sufferings  
make  him revolt against the noble taste
 which seems to ,,deny suffering4 ,the  
skepticism with regard to suffering1    
fundamentally only an attitude of       
aristocratic morality1 was not the least
 of the causes1 also1 of the  last great
 slave-insurrection which began with the

 ,french ,revolution4    #dg4 ,wherever 
the religious neurosis has appeared on  
the earth so far1  we find it connected 
with three dangerous prescriptions as to
 regimen3  solitude1 fasting1 and sexual
 abstinence--but without its being      
possible  to determine with certainty   
which is cause and which is effect1 or  
,,if  any relation at all of cause and  
effect exists there4 ,this latter doubt 
is justified by the fact that one of the
 most regular symptoms among  savage as 
well as among civilized peoples is the  
most sudden and  excessive sensuality1  
which then with equal suddenness        
transforms into  penitential paroxysms1 
world-renunciation1 and                 
will-renunciation1 both  symptoms       
perhaps explainable as disguised        
epilepsy8 ,but nowhere is it  ,,more    
obligatory to put aside explanations    
around no other type has there  grown   
such a mass of absurdity and            
superstition1 no other type seems to    
have been more interesting to men and   

even to philosophers--perhaps it  is    
time to become just a little indifferent
 here1 to learn caution1 or1  better    
still1 to look ,,away1 ,,to ,,go        
,,away--,yet in the background of the   
most recent philosophy1 that of         
,schopenhauer1 we find almost as the    
problem in itself1 this terrible note of
 interrogation of the religious  crisis 
and awakening4 ,how is the negation of  
will ,,possible8 how is the  saint      
possible8--that seems to have been the  
very question with which  ,schopenhauer 
made a start and became a philosopher4  
,and thus it was a  genuine             
,schopenhauerian consequence1 that his  
most convinced adherent  7perhaps also  
his last1 as far as ,germany is         
concerned71 namely1 ,richard  ,wagner1  
should bring his own life-work to an end
 just here1 and should  finally put that
 terrible and eternal type upon the     
stage as ,kundry1  type vecu1 and as it 
loved and lived1 at the very time that  
the  mad-doctors in almost all ,european

 countries had an opportunity to study  
the type close at hand1 wherever the    
religious neurosis--or as ,i call  it1  
the religious mood--made its latest     
epidemical outbreak and  display as the 
,salvation ,army--,if it be a question1 
however1 as to  what has been so        
extremely interesting to men of all     
sorts in all ages1  and even to         
philosophers1 in the whole phenomenon of
 the saint1 it  is undoubtedly the      
appearance of the miraculous            
therein--namely1 the  immediate         
,,succession ,,of ,,opposites1 of states
 of the soul regarded as  morally       
antithetical3 it was believed here to be
 self-evident that  a bad man was all at
 once turned into a saint1 a good man4  
,the  hitherto existing psychology was  
wrecked at this point1 is it not        
possible it may have happened           
principally because psychology had      
placed  itself under the dominion of    
morals1 because it ,,believed in        
oppositions  of moral values1 and saw1  

read1 and ,,interpreted these           
oppositions  into the text and facts of 
the case8 ,what8 ,miracle only an error 
of  interpretation8 ,a lack of          
philology8    #dh4 ,it seems that the   
,latin races are far more deeply        
attached to their  ,catholicism than we 
,northerners are to ,christianity       
generally1 and  that consequently       
unbelief in ,catholic countries means   
something quite  different from what it 
does among ,protestants--namely1 a sort 
of revolt  against the spirit of the    
race1 while with us it is rather a      
return to  the spirit 7or non-spirit7 of
 the race4    ,we ,northerners          
undoubtedly derive our origin from      
barbarous races1 even  as regards our   
talents for religion--we have ,,poor    
talents for it4 ,one  may make an       
exception in the case of the ,celts1 who
 have theretofore  furnished also the   
best soil for ,christian infection in   
the ,north3 the  ,christian ideal       
blossomed forth in ,france as much as   

ever the pale sun  of the north would   
allow it4 ,how strangely pious for our  
taste are still  these later ,french    
skeptics1 whenever there is any ,celtic 
blood in their  origin6 ,how ,catholic1 
how un-,german does ,auguste ,comte's   
,sociology  seem to us1 with the ,roman 
logic of its instincts6 ,how            
,jesuitical1 that  amiable and shrewd   
cicerone of ,port ,royal1               
,sainte-,beuve1 in spite of all  his    
hostility to ,jesuits6 ,and even ,ernest
 ,renan3 how inaccessible to  us        
,northerners does the language of such a
 ,renan appear1 in whom  every instant  
the merest touch of religious thrill    
throws his refined  voluptuous and      
comfortably couching soul off its       
balance6 ,let us repeat  after him these
 fine sentences--and what wickedness and
 haughtiness is  immediately aroused by 
way of answer in our probably less      
beautiful but  harder souls1 that is to 
say1 in our more ,german                
souls6--,,disons ,,donc  ,,hardiment    

,,que ,,la ,,religion ,,est ,,un        
,,produit ,,de ,l',,homme ,,normal1     
,,que ,l',,homme  ,,est ,,le ,,plus     
,,dans ,,le ,,vrai ,,quant ,,il ,,est   
,,le ,,plus ,,religieux ,,et ,,le ,,plus
  ,,assure ,d',,une ,,destinee          
,,infinie4444 ,c',,est ,,quand ,,il     
,,est ,,bon ,,qu',,il ,,veut ,,que  ,,la
 ,,virtu ,,corresponde ,a ,,un ,,order  
,,eternal1 ,c',,est ,,quand ,,il        
,,contemple ,,les  ,,choses ,d',,une    
,,maniere ,,desinteressee ,,qu',,il     
,,trouve ,,la ,,mort ,,revoltante ,,et  
,,absurde4 ,,comment ,,ne ,,pas         
,,supposer ,,que ,c',,est ,,dans ,,ces  
,,moments-,,la1 ,,que  ,l',,homme ,,voit
 ,,le ,,mieux8444 ,these sentences are  
so extremely ,,antipodal  to my ears and
 habits of thought1 that in my first    
impulse of rage  on finding them1 ,i    
wrote on the margin1 ,,la ,,niaiserie   
,,religieuse ,,par  ,,excellence6--until
 in my later rage ,i even took a fancy  
to them1 these  sentences with their    
truth absolutely inverted6 ,it is so    

nice and such a  distinction to have    
one's own antipodes6    #di4 ,that which
 is so astonishing in the religious life
 of the ancient  ,greeks is the         
irrestrainable stream of ,,gratitude    
which it pours  forth--it is a very     
superior kind of man who takes ,,such an
 attitude  towards nature and           
life4--,later on1 when the populace got 
the upper hand  in ,greece1 ,,fear      
became rampant also in religion2 and    
,christianity was  preparing itself4    
#ej4 ,the passion for ,god3 there are   
churlish1 honest-hearted1 and           
importunate kinds of it1 like that of   
,luther--the whole of ,protestantism    
lacks the southern ,,delicatezza4 ,there
 is an ,oriental exaltation of the  mind
 in it1 like that of an undeservedly    
favoured or elevated slave1 as  in the  
case of ,st4 ,augustine1 for instance1  
who lacks in an offensive  manner1 all  
nobility in bearing and desires4 ,there 
is a feminine  tenderness and sensuality
 in it1 which modestly and unconsciously

 longs  for a ,,unio ,,mystica ,,et     
,,physica1 as in the case of ,madame de 
,guyon4 ,in  many cases it appears1     
curiously enough1 as the disguise of a  
girl's  or youth's puberty2 here and    
there even as the hysteria of an old    
maid1  also as her last ambition4 ,the  
,church has frequently canonized the    
woman  in such a case4    #ea4 ,the     
mightiest men have hitherto always bowed
 reverently before  the saint1 as the   
enigma of self-subjugation and utter    
voluntary  privation--why did they thus 
bow8 ,they divined in him--and as it    
were  behind the questionableness of his
 frail and wretched appearance--the     
superior force which wished to test     
itself by such a subjugation2 the       
strength of will1 in which they         
recognized their own strength and  love 
of power1 and knew how to honour it3    
they honoured something  in themselves  
when they honoured the saint4 ,in       
addition to this1 the  contemplation of 
the saint suggested to them a suspicion3

 such an  enormity of self-negation and 
anti-naturalness will not have been     
coveted for nothing--they have said1    
inquiringly4 ,there is perhaps a  reason
 for it1 some very great danger1 about  
which the ascetic might  wish to be more
 accurately informed through his secret 
interlocutors and  visitors8 ,in a word1
 the mighty ones of the world learned to
 have a new  fear before him1 they      
divined a new power1 a strange1 still   
unconquered  enemy3--it was the ,will to
 ,power which obliged them to halt      
before the  saint4 ,they had to question
 him4    #eb4 ,in the ,jewish ,old      
,testament1 the book of divine justice1 
there are  men1 things1 and sayings on  
such an immense scale1 that ,greek and  
,indian  literature has nothing to      
compare with it4 ,one stands with fear  
and  reverence before those stupendous  
remains of what man was formerly1 and   
one has sad thoughts about old ,asia and
 its little out-pushed peninsula        
,europe1 which would like1 by all means1

 to figure before ,asia as the          
,progress of ,mankind4 ,to be sure1 he  
who is himself only a slender1  tame    
house-animal1 and knows only the wants  
of a house-animal 7like  our cultured   
people of today1 including the          
,christians of cultured  ,christianity71
 need neither be amazed nor even sad    
amid those ruins--the  taste for the    
,old ,testament is a touchstone with    
respect to great and  small3 perhaps he 
will find that the ,new ,testament1 the 
book of grace1  still appeals more to   
his heart 7there is much of the odour of
 the  genuine1 tender1 stupid beadsman  
and petty soul in it74 ,to have bound   
up this ,new ,testament 7a kind of      
,,rococo of taste in every respect7     
along  with the ,old ,testament into one
 book1 as the ,bible1 as ,the ,book in  
,itself1 is perhaps the greatest        
audacity and sin against the ,spirit    
which literary ,europe has upon its     
conscience4    #ec4 ,why ,atheism       
nowadays8 ,the father in ,god is        

thoroughly refuted2  equally so the     
judge1 the rewarder4 ,also his free     
will3 he does  not hear--and even if he 
did1 he would not know how to help4 ,the
 worst  is that he seems incapable of   
communicating himself clearly2 is he    
uncertain8--,this is what ,i have made  
out 7by questioning and listening  at a 
variety of conversations7 to be the     
cause of the decline of  ,european      
theism2 it appears to me that though the
 religious instinct is  in vigorous     
growth1--it rejects the theistic        
satisfaction with profound  distrust4   
#ed4 ,what does all modern philosophy   
mainly do8 ,since ,descartes--and       
indeed more in defiance of him than on  
the basis of his procedure--an          
,,attentat has been made on the part of 
all philosophers on the old  conception 
of the soul1 under the guise of a       
criticism of the subject  and predicate 
conception--that is to say1 an          
,,attentat on the  fundamental          
presupposition of ,christian doctrine4  

,modern philosophy1  as epistemological 
skepticism1 is secretly or openly       
,,anti-,,christian1  although 7for      
keener ears1 be it said7 by no means    
anti-religious4  ,formerly1 in effect1  
one believed in the soul as one believed
 in  grammar and the grammatical        
subject3 one said1 ,i is the condition1 
think is the predicate and is           
conditioned--to think is an activity for
  which one ,,must suppose a subject as 
cause4 ,the attempt was then made1  with
 marvelous tenacity and subtlety1 to see
 if one could not get out  of this      
net1--to see if the opposite was not    
perhaps true3 think the  condition1 and 
,i the conditioned2 ,i1 therefore1 only 
a synthesis  which has been ,,made by   
thinking itself4 ,,kant really wished to
 prove  that1 starting from the subject1
 the subject could not be proved--nor   
the object either3 the possibility of an
 ,,apparent ,,existence of the  subject1
 and therefore of the soul1 may not     
always have been strange  to him1--the  

thought which once had an immense power 
on earth as the  ,vedanta philosophy4   
#ee4 ,there is a great ladder of        
religious cruelty1 with many rounds2 but
  three of these are the most important4
 ,once on a time men sacrificed  human  
beings to their ,god1 and perhaps just  
those they loved the  best--to this     
category belong the firstling sacrifices
 of all primitive  religions1 and also  
the sacrifice of the ,emperor ,tiberius 
in the  ,mithra-,grotto on the ,island  
of ,capri1 that most terrible of all    
,roman  anachronisms4 ,then1 during the 
moral epoch of mankind1 they sacrificed 
to their ,god the strongest instincts   
they possessed1 their nature2  ,,this   
festal joy shines in the cruel glances  
of ascetics and  anti-natural fanatics4 
,finally1 what still remained to be     
sacrificed8  ,was it not necessary in   
the end for men to sacrifice everything 
comforting1 holy1 healing1 all hope1 all
 faith in hidden harmonies1 in  future  
blessedness and justice8 ,was it not    

necessary to sacrifice ,god  himself1   
and out of cruelty to themselves to     
worship stone1 stupidity1  gravity1     
fate1 nothingness8 ,to sacrifice ,god   
for nothingness--this  paradoxical      
mystery of the ultimate cruelty has been
 reserved for the  rising generation2 we
 all know something thereof already4    
#ef4 ,whoever1 like myself1 prompted by 
some enigmatical desire1 has long       
endeavoured to go to the bottom of the  
question of pessimism and free it  from 
the half-,christian1 half-,german       
narrowness and stupidity in which  it   
has finally presented itself to this    
century1 namely1 in the form of         
,schopenhauer's philosophy2 whoever1    
with an ,asiatic and super-,asiatic     
eye1 has actually looked inside1 and    
into the most world-renouncing of  all  
possible modes of thought--beyond good  
and evil1 and no longer  like ,buddha   
and ,schopenhauer1 under the dominion   
and delusion of  morality1--whoever has 
done this1 has perhaps just thereby1    

without  really desiring it1 opened his 
eyes to behold the opposite ideal3 the  
ideal of the most world-approving1      
exuberant1 and vivacious man1 who has   
not only learnt to compromise and       
arrange with that which was and  is1 but
 wishes to have it again ,,as ,,it ,,was
 ,,and ,,is1 for all eternity1          
insatiably calling out da capo1 not only
 to himself1 but to the whole  piece and
 play2 and not only the play1 but       
actually to him who requires  the       
play--and makes it necessary2 because he
 always requires  himself anew--and     
makes himself necessary4--,what8 ,and   
this would not  be--circulus vitiosus   
deus8    #eg4 ,the distance1 and as it  
were the space around man1 grows with   
the  strength of his intellectual vision
 and insight3 his world becomes         
profounder2 new stars1 new enigmas1 and 
notions are ever coming into  view4     
,perhaps everything on which the        
intellectual eye has exercised  its     
acuteness and profundity has just been  

an occasion for its exercise1  something
 of a game1 something for children and  
childish minds4 ,perhaps  the most      
solemn conceptions that have caused the 
most fighting and  suffering1 the       
conceptions ,god and sin1 will one day  
seem to us of  no more importance than a
 child's plaything or a child's pain    
seems to  an old man2--and perhaps      
another plaything and another pain will 
then  be necessary once more for the old
 man--always childish enough1 an        
eternal child6    #eh4 ,has it been     
observed to what extent outward         
idleness1 or  semi-idleness1 is         
necessary to a real religious life      
7alike for its  favourite microscopic   
labour of self-examination1 and for its 
soft  placidity called prayer1 the state
 of perpetual readiness for the  coming 
of ,god71 ,i mean the idleness with a   
good conscience1 the  idleness of olden 
times and of blood1 to which the        
aristocratic  sentiment that work is    
,,dishonouring--that it vulgarizes body 

and  soul--is not quite unfamiliar8 ,and
 that consequently the modern1 noisy1   
time-engrossing1 conceited1 foolishly   
proud laboriousness educates  and       
prepares for unbelief more than anything
 else8 ,among these1 for  instance1 who 
are at present living apart from        
religion in ,germany1 ,i  find          
free-thinkers of diversified species and
 origin1 but above all  a majority of   
those in whom laboriousness from        
generation to generation  has dissolved 
the religious instincts2 so that they no
 longer know what  purpose religions    
serve1 and only note their existence in 
the world  with a kind of dull          
astonishment4 ,they feel themselves     
already fully  occupied1 these good     
people1 be it by their business or by   
their  pleasures1 not to mention the    
,fatherland1 and the newspapers1 and    
their family duties2 it seems that they 
have no time whatever left  for         
religion2 and above all1 it is not      
obvious to them whether it is a         

question of a new business or a new     
pleasure--for it is impossible1 they    
say to themselves1 that people should go
 to church merely to spoil  their       
tempers4 ,they are by no means enemies  
of religious customs2  should certain   
circumstances1 ,state affairs perhaps1  
require their  participation in such    
customs1 they do what is required1 as so
 many  things are done--with a patient  
and unassuming seriousness1 and without 
much curiosity or discomfort2--they live
 too much apart and outside  to feel    
even the necessity for a ,,for or       
,,against in such matters4 ,among  those
 indifferent persons may be reckoned    
nowadays the majority of  ,german       
,protestants of the middle classes1     
especially in the great  laborious      
centres of trade and commerce2 also the 
majority of laborious  scholars1 and the
 entire ,university personnel 7with the 
exception of  the theologians1 whose    
existence and possibility there always  
gives  psychologists new and more subtle

 puzzles to solve74 ,on the part of     
pious1 or merely church-going people1   
there is seldom any idea of ,,how       
,,much good-will1 one might say         
arbitrary will1 is now necessary for a  
,german scholar to take the problem of  
religion seriously2 his whole           
profession 7and as ,i have said1 his    
whole workmanlike laboriousness1 to     
which he is compelled by his modern     
conscience7 inclines him to a  lofty and
 almost charitable serenity as regards  
religion1 with which is  occasionally   
mingled a slight disdain for the        
uncleanliness of spirit  which he takes 
for granted wherever any one still      
professes to belong  to the ,church4 ,it
 is only with the help of history 7,,not
 through his own  personal experience1  
therefore7 that the scholar succeeds in 
bringing  himself to a respectful       
seriousness1 and to a certain timid     
deference  in presence of religions2 but
 even when his sentiments have reached  
the  stage of gratitude towards them1 he

 has not personally advanced one  step  
nearer to that which still maintains    
itself as ,church or as piety2  perhaps 
even the contrary4 ,the practical       
indifference to religious  matters in   
the midst of which he has been born and 
brought up1 usually  sublimates itself  
in his case into circumspection and     
cleanliness1 which  shuns contact with  
religious men and things2 and it may be 
just the  depth of his tolerance and    
humanity which prompts him to avoid the 
delicate trouble which tolerance itself 
brings with it4--,every age has  its own
 divine type of naivete1 for the        
discovery of which other ages  may envy 
it3 and how much naivete--adorable1     
childlike1 and boundlessly  foolish     
naivete is involved in this belief of   
the scholar in  his superiority1 in the 
good conscience of his tolerance1 in the
  unsuspecting1 simple certainty with   
which his instinct treats the  religious
 man as a lower and less valuable type1 
beyond1 before1 and  ,,above which he   

himself has developed--he1 the little   
arrogant dwarf  and mob-man1 the        
sedulously alert1 head-and-hand drudge  
of ideas1 of  modern ideas6    #ei4     
,whoever has seen deeply into the world 
has doubtless divined what  wisdom there
 is in the fact that men are            
superficial4 ,it is their  preservative 
instinct which teaches them to be       
flighty1 lightsome1 and  false4 ,here   
and there one finds a passionate and    
exaggerated adoration  of pure forms in 
philosophers as well as in artists3 it  
is not to be  doubted that whoever has  
,,need of the cult of the superficial to
 that  extent1 has at one time or       
another made an unlucky dive ,,beneath  
it4  ,perhaps there is even an order of 
rank with respect to those burnt        
children1 the born artists who find the 
enjoyment of life only in trying  to    
,,falsify its image 7as if taking       
wearisome revenge on it71 one might     
guess to what degree life has disgusted 
them1 by the extent to which  they wish 

to see its image falsified1 attenuated1 
ultrified1 and  deified1--one might     
reckon the homines religiosi among the  
artists1 as  their ,,highest rank4 ,it  
is the profound1 suspicious fear of an  
incurable  pessimism which compels whole
 centuries to fasten their teeth into a 
religious interpretation of existence3  
the fear of the instinct which  divines 
that truth might be attained ,,too soon1
 before man has become  strong enough1  
hard enough1 artist enough4444 ,piety1  
the ,life in ,god1  regarded in this    
light1 would appear as the most         
elaborate and  ultimate product of the  
,,fear of truth1 as artist-adoration    
and artist-intoxication in presence of  
the most logical of all  falsifications1
 as the will to the inversion of truth1 
to untruth at  any price4 ,perhaps there
 has hitherto been no more effective    
means of  beautifying man than piety1 by
 means of it man can become so artful1  
so  superficial1 so iridescent1 and so  
good1 that his appearance no longer     

offends4    #fj4 ,to love mankind ,,for 
,,god',s ,,sake--this has so far been   
the noblest and  remotest sentiment to  
which mankind has attained4 ,that love  
to mankind1  without any redeeming      
intention in the background1 is only an 
,,additional  folly and brutishness1    
that the inclination to this love has   
first to  get its proportion1 its       
delicacy1 its gram of salt and          
sprinkling  of ambergris from a higher  
inclination--whoever first perceived    
and experienced this1 however his tongue
 may have stammered as it  attempted to 
express such a delicate matter1 let him 
for all time be  holy and respected1 as 
the man who has so far flown highest and
 gone  astray in the finest fashion6    
#fa4 ,the philosopher1 as ,,we free     
spirits understand him--as the man of   
the greatest responsibility1 who has the
 conscience for the general  development
 of mankind1--will use religion for his 
disciplining and  educating work1 just  
as he will use the contemporary         

political  and economic conditions4 ,the
 selecting and disciplining             
influence--destructive1 as well as      
creative and fashioning--which can be   
exercised by means of religion is       
manifold and varied1 according to the   
sort of people placed under its spell   
and protection4 ,for those who are      
strong and independent1 destined and    
trained to command1 in whom the         
judgment and skill of a ruling race is  
incorporated1 religion is  an additional
 means for overcoming resistance in the 
exercise of  authority--as a bond which 
binds rulers and subjects in common1    
betraying and surrendering to the former
 the conscience of the latter1  their   
inmost heart1 which would fain escape   
obedience4 ,and in the  case of the     
unique natures of noble origin1 if by   
virtue of superior  spirituality they   
should incline to a more retired and    
contemplative  life1 reserving to       
themselves only the more refined forms  
of government  7over chosen disciples or

 members of an order71 religion itself  
may  be used as a means for obtaining   
peace from the noise and trouble of     
managing ,,grosser affairs1 and for     
securing immunity from the ,,unavoidable
  filth of all political agitation4 ,the
 ,brahmins1 for instance1 understood    
this fact4 ,with the help of a religious
 organization1 they secured to          
themselves the power of nominating kings
 for the people1 while their  sentiments
 prompted them to keep apart and        
outside1 as men with a higher  and      
super-regal mission4 ,at the same time  
religion gives inducement and           
opportunity to some of the subjects to  
qualify themselves for future  ruling   
and commanding the slowly ascending     
ranks and classes1 in which1  through   
fortunate marriage customs1 volitional  
power and delight in  self-control are  
on the increase4 ,to them religion      
offers sufficient  incentives and       
temptations to aspire to higher         
intellectuality1 and to  experience the 

sentiments of authoritative             
self-control1 of silence1 and  of       
solitude4 ,asceticism and ,puritanism   
are almost indispensable means of       
educating and ennobling a race which    
seeks to rise above its hereditary      
baseness and work itself upwards to     
future supremacy4 ,and finally1 to      
ordinary men1 to the majority of the    
people1 who exist for service and       
general utility1 and are only so far    
entitled to exist1 religion gives       
invaluable contentedness with their lot 
and condition1 peace of heart1          
ennoblement of obedience1 additional    
social happiness and sympathy1  with    
something of transfiguration and        
embellishment1 something of             
justification of all the                
commonplaceness1 all the meanness1 all  
the semi-animal poverty of their souls4 
,religion1 together with the  religious 
significance of life1 sheds sunshine    
over such perpetually  harassed men1 and
 makes even their own aspect endurable  

to them1 it  operates upon them as the  
,epicurean philosophy usually operates  
upon  sufferers of a higher order1 in a 
refreshing and refining manner1  almost 
,,turning suffering ,,to ,,account1 and 
in the end even hallowing and           
vindicating it4 ,there is perhaps       
nothing so admirable in ,christianity   
and ,buddhism as their art of teaching  
even the lowest to elevate  themselves  
by piety to a seemingly higher order of 
things1 and thereby  to retain their    
satisfaction with the actual world in   
which they find it  difficult enough to 
live--this very difficulty being        
necessary4    #fb4 ,to be sure--to make 
also the bad counter-reckoning against  
such  religions1 and to bring to light  
their secret dangers--the cost is       
always excessive and terrible when      
religions do ,,not operate as an        
educational and disciplinary medium in  
the hands of the philosopher1 but  rule 
voluntarily and ,,paramountly1 when they
 wish to be the final end1  and not a   

means along with other means4 ,among    
men1 as among all other  animals1 there 
is a surplus of defective1 diseased1    
degenerating1  infirm1 and necessarily  
suffering individuals2 the successful   
cases1  among men also1 are always the  
exception2 and in view of the fact that 
man is ,,the ,,animal ,,not ,,yet       
,,properly ,,adapted ,,to ,,his         
,,environment1 the rare  exception4 ,but
 worse still4 ,the higher the type a man
 represents1 the  greater is the        
improbability that he will ,,succeed2   
the accidental1 the  law of             
irrationality in the general            
constitution of mankind1 manifests      
itself most terribly in its destructive 
effect on the higher orders of  men1 the
 conditions of whose lives are delicate1
 diverse1 and difficult  to determine4  
,what1 then1 is the attitude of the two 
greatest religions  above-mentioned to  
the ,,surplus of failures in life8 ,they
 endeavour  to preserve and keep alive  
whatever can be preserved2 in fact1 as  

the  religions ,,for ,,sufferers1 they  
take the part of these upon principle2  
they are always in favour of those who  
suffer from life as from a  disease1 and
 they would fain treat every other      
experience of life as  false and        
impossible4 ,however highly we may      
esteem this indulgent and  preservative 
care 7inasmuch as in applying to others1
 it has applied1  and applies also to   
the highest and usually the most        
suffering type of  man71 the hitherto   
,,paramount religions--to give a general
 appreciation  of them--are among the   
principal causes which have kept the    
type of  man upon a lower level--they   
have preserved too much ,,that ,,which  
,,should  ,,have ,,perished4 ,one has to
 thank them for invaluable services2 and
 who is  sufficiently rich in gratitude 
not to feel poor at the contemplation   
of all that the spiritual men of        
,christianity have done for ,europe     
hitherto6 ,but when they had given      
comfort to the sufferers1 courage to    

the oppressed and despairing1 a staff   
and support to the helpless1  and when  
they had allured from society into      
convents and spiritual  penitentiaries  
the broken-hearted and distracted3 what 
else had they  to do in order to work   
systematically in that fashion1 and with
 a good  conscience1 for the            
preservation of all the sick and        
suffering1 which  means1 in deed and in 
truth1 to work for the ,,deterioration  
,,of ,,the  ,,european ,,race8 ,to      
,,reverse all estimates of value--,,that
 is what they  had to do6 ,and to       
shatter the strong1 to spoil great      
hopes1 to cast  suspicion on the delight
 in beauty1 to break down everything    
autonomous1  manly1 conquering1 and     
imperious--all instincts which are      
natural to the  highest and most        
successful type of man--into            
uncertainty1 distress  of conscience1   
and self-destruction2 forsooth1 to      
invert all love of the  earthly and of  
supremacy over the earth1 into hatred of

 the earth and  earthly things--,,that  
is the task the ,church imposed on      
itself1 and  was obliged to impose1     
until1 according to its standard of     
value1  unworldliness1 unsensuousness1  
and higher man fused into one           
sentiment4 ,if one could observe the    
strangely painful1 equally coarse  and  
refined comedy of ,european             
,christianity with the derisive and     
impartial eye of an ,epicurean god1 ,i  
should think one would never cease      
marvelling and laughing2 does it not    
actually seem that some single will  has
 ruled over ,europe for eighteen        
centuries in order to make a ,,sublime  
,,abortion of man8 ,he1 however1 who1   
with opposite requirements 7no longer   
,epicurean7 and with some divine hammer 
in his hand1 could approach this  almost
 voluntary degeneration and stunting of 
mankind1 as exemplified in  the         
,european ,christian 7,pascal1 for      
instance71 would he not have to  cry    
aloud with rage1 pity1 and horror3 ,oh1 

you bunglers1 presumptuous  pitiful     
bunglers1 what have you done6 ,was that 
a work for your hands8  ,how you have   
hacked and botched my finest stone6     
,what have you presumed  to do6--,i     
should say that ,christianity has       
hitherto been the most  portentous of   
presumptions4 ,men1 not great enough1   
nor hard enough1  to be entitled as     
artists to take part in fashioning      
,,man2 men1  not sufficiently strong and
 far-sighted to ,,allow1 with sublime   
self-constraint1 the obvious law of the 
thousandfold failures and  perishings to
 prevail2 men1 not sufficiently noble to
 see the radically  different grades of 
rank and intervals of rank that separate
 man from  man3--,,such men1 with their 
equality before ,god1 have hitherto     
swayed  the destiny of ,europe2 until at
 last a dwarfed1 almost ludicrous       
species  has been produced1 a gregarious
 animal1 something obliging1 sickly1    
mediocre1 the ,european of the present  
day4        ,,chapter ,,iv4             

,,apophthegms ,,and ,,interludes        
#fc4 ,he who is a thorough teacher takes
 things seriously--and even             
himself--only in relation to his pupils4
    #fd4 ,knowledge for its own         
sake--that is the last snare laid by    
morality3 we are thereby completely     
entangled in morals once more4    #fe4  
,the charm of knowledge would be small1 
were it not so much shame has  to be    
overcome on the way to it4    #fe;,a4   
,we are most dishonourable towards our  
,god3 he is not ,,permitted to  sin4    
#ff4 ,the tendency of a person to allow 
himself to be degraded1 robbed1         
deceived1 and exploited might be the    
diffidence of a ,god among men4    #fg4 
,love to one only is a barbarity1 for it
 is exercised at the expense  of all    
others4 ,love to ,god also6    #fh4 ,i  
did that1 says my memory4 ,i could not  
have done that1 says my  pride1 and     
remains inexorable4 ,eventually--the    
memory yields4    #fi4 ,one has regarded
 life carelessly1 if one has failed to  

see the hand  that--kills with leniency4
    #gj4 ,if a man has character1 he has
 also his typical experience1 which     
always recurs4    #ga4 ,,the ,,sage ,,as
 ,,astronomer4--,so long as thou feelest
 the stars as an  above thee1 thou      
lackest the eye of the discerning one4  
#gb4 ,it is not the strength1 but the   
duration of great sentiments that  makes
 great men4    #gc4 ,he who attains his 
ideal1 precisely thereby surpasses it4  
#gc;,a4 ,many a peacock hides his tail  
from every eye--and calls it his  pride4
    #gd4 ,a man of genius is unbearable1
 unless he possess at least two things  
besides3 gratitude and purity4    #ge4  
,the degree and nature of a man's       
sensuality extends to the highest       
altitudes of his spirit4    #gf4 ,under 
peaceful conditions the militant man    
attacks himself4    #gg4 ,with his      
principles a man seeks either to        
dominate1 or justify1  or honour1 or    
reproach1 or conceal his habits3 two men
 with the same  principles probably seek

 fundamentally different ends therewith4
    #gh4 ,he who despises himself1      
nevertheless esteems himself thereby1 as
 a  despiser4    #gi4 ,a soul which     
knows that it is loved1 but does not    
itself love1  betrays its sediment3 its 
dregs come up4    #hj4 ,a thing that is 
explained ceases to concern us--,what   
did the ,god  mean who gave the advice1 
,know thyself6 ,did it perhaps imply    
,cease to  be concerned about thyself6  
become objective6--,and ,socrates8--,and
 the  scientific man8    #ha4 ,it is    
terrible to die of thirst at sea4 ,is it
 necessary that you  should so salt your
 truth that it will no longer--quench   
thirst8    #hb4 ,sympathy for all--would
 be harshness and tyranny for ,,thee1 my
 good  neighbour4    #hc4               
,,instinct--,when the house is on fire  
one forgets even the  dinner--,yes1 but 
one recovers it from among the ashes4   
#hd4 ,woman learns how to hate in       
proportion as she--forgets how to charm4
    #he4 ,the same emotions are in man  

and woman1 but in different ,,tempo1 on 
that account man and woman never cease  
to misunderstand each other4    #hf4 ,in
 the background of all their personal   
vanity1 women themselves  have still    
their impersonal scorn--for woman4      
#hg4 ,,fettered ,,heart1 ,,free         
,,spirit--,when one firmly fetters one's
 heart  and keeps it prisoner1 one can  
allow one's spirit many liberties3 ,i   
said  this once before ,but people do   
not believe it when ,i say so1 unless   
they  know it already4    #hh4 ,one     
begins to distrust very clever persons  
when they become  embarrassed4    #hi4  
,dreadful experiences raise the question
 whether he who experiences  them is not
 something dreadful also4    #ij4       
,heavy1 melancholy men turn lighter1 and
 come temporarily to their  surface1    
precisely by that which makes others    
heavy--by hatred and love4    #ia4 ,so  
cold1 so icy1 that one burns one's      
finger at the touch of him6  ,every hand
 that lays hold of him shrinks          

back6--,and for that very reason  many  
think him red-hot4    #ib4 ,who has not1
 at one time or another--sacrificed     
himself for the sake  of his good name8 
#ic4 ,in affability there is no hatred  
of men1 but precisely on that  account a
 great deal too much contempt of men4   
#id4 ,the maturity of man--that means1  
to have reacquired the seriousness  that
 one had as a child at play4    #ie4 ,to
 be ashamed of one's immorality is a    
step on the ladder at the end  of which 
one is ashamed also of one's morality4  
#if4 ,one should part from life as      
,ulysses parted from ,nausicaa--blessing
  it rather than in love with it4       
#ig4 ,what8 ,a great man8 ,i always see 
merely the play-actor of his own  ideal4
    #ih4 ,when one trains one's         
conscience1 it kisses one while it      
bites4    #ii4 ,,the ,,disappointed     
,,one ,,speaks--,i listened for the echo
 and ,i heard  only praise4    #ajj4 ,we
 all feign to ourselves that we are     
simpler than we are1 we thus  relax     

ourselves away from our fellows4        
#aja4 ,a discerning one might easily    
regard himself at present as the        
animalization of ,god4    #ajb4         
,discovering reciprocal love should     
really disenchant the lover with  regard
 to the beloved4 ,what6 ,she is modest  
enough to love even you8 ,or  stupid    
enough8 ,or--or---    #ajc4 ,,the       
,,danger ,,in ,,happiness4--,everything 
now turns out best for me1 ,i  now love 
every fate3--who would like to be my    
fate8    #ajd4 ,not their love of       
humanity1 but the impotence of their    
love1  prevents the ,christians of      
today--burning us4    #aje4 ,the pia    
fraus is still more repugnant to the    
taste 7the piety7  of the free spirit   
7the pious man of knowledge7 than the   
impia fraus4  ,hence the profound lack  
of judgment1 in comparison with the     
,church1  characteristic of the type    
free spirit--as ,,its non-freedom4      
#ajf4 ,by means of music the very       
passions enjoy themselves4    #ajg4 ,a  

sign of strong character1 when once the 
resolution has been  taken1 to shut the 
ear even to the best counter-arguments4 
,occasionally1  therefore1 a will to    
stupidity4    #ajh4 ,there is no such   
thing as moral phenomena1 but only a    
moral  interpretation of phenomena4     
#aji4 ,the criminal is often enough not 
equal to his deed3 he extenuates  and   
maligns it4    #aaj4 ,the advocates of a
 criminal are seldom artists enough to  
turn the  beautiful terribleness of the 
deed to the advantage of the doer4      
#aaa4 ,our vanity is most difficult to  
wound just when our pride has been      
wounded4    #aab4 ,to him who feels     
himself preordained to contemplation and
 not to  belief1 all believers are too  
noisy and obtrusive2 he guards against  
them4    #aac4 ,you want to prepossess  
him in your favour8 ,then you must be   
embarrassed before him4    #aad4 ,the   
immense expectation with regard to      
sexual love1 and the coyness  in this   
expectation1 spoils all the perspectives

 of women at the outset4    #aae4 ,where
 there is neither love nor hatred in the
 game1 woman's play is  mediocre4       
#aaf4 ,the great epochs of our life are 
at the points when we gain courage  to  
rebaptize our badness as the best in us4
    #aag4 ,the will to overcome an      
emotion1 is ultimately only the will of 
another1 or of several other1 emotions4 
#aah4 ,there is an innocence of         
admiration3 it is possessed by him to   
whom  it has not yet occurred that he   
himself may be admired some day4        
#aai4 ,our loathing of dirt may be so   
great as to prevent our cleaning        
ourselves--justifying ourselves4        
#abj4 ,sensuality often forces the      
growth of love too much1 so that its    
root remains weak1 and is easily torn   
up4    #aba4 ,it is a curious thing that
 ,god learned ,greek when he wished to  
turn  author--and that he did not learn 
it better4    #abb4 ,to rejoice on      
account of praise is in many cases      
merely politeness  of heart--and the    

very opposite of vanity of spirit4      
#abc4 ,even concubinage has been        
corrupted--by marriage4    #abd4 ,he who
 exults at the stake1 does not triumph  
over pain1 but because  of the fact that
 he does not feel pain where he expected
 it4 ,a parable4    #abe4 ,when we have 
to change an opinion about any one1 we  
charge heavily  to his account the      
inconvenience he thereby causes us4     
#abf4 ,a nation is a detour of nature to
 arrive at six or seven great           
men4--,yes1 and then to get round them4 
#abg4 ,in the eyes of all true women    
science is hostile to the sense of      
shame4 ,they feel as if one wished to   
peep under their skin with it--or  worse
 still6 under their dress and finery4   
#abh4 ,the more abstract the truth you  
wish to teach1 the more must you  allure
 the senses to it4    #abi4 ,the devil  
has the most extensive perspectives for 
,god2 on that  account he keeps so far  
away from him3--the devil1 in effect1 as
 the  oldest friend of knowledge4       

#acj4 ,what a person ,,is begins to     
betray itself when his talent           
decreases1--when he ceases to show what 
he ,,can do4 ,talent is also an         
adornment2 an adornment is also a       
concealment4    #aca4 ,the sexes deceive
 themselves about each other3 the reason
 is that  in reality they honour and    
love only themselves 7or their own      
ideal1 to  express it more agreeably74  
,thus man wishes woman to be peaceable3 
but  in fact woman is ,,essentially     
unpeaceable1 like the cat1 however well 
she  may have assumed the peaceable     
demeanour4    #acb4 ,one is punished    
best for one's virtues4    #acc4 ,he who
 cannot find the way to ,,his ideal1    
lives more frivolously and  shamelessly 
than the man without an ideal4    #acd4 
,from the senses originate all          
trustworthiness1 all good conscience1   
all evidence of truth4    #ace4         
,pharisaism is not a deterioration of   
the good man2 a considerable  part of it
 is rather an essential condition of    

being good4    #acf4 ,the one seeks an  
accoucheur for his thoughts1 the other  
seeks some  one whom he can assist3 a   
good conversation thus originates4      
#acg4 ,in intercourse with scholars and 
artists one readily makes mistakes  of  
opposite kinds3 in a remarkable scholar 
one not infrequently finds  a mediocre  
man2 and often1 even in a mediocre      
artist1 one finds a very  remarkable    
man4    #ach4 ,we do the same when awake
 as when dreaming3 we only invent and   
imagine him with whom we have           
intercourse--and forget it immediately4 
#aci4 ,in revenge and in love woman is  
more barbarous than man4    #adj4       
,,advice ,,as ,a ,,riddle4--,if the band
 is not to break1 bite it  first--secure
 to make6    #ada4 ,the belly is the    
reason why man does not so readily take 
himself  for a ,god4    #adb4 ,the      
chastest utterance ,i ever heard3 ,dans 
le veritable amour c'est  l'ame qui     
enveloppe le corps4    #adc4 ,our vanity
 would like what we do best to pass     

precisely for what is  most difficult to
 us4--,concerning the origin of many    
systems of morals4    #add4 ,when a     
woman has scholarly inclinations there  
is generally  something wrong with her  
sexual nature4 ,barrenness itself       
conduces to a  certain virility of      
taste2 man1 indeed1 if ,i may say so1 is
 the barren  animal4    #ade4 ,comparing
 man and woman generally1 one may say   
that woman would  not have the genius   
for adornment1 if she had not the       
instinct for the  ,,secondary role4     
#adf4 ,he who fights with monsters      
should be careful lest he thereby       
become a monster4 ,and if thou gaze long
 into an abyss1 the abyss will  also    
gaze into thee4    #adg4 ,from old      
,florentine novels--moreover1 from life3
 ,buona femmina e  mala femmina vuol    
bastone4--,sacchetti1 ,nov4 #hf4        
#adh4 ,to seduce their neighbour to a   
favourable opinion1 and afterwards  to  
believe implicitly in this opinion of   
their neighbour--who can do  this       

conjuring trick so well as women8       
#adi4 ,that which an age considers evil 
is usually an unseasonable echo of  what
 was formerly considered good--the      
atavism of an old ideal4    #aej4       
,around the hero everything becomes a   
tragedy2 around the  demigod everything 
becomes a satyr-play2 and around ,god   
everything  becomes--what8 perhaps a    
world8    #aea4 ,it is not enough to    
possess a talent3 one must also have    
your  permission to possess it2--eh1 my 
friends8    #aeb4 ,where there is the   
tree of knowledge1 there is always      
,paradise3  so say the most ancient and 
the most modern serpents4    #aec4 ,what
 is done out of love always takes place 
beyond good and evil4    #aed4          
,objection1 evasion1 joyous distrust1   
and love of irony are signs of  health2 
everything absolute belongs to          
pathology4    #aee4 ,the sense of the   
tragic increases and declines with      
sensuousness4    #aef4 ,insanity in     
individuals is something rare--but in   

groups1 parties1  nations1 and epochs it
 is the rule4    #aeg4 ,the thought of  
suicide is a great consolation3 by means
 of it one  gets successfully through   
many a bad night4    #aeh4 ,not only our
 reason1 but also our conscience1       
truckles to our  strongest impulse--the 
tyrant in us4    #aei4 ,one ,,must repay
 good and ill2 but why just to the      
person who did us  good or ill8    #afj4
 ,one no longer loves one's knowledge   
sufficiently after one has  communicated
 it4    #afa4 ,poets act shamelessly    
towards their experiences3 they exploit 
them4    #afb4 ,our fellow-creature is  
not our neighbour1 but our neighbour's  
neighbour3--so thinks every nation4     
#afc4 ,love brings to light the noble   
and hidden qualities of a lover--his    
rare and exceptional traits3 it is thus 
liable to be deceptive as to his  normal
 character4    #afd4 ,jesus said to his 
,jews3 ,the law was for servants2--love 
,god as ,i  love him1 as his ,son6 ,what
 have we ,sons of ,god to do with       

morals6    #afe4 ,,in ,,sight ,,of      
,,every ,,party4--,a shepherd has always
 need of a  bell-wether--or he has      
himself to be a wether occasionally4    
#aff4 ,one may indeed lie with the      
mouth2 but with the accompanying        
grimace one nevertheless tells the      
truth4    #afg4 ,to vigorous men        
intimacy is a matter of shame--and      
something  precious4    #afh4           
,christianity gave ,eros poison to      
drink2 he did not die of it1  certainly1
 but degenerated to ,vice4    #afi4 ,to 
talk much about oneself may also be a   
means of concealing  oneself4    #agj4  
,in praise there is more obtrusiveness  
than in blame4    #aga4 ,pity has an    
almost ludicrous effect on a man of     
knowledge1 like  tender hands on a      
,cyclops4    #agb4 ,one occasionally    
embraces some one or other1 out of love 
to mankind  7because one cannot embrace 
all72 but this is what one must never   
confess to the individual4    #agc4 ,one
 does not hate as long as one           

disesteems1 but only when one  esteems  
equal or superior4    #agd4 ,ye         
,utilitarians--ye1 too1 love the ,,utile
 only as a ,,vehicle for  your          
inclinations1--ye1 too1 really find the 
noise of its wheels  insupportable6     
#age4 ,one loves ultimately one's       
desires1 not the thing desired4    #agf4
 ,the vanity of others is only counter  
to our taste when it is  counter to our 
vanity4    #agg4 ,with regard to what   
truthfulness is1 perhaps nobody has ever
 been  sufficiently truthful4    #agh4  
,one does not believe in the follies of 
clever men3 what a  forfeiture of the   
rights of man6    #agi4 ,the            
consequences of our actions seize us by 
the forelock1 very  indifferent to the  
fact that we have meanwhile reformed4   
#ahj4 ,there is an innocence in lying   
which is the sign of good faith in a    
cause4    #aha4 ,it is inhuman to bless 
when one is being cursed4    #ahb4 ,the 
familiarity of superiors embitters one1 
because it may not be  returned4        

#ahc4 ,i am affected1 not because you   
have deceived me1 but because ,i can  no
 longer believe in you4    #ahd4 ,there 
is a haughtiness of kindness which has  
the appearance of  wickedness4    #ahe4 
,i dislike him4--,why8--,i am not a     
match for him4--,did any one  ever      
answer so8        ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the   
,,natural ,,history ,,of ,,morals       
#ahf4 ,the moral sentiment in ,europe at
 present is perhaps as subtle1  belated1
 diverse1 sensitive1 and refined1 as the
 ,science of ,morals  belonging thereto 
is recent1 initial1 awkward1 and        
coarse-fingered3--an  interesting       
contrast1 which sometimes becomes       
incarnate and obvious  in the very      
person of a moralist4 ,indeed1 the      
expression1 ,science  of ,morals is1 in 
respect to what is designated thereby1  
far too  presumptuous and counter to    
,,good taste1--which is always a        
foretaste of  more modest expressions4  
,one ought to avow with the utmost      
fairness ,,what  is still necessary here

 for a long time1 ,,what is alone proper
 for the  present3 namely1 the          
collection of material1 the             
comprehensive survey  and classification
 of an immense domain of delicate       
sentiments of worth1  and distinctions  
of worth1 which live1 grow1 propagate1  
and perish--and  perhaps attempts to    
give a clear idea of the recurring and  
more common  forms of these living      
crystallizations--as preparation for a  
,,theory ,,of  ,,types of morality4 ,to 
be sure1 people have not hitherto been  
so modest4  ,all the philosophers1 with 
a pedantic and ridiculous seriousness1  
demanded of themselves something very   
much higher1 more pretentious1 and      
ceremonious1 when they concerned        
themselves with morality as a science3  
they wanted to ,,give ,a ,,basic to     
morality--and every philosopher hitherto
  has believed that he has given it a   
basis2 morality itself1 however1 has    
been regarded as something given4 ,how  
far from their awkward pride  was the   

seemingly insignificant problem--left in
 dust and decay--of a  description of   
forms of morality1 notwithstanding that 
the finest hands  and senses could      
hardly be fine enough for it6 ,it was   
precisely owing to  moral philosophers' 
knowing the moral facts imperfectly1 in 
an arbitrary  epitome1 or an accidental 
abridgement--perhaps as the morality of 
their environment1 their position1 their
 church1 their ,zeitgeist1 their        
climate and zone--it was precisely      
because they were badly instructed  with
 regard to nations1 eras1 and past ages1
 and were by no means eager  to know    
about these matters1 that they did not  
even come in sight of the  real problems
 of morals--problems which only disclose
 themselves by  a comparison of ,,many  
kinds of morality4 ,in every ,science of
 ,morals  hitherto1 strange as it may   
sound1 the problem of morality itself   
has been ,,omitted3 there has been no   
suspicion that there was anything       
problematic there6 ,that which          

philosophers called giving a basis to   
morality1 and endeavoured to realize1   
has1 when seen in a right light1  proved
 merely a learned form of good ,,faith  
in prevailing morality1 a new  means of 
its ,,expression1 consequently just a   
matter-of-fact within the  sphere of a  
definite morality1 yea1 in its ultimate 
motive1 a sort of  denial that it is    
,,lawful for this morality to be called 
in question--and  in any case the       
reverse of the testing1 analyzing1      
doubting1 and  vivisecting of this very 
faith4 ,hear1 for instance1 with what   
innocence--almost worthy of             
honour--,schopenhauer represents his own
  task1 and draw your conclusions       
concerning the scientificness of a      
,science whose latest master still talks
 in the strain of children and  old     
wives3 ,the principle1 he says 7page    
#acf of the ,grundprobleme der  ,ethik71
 ,footnote3 ,pages #ed-ee of            
,schopenhauer's ,basis of ,morality1    
translated by ,arthur ,b4 ,bullock1     

,m4,a4 7#aijc74 the axiom about the     
purport of which all moralists are      
,,practically agreed3 neminem laede1    
immo omnes quantum potes juva--is       
,,really the proposition which all moral
  teachers strive to establish1 444 the 
,,real basis of ethics which  has been  
sought1 like the philosopher's stone1   
for centuries4--,the  difficulty of     
establishing the proposition referred to
 may indeed be  great--it is well known 
that ,schopenhauer also was unsuccessful
 in his  efforts2 and whoever has       
thoroughly realized how absurdly false  
and  sentimental this proposition is1 in
 a world whose essence is ,will  to     
,power1 may be reminded that            
,schopenhauer1 although a pessimist1    
,,actually--played the flute444 daily   
after dinner3 one may read about  the   
matter in his biography4 ,a question by 
the way3 a pessimist1 a  repudiator of  
,god and of the world1 who ,,makes ,a   
,,halt at morality--who  assents to     
morality1 and plays the flute to        

laede-neminem morals1 what8  ,is that   
really--a pessimist8    #ahg4 ,apart    
from the value of such assertions as    
there is a categorical  imperative in   
us1 one can always ask3 ,what does such 
an assertion  indicate about him who    
makes it8 ,there are systems of morals  
which are  meant to justify their author
 in the eyes of other people2 other     
systems  of morals are meant to         
tranquilize him1 and make him           
self-satisfied2  with other systems he  
wants to crucify and humble himself1    
with others  he wishes to take revenge1 
with others to conceal himself1 with    
others  to glorify himself and gave     
superiority and distinction1--this      
system of  morals helps its author to   
forget1 that system makes him1 or       
something  of him1 forgotten1 many a    
moralist would like to exercise power   
and  creative arbitrariness over        
mankind1 many another1 perhaps1 ,kant   
especially1 gives us to understand by   
his morals that what is estimable  in   

me1 is that ,i know how to obey--and    
with you it ,,shall not be  otherwise   
than with me6 ,in short1 systems of     
morals are only a  ,,sign-,,language    
,,of ,,the ,,emotions4    #ahh4 ,in     
contrast to laisser-aller1 every system 
of morals is a sort of  tyranny against 
nature and also against reason1 that is1
 however1 no  objection1 unless one     
should again decree by some system of   
morals1 that  all kinds of tyranny and  
unreasonableness are unlawful ,what is  
essential and invaluable in every system
 of morals1 is that it is a  long       
constraint4 ,in order to understand     
,stoicism1 or ,port ,royal1  or         
,puritanism1 one should remember the    
constraint under which every  language  
has attained to strength and            
freedom--the metrical constraint1  the  
tyranny of rhyme and rhythm4 ,how much  
trouble have the poets and  orators of  
every nation given themselves6--not     
excepting some of  the prose writers of 
today1 in whose ear dwells an inexorable

  conscientiousness--for the sake of a  
folly1 as utilitarian bunglers  say1 and
 thereby deem themselves wise--from     
submission to arbitrary  laws1 as the   
anarchists say1 and thereby fancy       
themselves free1 even  free-spirited4   
,the singular fact remains1 however1    
that everything  of the nature of       
freedom1 elegance1 boldness1 dance1 and 
masterly  certainty1 which exists or has
 existed1 whether it be in thought      
itself1  or in administration1 or in    
speaking and persuading1 in art just as 
in  conduct1 has only developed by means
 of the tyranny of such arbitrary  law1 
and in all seriousness1 it is not at all
 improbable that precisely  this is     
nature and natural--and not             
laisser-aller6 ,every artist  knows how 
different from the state of letting     
himself go1 is his  most natural        
condition1 the free arranging1 locating1
 disposing1  and constructing in the    
moments of inspiration--and how strictly
 and  delicately he then obeys a        

thousand laws1 which1 by their very     
rigidness  and precision1 defy all      
formulation by means of ideas 7even the 
most  stable idea has1 in comparison    
therewith1 something floating1 manifold1
  and ambiguous in it74 ,the essential  
thing in heaven and in earth is1        
apparently 7to repeat it once more71    
that there should be long ,,obedience   
in the same direction1 there thereby    
results1 and has always resulted in  the
 long run1 something which has made life
 worth living2 for instance1  virtue1   
art1 music1 dancing1 reason1            
spirituality--anything whatever  that is
 transfiguring1 refined1 foolish1 or    
divine4 ,the long bondage of  the       
spirit1 the distrustful constraint in   
the communicability of  ideas1 the      
discipline which the thinker imposed on 
himself to think  in accordance with the
 rules of a church or a court1 or       
conformable  to ,aristotelian premises1 
the persistent spiritual will to        
interpret  everything that happened     

according to a ,christian scheme1 and in
 every  occurrence to rediscover and    
justify the ,christian ,god3--all this  
violence1 arbitrariness1 severity1      
dreadfulness1 and unreasonableness1  has
 proved itself the disciplinary means   
whereby the ,european spirit has        
attained its strength1 its remorseless  
curiosity and subtle mobility2  granted 
also that much irrecoverable strength   
and spirit had to be  stifled1          
suffocated1 and spoilt in the process   
7for here1 as everywhere1  nature shows 
herself as she is1 in all her           
extravagant and ,,indifferent           
magnificence1 which is shocking1 but    
nevertheless noble74 ,that  for         
centuries ,european thinkers only       
thought in order to prove               
something--nowadays1 on the contrary1 we
 are suspicious of every thinker  who   
wishes to prove something--that it was  
always settled beforehand  what ,,was   
,,to ,,be the result of their strictest 
thinking1 as it was perhaps  in the     

,asiatic astrology of former times1 or  
as it is still at the  present day in   
the innocent1 ,christian-moral          
explanation of immediate  personal      
events for the glory of ,god1 or for the
 good of the  soul3--this tyranny1 this 
arbitrariness1 this severe and          
magnificent  stupidity1 has ,,educated  
the spirit2 slavery1 both in the coarser
 and  the finer sense1 is apparently an 
indispensable means even of spiritual   
education and discipline4 ,one may look 
at every system of morals in this       
light3 it is nature therein which       
teaches to hate the laisser-aller1  the 
too great freedom1 and implants the need
 for limited horizons1 for  immediate   
duties--it teaches the ,,narrowing ,,of 
,,perspectives1 and thus1 in  a certain 
sense1 that stupidity is a condition of 
life and development4  ,thou must obey  
some one1 and for a long time2          
,,otherwise thou wilt come  to grief1   
and lose all respect for thyself--this  
seems to me to be the  moral imperative 

of nature1 which is certainly neither   
categorical1  as old ,kant wished       
7consequently the otherwise71 nor does  
it address  itself to the individual    
7what does nature care for the          
individual671  but to nations1 races1   
ages1 and ranks2 above all1 however1 to 
the  animal man generally1 to ,,mankind4
    #ahi4 ,industrious races find it a  
great hardship to be idle3 it was a     
master stroke of ,,english instinct to  
hallow and begloom ,sunday to such  an  
extent that the ,englishman             
unconsciously hankers for his week--and 
work-day again3--as a kind of cleverly  
devised1 cleverly intercalated  ,,fast1 
such as is also frequently found in the 
ancient world 7although1  as is         
appropriate in southern nations1 not    
precisely with respect  to work74 ,many 
kinds of fasts are necessary2 and       
wherever powerful  influences and habits
 prevail1 legislators have to see that  
intercalary  days are appointed1 on     
which such impulses are fettered1 and   

learn to  hunger anew4 ,viewed from a   
higher standpoint1 whole generations and
  epochs1 when they show themselves     
infected with any moral fanaticism1     
seem like those intercalated periods of 
restraint and fasting1 during  which an 
impulse learns to humble and submit     
itself--at the same time  also to       
,,purify and ,,sharpen itself2 certain  
philosophical sects likewise  admit of a
 similar interpretation 7for instance1  
the ,stoa1 in the midst  of ,hellenic   
culture1 with the atmosphere rank and   
overcharged with  ,aphrodisiacal        
odours74--,here also is a hint for the  
explanation of the  paradox1 why it was 
precisely in the most ,christian period 
of ,european  history1 and in general   
only under the pressure of ,christian   
sentiments1  that the sexual impulse    
sublimated into love 7amour-passion74   
#aij4 ,there is something in the        
morality of ,plato which does not really
  belong to ,plato1 but which only      
appears in his philosophy1 one might    

say1 in spite of him3 namely1           
,socratism1 for which he himself was    
too noble4 ,no one desires to injure    
himself1 hence all evil is done         
unwittingly4 ,the evil man inflicts     
injury on himself2 he would not do  so1 
however1 if he knew that evil is evil4  
,the evil man1 therefore1 is  only evil 
through error2 if one free him from     
error one will necessarily  make        
him--good4--,this mode of reasoning     
savours of the ,,populace1 who  perceive
 only the unpleasant consequences of    
evil-doing1 and practically  judge that 
it is ,,stupid to do wrong2 while they  
accept good as  identical with useful   
and pleasant1 without further thought4  
,as  regards every system of            
utilitarianism1 one may at once assume  
that it  has the same origin1 and follow
 the scent3 one will seldom err4--,plato
  did all he could to interpret         
something refined and noble into the    
tenets of his teacher1 and above all to 
interpret himself into them--he1  the   

most daring of all interpreters1 who    
lifted the entire ,socrates out  of the 
street1 as a popular theme and song1 to 
exhibit him in endless  and impossible  
modifications--namely1 in all his own   
disguises and  multiplicities4 ,in jest1
 and in ,homeric language as well1 what 
is the  ,platonic ,socrates1 if         
not--,greek words inserted here4        
#aia4 ,the old theological problem of   
,faith and ,knowledge1 or more  plainly1
 of instinct and reason--the question   
whether1 in respect to the  valuation of
 things1 instinct deserves more         
authority than rationality1  which wants
 to appreciate and act according to     
motives1 according to  a ,why1 that is  
to say1 in conformity to purpose and    
utility--it  is always the old moral    
problem that first appeared in the      
person of  ,socrates1 and had divided   
men's minds long before ,christianity4  
,socrates  himself1 following1 of       
course1 the taste of his talent--that of
 a  surpassing dialectician--took first 

the side of reason2 and1 in fact1  what 
did he do all his life but laugh at the 
awkward incapacity of the  noble        
,athenians1 who were men of instinct1   
like all noble men1 and could  never    
give satisfactory answers concerning the
 motives of their actions8  ,in the end1
 however1 though silently and secretly1 
he laughed also  at himself3 with his   
finer conscience and introspection1 he  
found  in himself the same difficulty   
and incapacity4 ,but why--he said  to   
himself--should one on that account     
separate oneself from the  instincts6   
,one must set them right1 and the reason
 ,,also--one must follow  the instincts1
 but at the same time persuade the      
reason to support them  with good       
arguments4 ,this was the real           
,,falseness of that great and           
mysterious ironist2 he brought his      
conscience up to the point that he  was 
satisfied with a kind of                
self-outwitting3 in fact1 he perceived  
the irrationality in the moral          

judgment4--,plato1 more innocent in such
  matters1 and without the craftiness of
 the plebeian1 wished to prove to       
himself1 at the expenditure of all his  
strength--the greatest strength  a      
philosopher had ever expended--that     
reason and instinct lead  spontaneously 
to one goal1 to the good1 to ,god2 and  
since ,plato1 all  theologians and      
philosophers have followed the same     
path--which means  that in matters of   
morality1 instinct 7or as ,christians   
call it1  ,faith1 or as ,i call it1 the 
herd7 has hitherto triumphed4 ,unless   
one should make an exception in the case
 of ,descartes1 the father of           
rationalism 7and consequently the       
grandfather of the ,revolution71 who    
recognized only the authority of reason3
 but reason is only a tool1 and         
,descartes was superficial4    #aib4    
,whoever has followed the history of a  
single science1 finds in  its           
development a clue to the understanding 
of the oldest and commonest  processes  

of all knowledge and cognizance3 there1 
as here1 the  premature hypotheses1 the 
fictions1 the good stupid will to       
belief1  and the lack of distrust and   
patience are first developed--our senses
  learn late1 and never learn           
completely1 to be subtle1 reliable1 and 
cautious organs of knowledge4 ,our eyes 
find it easier on a given  occasion to  
produce a picture already often         
produced1 than to seize upon  the       
divergence and novelty of an impression3
 the latter requires more  force1 more  
morality4 ,it is difficult and painful  
for the ear to  listen to anything new2 
we hear strange music badly4 ,when we   
hear  another language spoken1 we       
involuntarily attempt to form the sounds
  into words with which we are more     
familiar and conversant--it was thus1   
for example1 that the ,germans modified 
the spoken word ,,arcubalista into      
,,armbrust 7cross-bow74 ,our senses are 
also hostile and averse to the  new2 and
 generally1 even in the simplest        

processes of sensation1 the  emotions   
,,dominate--such as fear1 love1 hatred1 
and the passive emotion  of             
indolence4--,as little as a reader      
nowadays reads all the single words     
7not to speak of syllables7 of a        
page--he rather takes about five out  of
 every twenty words at random1 and      
guesses the probably appropriate  sense 
to them--just as little do we see a tree
 correctly and completely  in respect to
 its leaves1 branches1 colour1 and      
shape2 we find it so  much easier to    
fancy the chance of a tree4 ,even in the
 midst of the  most remarkable          
experiences1 we still do just the same2 
we fabricate the  greater part of the   
experience1 and can hardly be made to   
contemplate  any event1 ,,except as     
inventors thereof4 ,all this goes to    
prove  that from our fundamental nature 
and from remote ages we have            
been--,,accustomed ,,to ,,lying4 ,or1 to
 express it more politely and           
hypocritically1 in short1 more          

pleasantly--one is much more of an      
artist  than one is aware of4--,in an   
animated conversation1 ,i often see the 
face  of the person with whom ,i am     
speaking so clearly and sharply defined 
before me1 according to the thought he  
expresses1 or which ,i believe to  be   
evoked in his mind1 that the degree of  
distinctness far exceeds the  ,,strength
 of my visual faculty--the delicacy of  
the play of the muscles  and of the     
expression of the eyes ,,must therefore 
be imagined by me4  ,probably the person
 put on quite a different expression1 or
 none at all4    #aic4 ,quidquid luce   
fuit1 tenebris agit3 but also           
contrariwise4 ,what we  experience in   
dreams1 provided we experience it often1
 pertains at  last just as much to the  
general belongings of our soul as       
anything  actually experienced2 by      
virtue thereof we are richer or poorer1 
we  have a requirement more or less1 and
 finally1 in broad daylight1 and  even  
in the brightest moments of our waking  

life1 we are ruled to some  extent by   
the nature of our dreams4 ,supposing    
that someone has often  flown in his    
dreams1 and that at last1 as soon as he 
dreams1 he is  conscious of the power   
and art of flying as his privilege and  
his  peculiarly enviable happiness2 such
 a person1 who believes that on the     
slightest impulse1 he can actualize all 
sorts of curves and angles1 who  knows  
the sensation of a certain divine       
levity1 an upwards  without effort or   
constraint1 a downwards without         
descending  or lowering--without        
,,trouble6--how could the man with such 
dream-experiences and dream-habits fail 
to find happiness differently  coloured 
and defined1 even in his waking hours6  
,how could he fail--to  long            
,,differently for happiness8 ,flight1   
such as is described by poets1  must1   
when compared with his own flying1 be   
far too earthly1 muscular1  violent1 far
 too troublesome for him4    #aid4 ,the 
difference among men does not manifest  

itself only in the  difference of their 
lists of desirable things--in their     
regarding  different good things as     
worth striving for1 and being disagreed 
as to  the greater or less value1 the   
order of rank1 of the commonly          
recognized  desirable things3--it       
manifests itself much more in what they 
regard as  actually ,,having and        
,,possessing a desirable thing4 ,as     
regards a woman1  for instance1 the     
control over her body and her sexual    
gratification  serves as an amply       
sufficient sign of ownership and        
possession to the  more modest man2     
another with a more suspicious and      
ambitious thirst for  possession1 sees  
the questionableness1 the mere          
apparentness of such  ownership1 and    
wishes to have finer tests in order to  
know especially  whether the woman not  
only gives herself to him1 but also     
gives up for  his sake what she has or  
would like to have--only ,,then does he 
look upon  her as possessed4 ,a third1  

however1 has not even here got to the   
limit  of his distrust and his desire   
for possession3 he asks himself whether 
the woman1 when she gives up everything 
for him1 does not perhaps do  so for a  
phantom of him2 he wishes first to be   
thoroughly1 indeed1  profoundly well    
known2 in order to be loved at all he   
ventures to let  himself be found out4  
,only then does he feel the beloved one 
fully in  his possession1 when she no   
longer deceives herself about him1 when 
she loves him just as much for the sake 
of his devilry and concealed            
insatiability1 as for his goodness1     
patience1 and spirituality4 ,one  man   
would like to possess a nation1 and he  
finds all the higher arts of            
,cagliostro and ,catalina suitable for  
his purpose4 ,another1 with a more      
refined thirst for possession1 says to  
himself3 ,one may not deceive  where one
 desires to possess--he is irritated and
 impatient at the idea  that a mask of  
him should rule in the hearts of the    

people3 ,i must1  therefore1 ,,make     
myself known1 and first of all learn to 
know myself6  ,among helpful and        
charitable people1 one almost always    
finds the awkward  craftiness which     
first gets up suitably him who has to be
 helped1 as  though1 for instance1 he   
should merit help1 seek just ,,their    
help1 and  would show himself deeply    
grateful1 attached1 and subservient to  
them  for all help4 ,with these         
conceits1 they take control of the needy
 as a  property1 just as in general they
 are charitable and helpful out of a    
desire for property4 ,one finds them    
jealous when they are crossed or        
forestalled in their charity4 ,parents  
involuntarily make something like       
themselves out of their children--they  
call that education2 no mother  doubts  
at the bottom of her heart that the     
child she has borne is  thereby her     
property1 no father hesitates about his 
right to ,,his ,,own  ideas and notions 
of worth4 ,indeed1 in former times      

fathers deemed it  right to use their   
discretion concerning the life or death 
of the newly  born 7as among the ancient
 ,germans74 ,and like the father1 so    
also do the  teacher1 the class1 the    
priest1 and the prince still see in     
every new  individual an unobjectionable
 opportunity for a new possession4 ,the 
consequence is444    #aie4 ,the ,jews--a
 people born for slavery1 as ,tacitus   
and the whole  ancient world say of     
them2 the chosen people among the       
nations1 as  they themselves say and    
believe--the ,jews performed the miracle
 of the  inversion of valuations1 by    
means of which life on earth obtained a 
new  and dangerous charm for a couple of
 millenniums4 ,their prophets fused     
into one the expressions rich1 godless1 
wicked1 violent1  sensual1 and for the  
first time coined the word world as a   
term of  reproach4 ,in this inversion of
 valuations 7in which is also included  
the use of the word poor as synonymous  
with saint and friend7 the  significance

 of the ,jewish people is to be found2  
it is with ,,them that  the             
,,slave-,,insurrection ,,in ,,morals    
commences4    #aif4 ,it is to be        
,,inferred that there are countless dark
 bodies near the  sun--such as we shall 
never see4 ,among ourselves1 this is an 
allegory2  and the psychologist of      
morals reads the whole star-writing     
merely as an  allegorical and symbolic  
language in which much may be           
unexpressed4    #aig4 ,the beast of prey
 and the man of prey 7for instance1     
,caesar ,borgia7  are fundamentally     
misunderstood1 nature is misunderstood1 
so long as  one seeks a morbidness in   
the constitution of these healthiest of 
all tropical monsters and growths1 or   
even an innate hell in them--as  almost 
all moralists have done hitherto4 ,does 
it not seem that there is  a hatred of  
the virgin forest and of the tropics    
among moralists8 ,and  that the tropical
 man must be discredited at all costs1  
whether  as disease and deterioration of

 mankind1 or as his own hell and        
self-torture8 ,and why8 ,in favour of   
the temperate zones8 ,in favour  of the 
temperate men8 ,the moral8 ,the         
mediocre8--,this for the chapter3       
,morals as ,timidity4    #aih4 ,all the 
systems of morals which address         
themselves with a view to  their        
happiness1 as it is called--what else   
are they but suggestions  for behaviour 
adapted to the degree of ,,danger from  
themselves in which  the individuals    
live2 recipes for their passions1 their 
good and bad  propensities1 insofar as  
such have the ,will to ,power and would 
like  to play the master2 small and     
great expediencies and elaborations1    
permeated with the musty odour of old   
family medicines and old-wife  wisdom2  
all of them grotesque and absurd in     
their form--because  they address       
themselves to all1 because they         
generalize where  generalization is not 
authorized2 all of them speaking        
unconditionally1  and taking themselves 

unconditionally2 all of them flavoured  
not merely  with one grain of salt1 but 
rather endurable only1 and sometimes    
even  seductive1 when they are          
over-spiced and begin to smell          
dangerously1  especially of the other   
world4 ,that is all of little value when
  estimated intellectually1 and is far  
from being science1 much less  wisdom2  
but1 repeated once more1 and three times
 repeated1 it is  expediency1           
expediency1 expediency1 mixed with      
stupidity1 stupidity1                   
stupidity--whether it be the            
indifference and statuesque coldness    
towards the heated folly of the         
emotions1 which the ,stoics advised and 
fostered2 or the no-more-laughing and   
no-more-weeping of ,spinoza1 the        
destruction of the emotions by their    
analysis and vivisection1 which he      
recommended so naively2 or the lowering 
of the emotions to an innocent  mean at 
which they may be satisfied1 the        
,aristotelianism of morals2  or even    

morality as the enjoyment of the        
emotions in a voluntary  attenuation and
 spiritualization by the symbolism of   
art1 perhaps as  music1 or as love of   
,god1 and of mankind for ,god's         
sake--for in religion  the passions are 
once more enfranchised1 provided        
that4442 or1 finally1  even the         
complaisant and wanton surrender to the 
emotions1 as has  been taught by ,hafis 
and ,goethe1 the bold letting-go of the 
reins1 the  spiritual and corporeal     
licentia morum in the exceptional cases 
of  wise old codgers and drunkards1 with
 whom it no longer has much             
danger4--,this also for the chapter3    
,morals as ,timidity4    #aii4 ,inasmuch
 as in all ages1 as long as mankind has 
existed1 there have  also been human    
herds 7family alliances1 communities1   
tribes1 peoples1  states1 churches71 and
 always a great number who obey in      
proportion  to the small number who     
command--in view1 therefore1 of the fact
 that  obedience has been most practiced

 and fostered among mankind hitherto1   
one may reasonably suppose that1        
generally speaking1 the need thereof is 
now innate in every one1 as a kind of   
,,formal ,,conscience which gives  the  
command ,thou shalt unconditionally do  
something1 unconditionally  refrain from
 something1 in short1 ,thou shalt4 ,this
 need tries to  satisfy itself and to   
fill its form with a content1 according 
to its  strength1 impatience1 and       
eagerness1 it at once seizes as an      
omnivorous  appetite with little        
selection1 and accepts whatever is      
shouted into  its ear by all sorts of   
commanders--parents1 teachers1 laws1    
class  prejudices1 or public opinion4   
,the extraordinary limitation of human  
development1 the hesitation1            
protractedness1 frequent retrogression1 
and  turning thereof1 is attributable to
 the fact that the herd-instinct of     
obedience is transmitted best1 and at   
the cost of the art of command4 ,if  one
 imagine this instinct increasing to its

 greatest extent1 commanders  and       
independent individuals will finally be 
lacking altogether1 or they  will suffer
 inwardly from a bad conscience1 and    
will have to impose  a deception on     
themselves in the first place in order  
to be able to  command just as if they  
also were only obeying4 ,this condition 
of things  actually exists in ,europe at
 present--,i call it the moral hypocrisy
 of  the commanding class4 ,they know no
 other way of protecting themselves     
from their bad conscience than by       
playing the role of executors of older  
and higher orders 7of predecessors1 of  
the constitution1 of justice1 of  the   
law1 or of ,god himself71 or they even  
justify themselves by maxims  from the  
current opinions of the herd1 as first  
servants of their  people1 or           
instruments of the public weal4 ,on the 
other hand1 the  gregarious ,european   
man nowadays assumes an air as if he    
were the only  kind of man that is      
allowable1 he glorifies his qualities1  

such as  public spirit1 kindness1       
deference1 industry1 temperance1        
modesty1  indulgence1 sympathy1 by      
virtue of which he is gentle1 endurable1
 and  useful to the herd1 as the        
peculiarly human virtues4 ,in cases1    
however1  where it is believed that the 
leader and bell-wether cannot be        
dispensed  with1 attempt after attempt  
is made nowadays to replace commanders  
by the summing together of clever       
gregarious men all representative       
constitutions1 for example1 are of this 
origin4 ,in spite of all1 what a        
blessing1 what a deliverance from a     
weight becoming unendurable1 is the     
appearance of an absolute ruler for     
these gregarious ,europeans--of this    
fact the effect of the appearance of    
,napoleon was the last great proof  the 
history of the influence of ,napoleon is
 almost the history of  the higher      
happiness to which the entire century   
has attained in its  worthiest          
individuals and periods4    #bjj4 ,the  

man of an age of dissolution which mixes
 the races with  one another1 who has   
the inheritance of a diversified descent
 in his  body--that is to say1 contrary1
 and often not only contrary1 instincts 
and standards of value1 which struggle  
with one another and are seldom  at     
peace--such a man of late culture and   
broken lights1 will1 on an  average1 be 
a weak man4 ,his fundamental desire is  
that the war which is  ,,in ,,him should
 come to an end2 happiness appears to   
him in the character  of a soothing     
medicine and mode of thought 7for       
instance1 ,epicurean  or ,christian72 it
 is above all things the happiness of   
repose1 of  undisturbedness1 of         
repletion1 of final unity--it is the    
,sabbath of  ,sabbaths1 to use the      
expression of the holy rhetorician1 ,st4
 ,augustine1  who was himself such a    
man4--,should1 however1 the contrariety 
and  conflict in such natures operate as
 an ,,additional incentive and stimulus 
to life--and if1 on the other hand1 in  

addition to their powerful and          
irreconcilable instincts1 they have also
 inherited and indoctrinated  into them 
a proper mastery and subtlety for       
carrying on the conflict  with          
themselves 7that is to say1 the faculty 
of self-control and  self-deception71   
there then arise those marvelously      
incomprehensible and  inexplicable      
beings1 those enigmatical men1          
predestined for conquering  and         
circumventing others1 the finest        
examples of which are ,alcibiades  and  
,caesar 7with whom ,i should like to    
associate the ,,first of ,europeans     
according to my taste1 the              
,hohenstaufen1 ,frederick the ,second71 
and  among artists1 perhaps ,leonardo da
 ,vinci4 ,they appear precisely in the  
same periods when that weaker type1 with
 its longing for repose1 comes  to the  
front2 the two types are complementary  
to each other1 and spring  from the same
 causes4    #bja4 ,as long as the       
utility which determines moral estimates

 is only  gregarious utility1 as long as
 the preservation of the community is   
only  kept in view1 and the immoral is  
sought precisely and exclusively in     
what seems dangerous to the maintenance 
of the community1 there can be  no      
morality of love to one's neighbour4    
,granted even that there is  already a  
little constant exercise of             
consideration1 sympathy1 fairness1      
gentleness1 and mutual assistance1      
granted that even in this condition  of 
society all those instincts are already 
active which are latterly  distinguished
 by honourable names as virtues1 and    
eventually almost  coincide with the    
conception morality3 in that period they
 do not  as yet belong to the domain of 
moral valuations--they are still        
,,ultra-,,moral4 ,a sympathetic action1 
for instance1 is neither called good    
nor bad1 moral nor immoral1 in the best 
period of the ,romans2 and should  it be
 praised1 a sort of resentful disdain is
 compatible with this  praise1 even at  

the best1 directly the sympathetic      
action is compared  with one which      
contributes to the welfare of the whole1
 to the ,,res  ,,publica4 ,after all1   
love to our neighbour is always a       
secondary  matter1 partly conventional  
and arbitrarily manifested in relation  
to  our ,,fear ,,of ,,our ,,neighbour4  
,after the fabric of society seems on   
the  whole established and secured      
against external dangers1 it is this    
fear of our neighbour which again       
creates new perspectives of moral       
valuation4 ,certain strong and dangerous
 instincts1 such as the love of         
enterprise1 foolhardiness1              
revengefulness1 astuteness1 rapacity1   
and  love of power1 which up till then  
had not only to be honoured from the    
point of view of general utility--under 
other names1 of course1 than  those here
 given--but had to be fostered and      
cultivated 7because they  were          
perpetually required in the common      
danger against the common  enemies71 are

 now felt in their dangerousness to be  
doubly strong--when  the outlets for    
them are lacking--and are gradually     
branded as immoral  and given over to   
calumny4 ,the contrary instincts and    
inclinations now  attain to moral       
honour1 the gregarious instinct         
gradually draws its  conclusions4 ,how  
much or how little dangerousness to the 
community or  to equality is contained  
in an opinion1 a condition1 an emotion1 
a  disposition1 or an endowment--that is
 now the moral perspective1 here  again 
fear is the mother of morals4 ,it is by 
the loftiest and strongest  instincts1  
when they break out passionately and    
carry the individual  far above and     
beyond the average1 and the low level of
 the gregarious  conscience1 that the   
self-reliance of the community is       
destroyed1 its  belief in itself1 its   
backbone1 as it were1 breaks1           
consequently these  very instincts will 
be most branded and defamed4 ,the lofty 
independent  spirituality1 the will to  

stand alone1 and even the cogent reason1
 are  felt to be dangers1 everything    
that elevates the individual above the  
herd1 and is a source of fear to the    
neighbour1 is henceforth called  ,,evil1
 the tolerant1 unassuming1              
self-adapting1 self-equalizing          
disposition1 the ,,mediocrity of        
desires1 attains to moral distinction   
and  honour4 ,finally1 under very       
peaceful circumstances1 there is always 
less opportunity and necessity for      
training the feelings to severity  and  
rigour1 and now every form of severity1 
even in justice1 begins  to disturb the 
conscience1 a lofty and rigorous        
nobleness and  self-responsibility      
almost offends1 and awakens distrust1   
the lamb1  and still more the sheep1    
wins respect4 ,there is a point of      
diseased  mellowness and effeminacy in  
the history of society1 at which society
  itself takes the part of him who      
injures it1 the part of the ,,criminal1 
and does so1 in fact1 seriously and     

honestly4 ,to punish1 appears to it  to 
be somehow unfair--it is certain that   
the idea of punishment and  the         
obligation to punish are then painful   
and alarming to people4 ,is  it not     
sufficient if the criminal be rendered  
,,harmless8 ,why should we  still       
punish8 ,punishment itself is           
terrible6--with these questions         
gregarious morality1 the morality of    
fear1 draws its ultimate  conclusion4   
,if one could at all do away with       
danger1 the cause of fear1  one would   
have done away with this morality at the
 same time1 it  would no longer be      
necessary1 it ,,would ,,not ,,consider  
,,itself any longer                     
necessary6--,whoever examines the       
conscience of the present-day ,european1
  will always elicit the same imperative
 from its thousand moral folds  and     
hidden recesses1 the imperative of the  
timidity of the herd we wish  that some 
time or other there may be ,,nothing    
,,more ,,to ,,fear6 ,some time  or      

other--the will and the way ,,thereto is
 nowadays called progress all  over     
,europe4    #bjb4 ,let us at once say   
again what we have already said a       
hundred  times1 for people's ears       
nowadays are unwilling to hear such     
truths--,,our  truths4 ,we know well    
enough how offensive it sounds when any 
one  plainly1 and without metaphor1     
counts man among the animals1 but it    
will  be accounted to us almost a       
,,crime1 that it is precisely in respect
 to  men of modern ideas that we have   
constantly applied the terms herd1      
herd-instincts1 and such like           
expressions4 ,what avail is it8 ,we     
cannot  do otherwise1 for it is         
precisely here that our new insight is4 
,we  have found that in all the         
principal moral judgments1 ,europe has  
become  unanimous1 including likewise   
the countries where ,european influence 
prevails in ,europe people evidently    
,,know what ,socrates thought he  did   
not know1 and what the famous serpent of

 old once promised to  teach--they know 
today what is good and evil4 ,it must   
then sound hard  and be distasteful to  
the ear1 when we always insist that that
 which  here thinks it knows1 that which
 here glorifies itself with praise  and 
blame1 and calls itself good1 is the    
instinct of the herding human  animal1  
the instinct which has come and is ever 
coming more and more  to the front1 to  
preponderance and supremacy over other  
instincts1  according to the increasing 
physiological approximation and         
resemblance  of which it is the symptom4
 ,,morality ,,in ,,europe ,,at ,,present
 ,,is  ,,herding-,,animal ,,morality1   
and therefore1 as we understand the     
matter1  only one kind of human         
morality1 beside which1 before which1   
and after  which many other moralities1 
and above all ,,higher moralities1 are  
or  should be possible4 ,against such a 
possibility1 against such a should  be1 
however1 this morality defends itself   
with all its strength1 it  says         

obstinately and inexorably ,i am        
morality itself and nothing else  is    
morality6 ,indeed1 with the help of a   
religion which has humoured  and        
flattered the sublimest desires of the  
herding-animal1 things have  reached    
such a point that we always find a more 
visible expression of  this morality    
even in political and social            
arrangements3 the ,,democratic  movement
 is the inheritance of the ,christian   
movement4 ,that its ,,tempo1  however1  
is much too slow and sleepy for the more
 impatient ones1 for  those who are sick
 and distracted by the herding-instinct1
 is indicated  by the increasingly      
furious howling1 and always less        
disguised  teeth-gnashing of the        
anarchist dogs1 who are now roving      
through the  highways of ,european      
culture4 ,apparently in opposition to   
the peacefully  industrious democrats   
and ,revolution-ideologues1 and still   
more so  to the awkward philosophasters 
and fraternity-visionaries who call     

themselves ,socialists and want a free  
society1 those are really at one  with  
them all in their thorough and          
instinctive hostility to every form  of 
society other than that of the          
,,autonomous herd 7to the extent even of
  repudiating the notions master and    
servant--ni dieu ni maitre1 says  a     
socialist formula72 at one in their     
tenacious opposition to every  special  
claim1 every special right and privilege
 7this means ultimately  opposition to  
,,every right1 for when all are equal1  
no one needs rights  any longer72 at one
 in their distrust of punitive justice  
7as though it  were a violation of the  
weak1 unfair to the ,,necessary         
consequences of  all former society72   
but equally at one in their religion of 
sympathy1  in their compassion for all  
that feels1 lives1 and suffers 7down to 
the  very animals1 up even to ,god--the 
extravagance of sympathy for  ,god      
belongs to a democratic age72 altogether
 at one in the cry and  impatience of   

their sympathy1 in their deadly hatred  
of suffering  generally1 in their almost
 feminine incapacity for witnessing it  
or  ,,allowing it2 at one in their      
involuntary beglooming and              
heart-softening1  under the spell of    
which ,europe seems to be threatened    
with a new  ,buddhism2 at one in their  
belief in the morality of ,,mutual      
sympathy1 as  though it were morality in
 itself1 the climax1 the ,,attained     
climax of  mankind1 the sole hope of the
 future1 the consolation of the present1
  the great discharge from all the      
obligations of the past2 altogether at  
one in their belief in the community as 
the ,,deliverer1 in the herd1 and       
therefore in themselves4    #bjc4 ,we1  
who hold a different belief--we1 who    
regard the democratic  movement1 not    
only as a degenerating form of political
 organization1 but  as equivalent to a  
degenerating1 a waning type of man1 as  
involving his  mediocrising and         
depreciation3 where have ,,we to fix our

 hopes8 ,in  ,,new ,,philosophers--there
 is no other alternative3 in minds      
strong and  original enough to initiate 
opposite estimates of value1 to         
transvalue  and invert eternal          
valuations2 in forerunners1 in men of   
the future1  who in the present shall   
fix the constraints and fasten the knots
 which  will compel millenniums to take 
,,new paths4 ,to teach man the future   
of humanity as his ,,will1 as depending 
on human will1 and to make  preparation 
for vast hazardous enterprises and      
collective attempts in  rearing and     
educating1 in order thereby to put an   
end to the frightful  rule of folly and 
chance which has hitherto gone by the   
name of  history 7the folly of the      
greatest number is only its last        
form7--for that purpose a new type of   
philosopher and commander will  some    
time or other be needed1 at the very    
idea of which everything that  has      
existed in the way of occult1 terrible1 
and benevolent beings might  look pale  

and dwarfed4 ,the image of such leaders 
hovers before ,,our  eyes3--is it lawful
 for me to say it aloud1 ye free        
spirits8 ,the  conditions which one     
would partly have to create and partly  
utilize for  their genesis2 the         
presumptive methods and tests by virtue 
of which  a soul should grow up to such 
an elevation and power as to feel a     
,,constraint to these tasks2 a          
transvaluation of values1 under the new 
pressure and hammer of which a          
conscience should be steeled and a heart
  transformed into brass1 so as to bear 
the weight of such responsibility2  and 
on the other hand the necessity for such
 leaders1 the dreadful  danger that they
 might be lacking1 or miscarry and      
degenerate3--these  are ,,our real      
anxieties and glooms1 ye know it well1  
ye free spirits6  these are the heavy   
distant thoughts and storms which sweep 
across the  heaven of ,,our life4 ,there
 are few pains so grievous as to have   
seen1  divined1 or experienced how an   

exceptional man has missed his way and  
deteriorated2 but he who has the rare   
eye for the universal danger  of man    
himself ,,deteriorating1 he who like us 
has recognized the  extraordinary       
fortuitousness which has hitherto played
 its game in  respect to the future of  
mankind--a game in which neither the    
hand1 nor  even a finger of ,god has    
participated6--he who divines the fate  
that  is hidden under the idiotic       
unwariness and blind confidence of      
modern ideas1 and still more under the  
whole of ,christo-,european             
morality--suffers from an anguish with  
which no other is to be compared4  ,he  
sees at a glance all that could still   
,,be ,,made ,,out ,,of ,,man through  a 
favourable accumulation and augmentation
 of human powers and  arrangements2 he  
knows with all the knowledge of his     
conviction how  unexhausted man still is
 for the greatest possibilities1 and how
 often  in the past the type man has    
stood in presence of mysterious         

decisions  and new paths3--he knows     
still better from his painfulest        
recollections  on what wretched         
obstacles promising developments of the 
highest rank  have hitherto usually gone
 to pieces1 broken down1 sunk1 and      
become  contemptible4 ,the ,,universal  
,,degeneracy ,,of ,,mankind to the level
 of  the man of the future--as idealized
 by the socialistic fools and           
shallow-pates--this degeneracy and      
dwarfing of man to an absolutely        
gregarious animal 7or as they call it1  
to a man of free society71  this        
brutalizing of man into a pigmy with    
equal rights and claims1 is  undoubtedly
 ,,possible6 ,he who has thought out    
this possibility to its  ultimate       
conclusion knows ,,another loathing     
unknown to the rest of  mankind--and    
perhaps also a new ,,mission6           
,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,we ,,scholars         
#bjd4 ,at the risk that moralizing may  
also reveal itself here as that  which  
it has always been--namely1 resolutely  

,,montrer ,,ses ,,plaies1  according to 
,balzac--,i would venture to protest    
against an improper and  injurious      
alteration of rank1 which quite         
unnoticed1 and as if with the  best     
conscience1 threatens nowadays to       
establish itself in the relations  of   
science and philosophy4 ,i mean to say  
that one must have the right  out of    
one's own ,,experience--experience1 as  
it seems to me1 always  implies         
unfortunate experience8--to treat of    
such an important question  of rank1 so 
as not to speak of colour like the      
blind1 or ,,against science  like women 
and artists 7,ah6 this dreadful science6
 sigh their instinct  and their shame1  
it always ,,finds ,,things ,,out674 ,the
 declaration of  independence of the    
scientific man1 his emancipation from   
philosophy1  is one of the subtler      
after-effects of democratic organization
 and  disorganization3 the              
self-glorification and                  
self-conceitedness of  the learned man  

is now everywhere in full bloom1 and in 
its best  springtime--which does not    
mean to imply that in this case         
self-praise  smells sweet4 ,here also   
the instinct of the populace cries1     
,freedom  from all masters6 and after   
science has1 with the happiest results1 
resisted theology1 whose hand-maid it   
had been too long1 it now  proposes in  
its wantonness and indiscretion to lay  
down laws for  philosophy1 and in its   
turn to play the master--what am ,i     
saying6  to play the ,,philosopher on   
its own account4 ,my memory--the memory 
of  a scientific man1 if you            
please6--teems with the naivetes of     
insolence  which ,i have heard about    
philosophy and philosophers from young  
naturalists and old physicians 7not to  
mention the most cultured and  most     
conceited of all learned men1 the       
philologists and schoolmasters1  who are
 both the one and the other by          
profession74 ,on one occasion it  was   
the specialist and the ,jack ,horner who

 instinctively stood on the  defensive  
against all synthetic tasks and         
capabilities2 at another time  it was   
the industrious worker who had got a    
scent of ,,otium and refined            
luxuriousness in the internal economy of
 the philosopher1 and felt  himself     
aggrieved and belittled thereby4 ,on    
another occasion it was the             
colour-blindness of the utilitarian1 who
 sees nothing in philosophy but  a      
series of ,,refuted systems1 and an     
extravagant expenditure which does      
nobody any good4 ,at another time the   
fear of disguised mysticism and of  the 
boundary-adjustment of knowledge became 
conspicuous1 at another  time the       
disregard of individual philosophers1   
which had involuntarily  extended to    
disregard of philosophy generally4 ,in  
fine1 ,i found most  frequently1 behind 
the proud disdain of philosophy in young
 scholars1  the evil after-effect of    
some particular philosopher1 to whom on 
the  whole obedience had been foresworn1

 without1 however1 the spell of his     
scornful estimates of other philosophers
 having been got rid of--the  result    
being a general ill-will to all         
philosophy4 7,such seems to  me1 for    
instance1 the after-effect of           
,schopenhauer on the most modern        
,germany3 by his unintelligent rage     
against ,hegel1 he has succeeded in     
severing the whole of the last          
generation of ,germans from its         
connection  with ,german culture1 which 
culture1 all things considered1 has been
  an elevation and a divining refinement
 of the ,,historical ,,sense1 but       
precisely at this point ,schopenhauer   
himself was poor1 irreceptive1  and     
un-,german to the extent of             
ingeniousness47 ,on the whole1 speaking 
generally1 it may just have been the    
humanness1 all-too-humanness of the     
modern philosophers themselves1 in      
short1 their contemptibleness1 which    
has injured most radically the reverence
 for philosophy and opened the  doors to

 the instinct of the populace4 ,let it  
but be acknowledged to  what an extent  
our modern world diverges from the whole
 style of the  world of ,heraclitus1    
,plato1 ,empedocles1 and whatever else  
all the royal  and magnificent          
anchorites of the spirit were called1   
and with what  justice an honest man of 
science ,,may feel himself of a better  
family and  origin1 in view of such     
representatives of philosophy1 who1     
owing to  the fashion of the present    
day1 are just as much aloft as they are 
down  below--in ,germany1 for instance1 
the two lions of ,berlin1 the anarchist 
,eugen ,duhring and the amalgamist      
,eduard von ,hartmann4 ,it is especially
  the sight of those hotch-potch        
philosophers1 who call themselves       
realists1 or positivists1 which is      
calculated to implant a  dangerous      
distrust in the soul of a young and     
ambitious scholar those  philosophers1  
at the best1 are themselves but scholars
 and specialists1  that is very evident6

 ,all of them are persons who have been 
vanquished  and ,,brought ,,back ,,again
 under the dominion of science1 who at  
one time  or another claimed more from  
themselves1 without having a right to   
the  more and its responsibility--and   
who now1 creditably1 rancorously1 and   
vindictively1 represent in word and     
deed1 ,,disbelief in the master-task    
and supremacy of philosophy ,after all1 
how could it be otherwise8  ,science    
flourishes nowadays and has the good    
conscience clearly visible  on its      
countenance1 while that to which the    
entire modern philosophy has  gradually 
sunk1 the remnant of philosophy of the  
present day1 excites  distrust and      
displeasure1 if not scorn and pity      
,philosophy reduced to  a theory of     
knowledge1 no more in fact than a       
diffident science of  epochs and        
doctrine of forbearance a philosophy    
that never even  gets beyond the        
threshold1 and rigorously ,,denies      
itself the right  to enter--that is     

philosophy in its last throes1 an end1  
an agony1  something that awakens pity4 
,how could such a philosophy--,,rule6   
#bje4 ,the dangers that beset the       
evolution of the philosopher are1 in    
fact1 so manifold nowadays1 that one    
might doubt whether this fruit  could   
still come to maturity4 ,the extent and 
towering structure of the  sciences have
 increased enormously1 and therewith    
also the probability  that the          
philosopher will grow tired even as a   
learner1 or will attach  himself        
somewhere and specialize so that he will
 no longer attain to  his elevation1    
that is to say1 to his superspection1   
his circumspection1  and his            
,,despection4 ,or he gets aloft too     
late1 when the best of his  maturity and
 strength is past1 or when he is        
impaired1 coarsened1 and  deteriorated1 
so that his view1 his general estimate  
of things1 is no  longer of much        
importance4 ,it is perhaps just the     
refinement of his  intellectual         

conscience that makes him hesitate and  
linger on the  way1 he dreads the       
temptation to become a dilettante1 a    
millepede1 a  milleantenna1 he knows too
 well that as a discerner1 one who has  
lost  his self-respect no longer        
commands1 no longer ,,leads1 unless he  
should  aspire to become a great        
play-actor1 a philosophical ,cagliostro 
and  spiritual rat-catcher--in short1 a 
misleader4 ,this is in the last         
instance a question of taste1 if it has 
not really been a question of           
conscience4 ,to double once more the    
philosopher's difficulties1 there is    
also the fact that he demands from      
himself a verdict1 a ,yea or ,nay1 not  
concerning science1 but concerning life 
and the worth of life--he learns        
unwillingly to believe that it is his   
right and even his duty to obtain  this 
verdict1 and he has to seek his way to  
the right and the belief  only through  
the most extensive 7perhaps disturbing  
and destroying7  experiences1 often     

hesitating1 doubting1 and dumbfounded4  
,in fact1 the  philosopher has long been
 mistaken and confused by the multitude1
 either  with the scientific man and    
ideal scholar1 or with the religiously  
elevated1 desensualized1 desecularized  
visionary and ,god-intoxicated  man2 and
 even yet when one hears anybody        
praised1 because he lives  wisely1 or as
 a philosopher1 it hardly means anything
 more than  prudently and apart4        
,wisdom3 that seems to the populace to  
be a kind  of flight1 a means and       
artifice for withdrawing successfully   
from a  bad game2 but the ,,genuine     
philosopher--does it not seem so to     
,,us1  my friends8--lives               
unphilosophically and unwisely1 above   
all1  ,,imprudently1 and feels the      
obligation and burden of a hundred      
attempts  and temptations of life--he   
risks ,,himself constantly1 he plays    
,,this bad  game4    #bjf4 ,in relation 
to the genius1 that is to say1 a being  
who either  ,,engenders or              

,,produces--both words understood in    
their fullest sense--the  man of        
learning1 the scientific average man1   
has always something of  the old maid   
about him2 for1 like her1 he is not     
conversant with the two  principal      
functions of man4 ,to both1 of course1  
to the scholar and  to the old maid1 one
 concedes respectability1 as if by way  
of  indemnification--in these cases one 
emphasizes the respectability--and  yet1
 in the compulsion of this concession1  
one has the same admixture  of vexation4
 ,let us examine more closely3 what is  
the scientific man8  ,firstly1 a        
commonplace type of man1 with           
commonplace virtues3 that is  to say1 a 
non-ruling1 non-authoritative1 and      
non-self-sufficient type  of man2 he    
possesses industry1 patient             
adaptableness to rank and file1         
equability and moderation in capacity   
and requirement2 he has the  instinct   
for people like himself1 and for that   
which they require--for  instance3 the  

portion of independence and green meadow
 without which  there is no rest from   
labour1 the claim to honour and         
consideration  7which first and foremost
 presupposes recognition and            
recognisability71  the sunshine of a    
good name1 the perpetual ratification of
 his value and  usefulness1 with which  
the inward ,,distrust which lies at the 
bottom of  the heart of all dependent   
men and gregarious animals1 has again   
and  again to be overcome4 ,the learned 
man1 as is appropriate1 has also        
maladies and faults of an ignoble kind3 
he is full of petty envy1 and  has a    
lynx-eye for the weak points in those   
natures to whose elevations  he cannot  
attain4 ,he is confiding1 yet only as   
one who lets himself go1  but does not  
,,flow2 and precisely before the man of 
the great current he  stands all the    
colder and more reserved--his eye is    
then like a smooth  and irresponsive    
lake1 which is no longer moved by       
rapture or sympathy4  ,the worst and    

most dangerous thing of which a scholar 
is capable results  from the instinct of
 mediocrity of his type1 from the       
,jesuitism of  mediocrity1 which labours
 instinctively for the destruction of   
the exceptional man1 and endeavours to  
break--or still better1 to  relax--every
 bent bow ,to relax1 of course1 with    
consideration1 and  naturally with an   
indulgent hand--to ,,relax with         
confiding sympathy  that is the real art
 of ,jesuitism1 which has always        
understood how to  introduce itself as  
the religion of sympathy4    #bjg4      
,however gratefully one may welcome the 
,,objective spirit--and  who has not    
been sick to death of all subjectivity  
and its confounded  ,,ipsisimosity6--in 
the end1 however1 one must learn caution
 even with  regard to one's gratitude1  
and put a stop to the exaggeration with 
which the unselfing and depersonalizing 
of the spirit has recently been         
celebrated1 as if it were the goal in   
itself1 as if it were salvation  and    

glorification--as is especially         
accustomed to happen in the  pessimist  
school1 which has also in its turn good 
reasons for paying the  highest honours 
to disinterested knowledge ,the         
objective man1 who no  longer curses and
 scolds like the pessimist1 the ,,ideal 
man of learning  in whom the scientific 
instinct blossoms forth fully after a   
thousand  complete and partial failures1
 is assuredly one of the most costly    
instruments that exist1 but his place is
 in the hand of one who is more         
powerful ,he is only an instrument1 we  
may say1 he is a ,,mirror--he is no     
purpose in himself ,the objective man is
 in truth a mirror accustomed  to       
prostration before everything that wants
 to be known1 with such  desires only as
 knowing or reflecting implies--he waits
 until  something comes1 and then       
expands himself sensitively1 so that    
even the  light footsteps and           
gliding-past of spiritual beings may not
 be lost on  his surface and film       

,whatever personality he still possesses
 seems to  him accidental1 arbitrary1 or
 still oftener1 disturbing1 so much has 
he  come to regard himself as the       
passage and reflection of outside forms 
and events ,he calls up the recollection
 of himself with an effort1  and not    
infrequently wrongly1 he readily        
confounds himself with other  persons1  
he makes mistakes with regard to his own
 needs1 and here only  is he unrefined  
and negligent ,perhaps he is troubled   
about the health1  or the pettiness and 
confined atmosphere of wife and friend1 
or the lack  of companions and          
society--indeed1 he sets himself to     
reflect on his  suffering1 but in vain6 
,his thoughts already rove away to the  
,,more  ,,general case1 and tomorrow he 
knows as little as he knew yesterday how
  to help himself ,he does not now take 
himself seriously and devote time  to   
himself he is serene1 ,,not from lack of
 trouble1 but from lack  of capacity for
 grasping and dealing with ,,his trouble

 ,the habitual  complaisance with       
respect to all objects and experiences1 
the radiant  and impartial hospitality  
with which he receives everything that  
comes his way1 his habit of             
inconsiderate good-nature1 of dangerous 
indifference as to ,yea and ,nay3 alas6 
there are enough of cases in which  he  
has to atone for these virtues of       
his6--and as man generally1 he  becomes 
far too easily the ,,caput ,,mortuum of 
such virtues4 ,should one  wish love or 
hatred from him--,i mean love and hatred
 as ,god1 woman1 and  animal understand 
them--he will do what he can1 and       
furnish what he can4  ,but one must not 
be surprised if it should not be        
much--if he should  show himself just at
 this point to be false1 fragile1       
questionable1 and  deteriorated4 ,his   
love is constrained1 his hatred is      
artificial1 and  rather ,,un ,,tour ,,de
 ,,force1 a slight ostentation and      
exaggeration4 ,he is  only genuine so   
far as he can be objective2 only in his 

serene totality  is he still nature and 
natural4 ,his mirroring and eternally   
self-polishing soul no longer knows how 
to affirm1 no longer how to  deny2 he   
does not command2 neither does he       
destroy4 ,,je ,,ne ,,meprise  ,,presque 
,,rien--he says1 with ,leibniz3 let us  
not overlook nor undervalue  the        
,,presque6 ,neither is he a model man2  
he does not go in advance of any  one1  
nor after1 either2 he places himself    
generally too far off to have  any      
reason for espousing the cause of either
 good or evil4 ,if he has  been so long 
confounded with the ,,philosopher1 with 
the ,caesarian trainer  and dictator of 
civilization1 he has had far too much   
honour1 and what  is more essential in  
him has been overlooked--he is an       
instrument1  something of a slave1      
though certainly the sublimest sort of  
slave1 but  nothing in                  
himself--,,presque ,,rien6 ,the         
objective man is an instrument1  a      
costly1 easily injured1 easily tarnished

 measuring instrument and  mirroring    
apparatus1 which is to be taken care of 
and respected2 but he  is no goal1 not  
outgoing nor upgoing1 no complementary  
man in whom the  ,,rest of existence    
justifies itself1 no termination--and   
still less a  commencement1 an          
engendering1 or primary cause1 nothing  
hardy1 powerful1  self-centred1 that    
wants to be master2 but rather only a   
soft1 inflated1  delicate1 movable      
potter's-form1 that must wait for some  
kind of content  and frame to shape     
itself thereto--for the most part a man 
without  frame and content1 a selfless  
man4 ,consequently1 also1 nothing for   
women1 ,,in ,,parenthesi4    #bjh4 ,when
 a philosopher nowadays makes known that
 he is not a skeptic--,i  hope that has 
been gathered from the foregoing        
description of the  objective           
spirit8--people all hear it impatiently2
 they regard him on  that account with  
some apprehension1 they would like to   
ask so many1  many questions444 indeed  

among timid hearers1 of whom there are  
now so  many1 he is henceforth said to  
be dangerous4 ,with his repudiation of  
skepticism1 it seems to them as if they 
heard some evil-threatening  sound in   
the distance1 as if a new kind of       
explosive were being tried  somewhere1 a
 dynamite of the spirit1 perhaps a newly
 discovered ,russian  ,,nihiline1 a     
pessimism ,,bonae ,,voluntatis1 that not
 only denies1 means  denial1            
but--dreadful thought6 ,,practises      
denial4 ,against this kind of           
good-will--a will to the veritable1     
actual negation of life--there is1  as  
is generally acknowledged nowadays1 no  
better soporific and sedative  than     
skepticism1 the mild1 pleasing1 lulling 
poppy of skepticism2  and ,hamlet       
himself is now prescribed by the doctors
 of the day as an  antidote to the      
spirit1 and its underground noises4 ,are
 not our ears  already full of bad      
sounds8 say the skeptics1 as lovers of  
repose1 and  almost as a kind of safety 

police2 this subterranean ,nay is       
terrible6  ,be still1 ye pessimistic    
moles6 ,the skeptic1 in effect1 that    
delicate  creature1 is far too easily   
frightened2 his conscience is schooled  
so  as to start at every ,nay1 and even 
at that sharp1 decided ,yea1 and feels  
something like a bite thereby4 ,yea6 and
 ,nay6--they seem to him opposed  to    
morality2 he loves1 on the contrary1 to 
make a festival to his virtue  by a     
noble aloofness1 while perhaps he says  
with ,montaigne3 ,what do ,i  know8 ,or 
with ,socrates3 ,i know that ,i know    
nothing4 ,or3 ,here ,i do  not trust    
myself1 no door is open to me4 ,or3     
,even if the door were  open1 why should
 ,i enter immediately8 ,or3 ,what is the
 use of any hasty  hypotheses8 ,it might
 quite well be in good taste to make no 
hypotheses  at all4 ,are you absolutely 
obliged to straighten at once what is   
crooked8 to stuff every hole with some  
kind of oakum8 ,is there not time       
enough for that8 ,has not the time      

leisure8 ,oh1 ye demons1 can ye not  at 
all ,,wait8 ,the uncertain also has its 
charms1 the ,sphinx1 too1 is a  ,circe1 
and ,circe1 too1 was a                  
philosopher4--,thus does a skeptic      
console  himself2 and in truth he needs 
some consolation4 ,for skepticism is    
the most spiritual expression of a      
certain many-sided physiological        
temperament1 which in ordinary language 
is called nervous debility and          
sickliness2 it arises whenever races or 
classes which have been long  separated1
 decisively and suddenly blend with one 
another4 ,in the new  generation1 which 
has inherited as it were different      
standards and  valuations in its blood1 
everything is disquiet1 derangement1    
doubt1 and  tentativeness2 the best     
powers operate restrictively1 the very  
virtues  prevent each other growing and 
becoming strong1 equilibrium1 ballast1  
and perpendicular stability are lacking 
in body and soul4 ,that1 however1  which
 is most diseased and degenerated in    

such nondescripts is the  ,,will2 they  
are no longer familiar with independence
 of decision1 or  the courageous feeling
 of pleasure in willing--they are       
doubtful of the  freedom of the will    
even in their dreams ,our present-day   
,europe1  the scene of a senseless1     
precipitate attempt at a radical        
blending of  classes1 and ,,consequently
 of races1 is therefore skeptical in all
 its  heights and depths1 sometimes     
exhibiting the mobile skepticism which  
springs impatiently and wantonly from   
branch to branch1 sometimes with  gloomy
 aspect1 like a cloud over-charged with 
interrogative signs--and  often sick    
unto death of its will6 ,paralysis of   
will1 where do we not  find this cripple
 sitting nowadays6 ,and yet how bedecked
 oftentimes' ,how  seductively          
ornamented6 ,there are the finest gala  
dresses and disguises  for this disease1
 and that1 for instance1 most of what   
places itself  nowadays in the          
show-cases as objectiveness1 the        

scientific spirit1  ,l',,art ,,pour     
,l',,art1 and pure voluntary knowledge1 
is only decked-out  skepticism and      
paralysis of will--,i am ready to answer
 for this  diagnosis of the ,european   
disease--,the disease of the will is    
diffused  unequally over ,europe1 it is 
worst and most varied where civilization
  has longest prevailed1 it decreases   
according as the barbarian  still--or   
again--asserts his claims under the     
loose drapery of ,western  culture ,it  
is therefore in the ,france of today1 as
 can be readily  disclosed and          
comprehended1 that the will is most     
infirm1 and ,france1  which has always  
had a masterly aptitude for converting  
even the  portentous crises of its      
spirit into something charming and      
seductive1  now manifests emphatically  
its intellectual ascendancy over        
,europe1  by being the school and       
exhibition of all the charms of         
skepticism ,the  power to will and to   
persist1 moreover1 in a resolution1 is  

already  somewhat stronger in ,germany1 
and again in the ,north of ,germany it  
is stronger than in ,central ,germany1  
it is considerably stronger in          
,england1 ,spain1 and ,corsica1         
associated with phlegm in the former and
  with hard skulls in the latter--not to
 mention ,italy1 which is too young  yet
 to know what it wants1 and must first  
show whether it can exercise  will1 but 
it is strongest and most surprising of  
all in that immense  middle empire where
 ,europe as it were flows back to       
,asia--namely1 in  ,russia ,there the   
power to will has been long stored up   
and accumulated1  there the             
will--uncertain whether to be negative  
or affirmative--waits  threateningly to 
be discharged 7to borrow their pet      
phrase from our  physicists7 ,perhaps   
not only ,indian wars and complications 
in ,asia would  be necessary to free    
,europe from its greatest danger1 but   
also internal  subversion1 the          
shattering of the empire into small     

states1 and above  all the introduction 
of parliamentary imbecility1 together   
with the  obligation of every one to    
read his newspaper at breakfast ,i do   
not  say this as one who desires it1 in 
my heart ,i should rather prefer the    
contrary--,i mean such an increase in   
the threatening attitude of  ,russia1   
that ,europe would have to make up its  
mind to become equally                  
threatening--namely1 ,,to ,,acquire     
,,one ,,will1 by means of a new caste to
  rule over the ,continent1 a           
persistent1 dreadful will of its own1   
that  can set its aims thousands of     
years ahead2 so that the long spun-out  
comedy of its petty-statism1 and its    
dynastic as well as its democratic      
many-willed-ness1 might finally be      
brought to a close4 ,the time for  petty
 politics is past2 the next century will
 bring the struggle for the  dominion of
 the world--the ,,compulsion to great   
politics4    #bji4 ,as to how far the   
new warlike age on which we ,europeans  

have  evidently entered may perhaps     
favour the growth of another and        
stronger  kind of skepticism1 ,i should 
like to express myself preliminarily    
merely by a parable1 which the lovers of
 ,german history will already           
understand4 ,that unscrupulous          
enthusiast for big1 handsome grenadiers 
7who1 as ,king of ,prussia1 brought into
 being a military and skeptical         
genius--and therewith1 in reality1 the  
new and now triumphantly emerged  type  
of ,german71 the problematic1 crazy     
father of ,frederick the ,great1  had on
 one point the very knack and lucky     
grasp of the genius3 he knew  what was  
then lacking in ,germany1 the want of   
which was a hundred times  more alarming
 and serious than any lack of culture   
and social form--his  ill-will to the   
young ,frederick resulted from the      
anxiety of a profound  instinct4 ,,men  
,,were ,,lacking2 and he suspected1 to  
his bitterest regret1  that his own son 
was not man enough4 ,there1 however1 he 

deceived  himself2 but who would not    
have deceived himself in his place8 ,he 
saw  his son lapsed to atheism1 to the  
,,esprit1 to the pleasant frivolity of  
clever ,frenchmen--he saw in the        
background the great bloodsucker1 the   
spider skepticism2 he suspected the     
incurable wretchedness of a heart no    
longer hard enough either for evil or   
good1 and of a broken will that no      
longer commands1 is no longer ,,able to 
command4 ,meanwhile1 however1  there    
grew up in his son that new kind of     
harder and more dangerous               
skepticism--who knows ,,to ,,what       
,,extent it was encouraged just by  his 
father's hatred and the icy melancholy  
of a will condemned to  solitude8--the  
skepticism of daring manliness1 which is
 closely related  to the genius for war 
and conquest1 and made its first        
entrance into  ,germany in the person of
 the great ,frederick4 ,this skepticism 
despises  and nevertheless grasps2 it   
undermines and takes possession2 it does

  not believe1 but it does not thereby  
lose itself2 it gives the spirit a      
dangerous liberty1 but it keeps strict  
guard over the heart4 ,it is the        
,,german form of skepticism1 which1 as a
 continued ,fredericianism1 risen  to   
the highest spirituality1 has kept      
,europe for a considerable time  under  
the dominion of the ,german spirit and  
its critical and historical  distrust   
,owing to the insuperably strong and    
tough masculine character  of the great 
,german philologists and historical     
critics 7who1  rightly estimated1 were  
also all of them artists of destruction 
and dissolution71 a ,,new conception of 
the ,german spirit gradually            
established itself--in spite of all     
,romanticism in music and               
philosophy--in which the leaning towards
 masculine skepticism was  decidedly    
prominent whether1 for instance1 as     
fearlessness of gaze1 as  courage and   
sternness of the dissecting hand1 or as 
resolute will to  dangerous voyages of  

discovery1 to spiritualized ,north ,pole
 expeditions  under barren and dangerous
 skies4 ,there may be good grounds for  
it when  warm-blooded and superficial   
humanitarians cross themselves before   
this  spirit1 ,,cet ,,esprit            
,,fataliste1 ,,ironique1                
,,mephistophelique1 as ,michelet  calls 
it1 not without a shudder4 ,but if one  
would realize how  characteristic is    
this fear of the man in the ,german     
spirit which  awakened ,europe out of   
its dogmatic slumber1 let us call to    
mind the  former conception which had to
 be overcome by this new one--and that  
it is not so very long ago that a       
masculinized woman could dare1 with     
unbridled presumption1 to recommend the 
,germans to the interest of  ,europe as 
gentle1 good-hearted1 weak-willed1 and  
poetical fools4  ,finally1 let us only  
understand profoundly enough ,napoleon's
  astonishment when he saw ,goethe it   
reveals what had been regarded for      
centuries as the ,german spirit ,,voila 

,,un ,,homme6--that was as much as  to  
say ,but this is a ,,man6 ,and ,i only  
expected to see a ,german6    #baj4     
,supposing1 then1 that in the picture of
 the philosophers of the  future1 some  
trait suggests the question whether they
 must not perhaps  be skeptics in the   
last-mentioned sense1 something in them 
would only be  designated thereby--and  
not they themselves4 ,with equal right  
they might  call themselves critics1 and
 assuredly they will be men of          
experiments4  ,by the name with which ,i
 ventured to baptize them1 ,i have      
already  expressly emphasized their     
attempting and their love of attempting 
is  this because1 as critics in body and
 soul1 they will love to make use  of   
experiments in a new1 and perhaps wider 
and more dangerous sense8 ,in  their    
passion for knowledge1 will they have to
 go further in daring and  painful      
attempts than the sensitive and pampered
 taste of a democratic  century can     
approve of8--,there is no doubt these   

coming ones will be  least able to      
dispense with the serious and not       
unscrupulous qualities  which           
distinguish the critic from the skeptic 
,i mean the certainty as to  standards  
of worth1 the conscious employment of a 
unity of method1  the wary courage1 the 
standing-alone1 and the capacity for    
self-responsibility1 indeed1 they will  
avow among themselves a ,,delight  in   
denial and dissection1 and a certain    
considerate cruelty1 which knows  how to
 handle the knife surely and deftly1    
even when the heart bleeds  ,they will  
be ,,sterner 7and perhaps not always    
towards themselves only7  than humane   
people may desire1 they will not deal   
with the truth in  order that it may    
please them1 or elevate and inspire     
them--they  will rather have little     
faith in ,,truth bringing with it such  
revels  for the feelings4 ,they will    
smile1 those rigorous spirits1 when any 
one  says in their presence ,that       
thought elevates me1 why should it not  

be  true8 or ,that work enchants me1 why
 should it not be beautiful8 or  ,that  
artist enlarges me1 why should he not be
 great8 ,perhaps they  will not only    
have a smile1 but a genuine disgust for 
all that is thus  rapturous1 idealistic1
 feminine1 and hermaphroditic1 and if   
any one  could look into their inmost   
hearts1 he would not easily find therein
  the intention to reconcile ,christian 
sentiments with antique taste1  or even 
with modern parliamentarism 7the kind of
 reconciliation  necessarily found even 
among philosophers in our very uncertain
 and  consequently very conciliatory    
century74 ,critical discipline1 and     
every  habit that conduces to purity and
 rigour in intellectual matters1  will  
not only be demanded from themselves by 
these philosophers of  the future1 they 
may even make a display thereof as their
 special  adornment--nevertheless they  
will not want to be called critics on   
that  account4 ,it will seem to them no 
small indignity to philosophy to  have  

it decreed1 as is so welcome nowadays1  
that philosophy itself is  criticism and
 critical science--and nothing else     
whatever6 ,though this  estimate of     
philosophy may enjoy the approval of all
 the ,positivists of  ,france and       
,germany 7and possibly it even flattered
 the heart and taste  of ,,kant3 let us 
call to mind the titles of his principal
 works71 our new  philosophers will say1
 notwithstanding1 that critics are      
instruments of  the philosopher1 and    
just on that account1 as instruments1   
they are  far from being philosophers   
themselves6 ,even the great ,chinaman of
  ,konigsberg was only a great critic4  
#baa4 ,i insist upon it that people     
finally cease confounding  philosophical
 workers1 and in general scientific men1
 with  philosophers--that precisely here
 one should strictly give each his  own1
 and not give those far too much1 these 
far too little4 ,it may  be necessary   
for the education of the real           
philosopher that he himself  should have

 once stood upon all those steps upon   
which his servants1  the scientific     
workers of philosophy1 remain standing1 
and ,,must remain  standing he himself  
must perhaps have been critic1 and      
dogmatist1  and historian1 and besides1 
poet1 and collector1 and traveler1 and  
riddle-reader1 and moralist1 and seer1  
and free spirit1 and almost  everything1
 in order to traverse the whole range of
 human values  and estimations1 and that
 he may ,,be ,,able with a variety of   
eyes and  consciences to look from a    
height to any distance1 from a depth up 
to any height1 from a nook into any     
expanse4 ,but all these are only        
preliminary conditions for his task2    
this task itself demands something      
else--it requires him ,,to ,,create     
,,values4 ,the philosophical workers1   
after  the excellent pattern of ,kant   
and ,hegel1 have to fix and formalize   
some  great existing body of            
valuations--that is to say1 former      
,,determinations  ,,of ,,value1         

creations of value1 which have become   
prevalent1 and are for  a time called   
truths--whether in the domain of the    
,,logical1 the  ,,political 7moral71 or 
the ,,artistic4 ,it is for these        
investigators to  make whatever has     
happened and been esteemed hitherto1    
conspicuous1  conceivable1 intelligible1
 and manageable1 to shorten everything  
long1  even time itself1 and to         
,,subjugate the entire past3 an immense 
and  wonderful task1 in the carrying out
 of which all refined pride1 all        
tenacious will1 can surely find         
satisfaction4 ,,the ,,real              
,,philosophers1  ,,however1 ,,are       
,,commanders ,,and ,,law-,,givers2 they 
say3 ,thus ,,shall it be6  ,they        
determine first the ,whither and the    
,why of mankind1 and thereby  set aside 
the previous labour of all philosophical
 workers1 and all  subjugators of the   
past--they grasp at the future with a   
creative  hand1 and whatever is and was1
 becomes for them thereby a means1 an   

instrument1 and a hammer4 ,their knowing
 is ,,creating1 their creating  is a    
law-giving1 their will to truth         
is--,,will ,,to ,,power4--,are there at 
present such philosophers8 ,have there  
ever been such philosophers8 ,,must     
there not be such philosophers some day8
 444    #bab4 ,it is always more obvious
 to me that the philosopher1 as a man   
,,indispensable for the morrow and the  
day after the morrow1 has ever  found   
himself1 and ,,has ,,been ,,obliged to  
find himself1 in contradiction  to the  
day in which he lives2 his enemy has    
always been the ideal of his  day4      
,hitherto all those extraordinary       
furtherers of humanity whom one  calls  
philosophers--who rarely regarded       
themselves as lovers of wisdom1  but    
rather as disagreeable fools and        
dangerous interrogators--have found     
their mission1 their hard1 involuntary1 
imperative mission 7in the end1         
however1 the greatness of their         
mission71 in being the bad conscience of

  their age4 ,in putting the            
vivisector's knife to the breast of the 
very  ,,virtues ,,of ,,their ,,age1 they
 have betrayed their own secret2 it has 
been  for the sake of a ,,new greatness 
of man1 a new untrodden path to  his    
aggrandizement4 ,they have always       
disclosed how much hypocrisy1           
indolence1 self-indulgence1 and         
self-neglect1 how much falsehood was    
concealed under the most venerated types
 of contemporary morality1 how  much    
virtue was ,,outlived1 they have always 
said ,we must remove hence to  where    
,,you are least at home ,in the face of 
a world of modern ideas1  which would   
like to confine every one in a corner1  
in a specialty1 a  philosopher1 if there
 could be philosophers nowadays1 would  
be compelled  to place the greatness of 
man1 the conception of greatness1       
precisely  in his comprehensiveness and 
multifariousness1 in his all-roundness1 
he  would even determine worth and rank 
according to the amount and variety  of 

that which a man could bear and take    
upon himself1 according to the  ,,extent
 to which a man could stretch his       
responsibility ,nowadays the  taste and 
virtue of the age weaken and attenuate  
the will1 nothing is  so adapted to the 
spirit of the age as weakness of will   
consequently1 in  the ideal of the      
philosopher1 strength of will1          
sternness1 and capacity  for prolonged  
resolution1 must specially be included  
in the conception  of greatness1 with as
 good a right as the opposite doctrine1 
with its  ideal of a silly1 renouncing1 
humble1 selfless humanity1 was suited to
  an opposite age--such as the sixteenth
 century1 which suffered from its       
accumulated energy of will1 and from the
 wildest torrents and floods  of        
selfishness ,in the time of ,socrates1  
among men only of worn-out  instincts1  
old conservative ,athenians who let     
themselves go--for the  sake of         
happiness1 as they said1 for the sake of
 pleasure1 as their  conduct            

indicated--and who had continually on   
their lips the old pompous  words to    
which they had long forfeited the right 
by the life they led1  ,,irony was      
perhaps necessary for greatness of soul1
 the wicked ,socratic  assurance of the 
old physician and plebeian1 who cut     
ruthlessly into his  own flesh1 as into 
the flesh and heart of the noble1 with a
 look that  said plainly enough ,do not 
dissemble before me6 here--we are equal6
  ,at present1 on the contrary1 when    
throughout ,europe the herding-animal   
alone attains to honours1 and dispenses 
honours1 when equality of  right can too
 readily be transformed into equality in
 wrong--,i mean to  say into general war
 against everything rare1 strange1 and  
privileged1  against the higher man1 the
 higher soul1 the higher duty1 the      
higher  responsibility1 the creative    
plenipotence and lordliness--at present 
it belongs to the conception of         
greatness to be noble1 to wish to be    
apart1 to be capable of being different1

 to stand alone1 to have to live  by    
personal initiative1 and the philosopher
 will betray something of his  own ideal
 when he asserts ,he shall be the       
greatest who can be the most  solitary1 
the most concealed1 the most divergent1 
the man beyond good  and evil1 the      
master of his virtues1 and of           
super-abundance of will2  precisely this
 shall be called ,,greatness3 as        
diversified as can be  entire1 as ample 
as can be full4 ,and to ask once more   
the question3 ,is  greatness            
,,possible--nowadays8    #bac4 ,it is   
difficult to learn what a philosopher   
is1 because it cannot  be taught3 one   
must know it by experience--or one      
should have the  pride ,,not to know it4
 ,the fact that at present people all   
talk of things  of which they ,,cannot  
have any experience1 is true more       
especially  and unfortunately as        
concerns the philosopher and            
philosophical  matters3--the very few   
know them1 are permitted to know them1  

and  all popular ideas about them are   
false4 ,thus1 for instance1 the truly   
philosophical combination of a bold1    
exuberant spirituality which runs  at   
presto pace1 and a dialectic rigour and 
necessity which makes no  false step1 is
 unknown to most thinkers and scholars  
from their own  experience1 and         
therefore1 should any one speak of it in
 their  presence1 it is incredible to   
them4 ,they conceive of every necessity 
as  troublesome1 as a painful compulsory
 obedience and state of constraint2     
thinking itself is regarded by them as  
something slow and hesitating1  almost  
as a trouble1 and often enough as worthy
 of the ,,sweat of the  noble--but not  
at all as something easy and divine1    
closely related  to dancing and         
exuberance6 ,to think and to take a     
matter seriously1  arduously--that is   
one and the same thing to them2 such    
only has been  their                    
experience4--,artists have here perhaps 
a finer intuition2 they  who know only  

too well that precisely when they no    
longer do anything  arbitrarily1 and    
everything of necessity1 their feeling  
of freedom1  of subtlety1 of power1 of  
creatively fixing1 disposing1 and       
shaping1  reaches its climax--in short1 
that necessity and freedom of will are  
then the same thing with them4 ,there   
is1 in fine1 a gradation of rank  in    
psychical states1 to which the gradation
 of rank in the problems  corresponds2  
and the highest problems repel          
ruthlessly every one who  ventures too  
near them1 without being predestined for
 their solution  by the loftiness and   
power of his spirituality4 ,of what use 
is it for  nimble1 everyday intellects1 
or clumsy1 honest mechanics and         
empiricists  to press1 in their plebeian
 ambition1 close to such problems1 and  
as  it were into this holy of holies--as
 so often happens nowadays6 ,but  coarse
 feet must never tread upon such        
carpets3 this is provided for in  the   
primary law of things2 the doors remain 

closed to those intruders1  though they 
may dash and break their heads thereon4 
,people have always  to be born to a    
high station1 or1 more definitely1 they 
have to be ,,bred  for it3 a person has 
only a right to philosophy--taking the  
word in  its higher significance--in    
virtue of his descent2 the ancestors1   
the  blood1 decide here also4 ,many     
generations must have prepared the way  
for the coming of the philosopher2 each 
of his virtues must have been           
separately acquired1 nurtured1          
transmitted1 and embodied2 not only the 
bold1 easy1 delicate course and current 
of his thoughts1 but above all  the     
readiness for great responsibilities1   
the majesty of ruling glance  and       
contemning look1 the feeling of         
separation from the multitude with      
their duties and virtues1 the kindly    
patronage and defense of whatever  is   
misunderstood and calumniated1 be it    
,god or devil1 the delight and  practice
 of supreme justice1 the art of         

commanding1 the amplitude of  will1 the 
lingering eye which rarely admires1     
rarely looks up1 rarely  loves4444      
,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,our ,,virtues        
#bad4 ,,our ,virtues8--,it is probable  
that we1 too1 have still our virtues1   
although naturally they are not those   
sincere and massive virtues on  account 
of which we hold our grandfathers in    
esteem and also at a little  distance   
from us4 ,we ,europeans of the day after
 tomorrow1 we firstlings  of the        
twentieth century--with all our         
dangerous curiosity1 our                
multifariousness and art of disguising1 
our mellow and seemingly  sweetened     
cruelty in sense and spirit--we shall   
presumably1 ,,if we must  have virtues1 
have those only which have come to      
agreement with our most  secret and     
heartfelt inclinations1 with our most   
ardent requirements3  well1 then1 let us
 look for them in our                   
labyrinths6--where1 as we know1  so many
 things lose themselves1 so many things 

get quite lost6 ,and is  there anything 
finer than to ,,search for one's own    
virtues8 ,is it not  almost to ,,believe
 in one's own virtues8 ,but this        
believing in one's  own virtues--is it  
not practically the same as what was    
formerly called  one's good conscience1 
that long1 respectable pigtail of an    
idea1  which our grandfathers used to   
hang behind their heads1 and often      
enough  also behind their               
understandings8 ,it seems1 therefore1   
that however  little we may imagine     
ourselves to be old-fashioned and       
grandfatherly  respectable in other     
respects1 in one thing we are           
nevertheless the  worthy grandchildren  
of our grandfathers1 we last ,europeans 
with good  consciences3 we also still   
wear their pigtail4--,ah6 if you only   
knew how  soon1 so very soon--it will be
 different6    #bae4 ,as in the stellar 
firmament there are sometimes two suns  
which  determine the path of one planet1
 and in certain cases suns of different 

colours shine around a single planet1   
now with red light1 now with  green1 and
 then simultaneously illumine and flood 
it with motley  colours3 so we modern   
men1 owing to the complicated mechanism 
of our  firmament1 are determined by    
,,different moralities2 our actions     
shine  alternately in different colours1
 and are seldom unequivocal--and there  
are often cases1 also1 in which our     
actions are ,,motley-,,coloured4        
#baf4 ,to love one's enemies8 ,i think  
that has been well learnt3 it takes     
place thousands of times at present on a
 large and small scale2 indeed1  at     
times the higher and sublimer thing     
takes place3--we learn to ,,despise     
when we love1 and precisely when we love
 best2 all of it1 however1              
unconsciously1 without noise1 without   
ostentation1 with the shame and  secrecy
 of goodness1 which forbids the         
utterance of the pompous word  and the  
formula of virtue4 ,morality as         
attitude--is opposed to our taste       

nowadays4 ,this is ,,also an advance1 as
 it was an advance in our fathers  that 
religion as an attitude finally became  
opposed to their taste1  including the  
enmity and ,voltairean bitterness       
against religion 7and all  that formerly
 belonged to freethinker-pantomime74 ,it
 is the music in our  conscience1 the   
dance in our spirit1 to which ,puritan  
litanies1 moral  sermons1 and           
goody-goodness won't chime4    #bag4    
,let us be careful in dealing with those
 who attach great importance  to being  
credited with moral tact and subtlety in
 moral discernment6  ,they never forgive
 us if they have once made a mistake    
,,before us  7or even with ,,regard to  
us7--they inevitably become our         
instinctive  calumniators and           
detractors1 even when they still remain 
our  friends4--,blessed are the         
forgetful3 for they get the better even 
of  their blunders4    #bah4 ,the       
psychologists of ,france--and where else
 are there still  psychologists         

nowadays8--have never yet exhausted     
their bitter and  manifold enjoyment of 
the betise bourgeoise1 just as though444
 in  short1 they betray something       
thereby4 ,flaubert1 for instance1 the   
honest  citizen of ,rouen1 neither saw1 
heard1 nor tasted anything else in the  
end2 it was his mode of self-torment and
 refined cruelty4 ,as this is  growing  
wearisome1 ,i would now recommend for a 
change something else  for a            
pleasure--namely1 the unconscious       
astuteness with which good1 fat1  honest
 mediocrity always behaves towards      
loftier spirits and the tasks  they have
 to perform1 the subtle1 barbed1        
,jesuitical astuteness1 which  is a     
thousand times subtler than the taste   
and understanding of the  middle-class  
in its best moments--subtler even than  
the understanding of  its victims3--a   
repeated proof that instinct is the most
 intelligent  of all kinds of           
intelligence which have hitherto been   
discovered4 ,in  short1 you             

psychologists1 study the philosophy of  
the rule in its  struggle with the      
exception3 there you have a spectacle   
fit for ,gods  and godlike malignity6   
,or1 in plainer words1 practise         
vivisection on  good people1 on the homo
 bonae voluntatis1 ,,on ,,yourselves6   
#bai4 ,the practice of judging and      
condemning morally1 is the favourite    
revenge of the intellectually shallow on
 those who are less so1 it is  also a   
kind of indemnity for their being badly 
endowed by nature1  and finally1 it is  
an opportunity for acquiring spirit and 
,,becoming  subtle--malice              
spiritualises4 ,they are glad in their  
inmost heart that  there is a standard  
according to which those who are        
over-endowed with  intellectual goods   
and privileges1 are equal to them1 they 
contend for  the equality of all before 
,god1 and almost ,,need the belief in   
,god for  this purpose4 ,it is among    
them that the most powerful antagonists 
of  atheism are found4 ,if any one were 

to say to them ,a lofty spirituality  is
 beyond all comparison with the honesty 
and respectability of a merely  moral   
man--it would make them furious1 ,i     
shall take care not to say  so4 ,i would
 rather flatter them with my theory that
 lofty spirituality  itself exists only 
as the ultimate product of moral        
qualities1 that it  is a synthesis of   
all qualities attributed to the merely  
moral man1  after they have been        
acquired singly through long training   
and practice1  perhaps during a whole   
series of generations1 that lofty       
spirituality  is precisely the          
spiritualising of justice1 and the      
beneficent severity  which knows that it
 is authorized to maintain ,,gradations 
,,of ,,rank in the  world1 even among   
things--and not only among men4    #bbj4
 ,now that the praise of the            
disinterested person is so popular  one 
must--probably not without some         
danger--get an idea of ,,what people    
actually take an interest in1 and what  

are the things generally which          
fundamentally and profoundly concern    
ordinary men--including the  cultured1  
even the learned1 and perhaps           
philosophers also1 if  appearances do   
not deceive4 ,the fact thereby becomes  
obvious that the  greater part of what  
interests and charms higher natures1 and
 more  refined and fastidious tastes1   
seems absolutely uninteresting to  the  
average man--if1 notwithstanding1 he    
perceive devotion to these  interests1  
he calls it desinteresse1 and wonders   
how it is possible to  act              
disinterestedly4 ,there have been       
philosophers who could give this        
popular astonishment a seductive and    
mystical1 other-worldly expression      
7perhaps because they did not know the  
higher nature by experience871  instead 
of stating the naked and candidly       
reasonable truth that  disinterested    
action is very interesting and          
interested action1  provided that444    
,and love8--,what6 ,even an action for  

love's sake  shall be unegoistic8 ,but  
you fools--6 ,and the praise of the     
self-sacrificer8--,but whoever has      
really offered sacrifice knows that  he 
wanted and obtained something for       
it--perhaps something from himself  for 
something from himself2 that he         
relinquished here in order to have  more
 there1 perhaps in general to be more1  
or even feel himself more4  ,but this is
 a realm of questions and answers in    
which a more fastidious  spirit does not
 like to stay3 for here truth has to    
stifle her yawns so  much when she is   
obliged to answer4 ,and after all1 truth
 is a woman2 one  must not use force    
with her4    #bba4 ,it sometimes        
happens1 said a moralistic pedant and   
trifle-retailer1 that ,i honour and     
respect an unselfish man3 not1  however1
 because he is unselfish1 but because ,i
 think he has a right to  be useful to  
another man at his own expense4 ,in     
short1 the question  is always who ,,he 
is1 and who ,,the ,,other is4 ,for      

instance1 in a person  created and      
destined for command1 self-denial and   
modest retirement1  instead of being    
virtues1 would be the waste of virtues3 
so it seems  to me4 ,every system of    
unegoistic morality which takes itself  
unconditionally and appeals to every    
one1 not only sins against good  taste1 
but is also an incentive to sins of     
omission1 an ,,additional  seduction    
under the mask of philanthropy--and     
precisely a seduction and  injury to the
 higher1 rarer1 and more privileged     
types of men4 ,moral  systems must be   
compelled first of all to bow before the
 ,,gradations ,,of  ,,rank2 their       
presumption must be driven home to their
 conscience--until  they thoroughly     
understand at last that it is ,,immoral 
to say that 'what  is right for one is  
proper for another4'--,so said my       
moralistic pedant  and bonhomme4 ,did he
 perhaps deserve to be laughed at when  
he thus  exhorted systems of morals to  
practise morality8 ,but one should not  

be  too much in the right if one wishes 
to have the laughers on ,,one',s ,,own  
side2 a grain of wrong pertains even to 
good taste4    #bbb4 ,wherever sympathy 
7fellow-suffering7 is preached          
nowadays--and1  if ,i gather rightly1 no
 other religion is any longer           
preached--let the  psychologist have his
 ears open through all the vanity1      
through all the  noise which is natural 
to these preachers 7as to all           
preachers71 he will  hear a hoarse1     
groaning1 genuine note of               
,,self-,,contempt4 ,it belongs  to the  
overshadowing and uglifying of ,europe1 
which has been on  the increase for a   
century 7the first symptoms of which are
 already  specified documentarily in a  
thoughtful letter of ,galiani to ,madame
  d',epinay7--,,if ,,it ,,is ,,not      
,,really ,,the ,,cause ,,thereof6 ,the  
man of  modern ideas1 the conceited ape1
 is excessively dissatisfied with       
himself--this is perfectly certain4 ,he 
suffers1 and his vanity wants him  only 

to suffer with his fellows4    #bbc4    
,the hybrid ,european--a tolerably ugly 
plebeian1 taken all in  all--absolutely 
requires a costume3 he needs history as 
a storeroom  of costumes4 ,to be sure1  
he notices that none of the costumes fit
 him  properly--he changes and changes4 
,let us look at the nineteenth century  
with respect to these hasty preferences 
and changes in its masquerades  of      
style1 and also with respect to its     
moments of desperation on account  of   
nothing suiting us4 ,it is in vain to   
get ourselves up as romantic1  or       
classical1 or ,christian1 or            
,florentine1 or barocco1 or national1   
in moribus et artibus3 it does not      
clothe us6 ,but the spirit1  especially 
the historical spirit1 profits even by  
this desperation3  once and again a new 
sample of the past or of the foreign is 
tested1  put on1 taken off1 packed up1  
and above all studied--we are the first 
studious age in puncto of costumes1 ,i  
mean as concerns morals1  articles of   

belief1 artistic tastes1 and religions2 
we are prepared as  no other age has    
ever been for a carnival in the grand   
style1 for the  most spiritual          
festival--laughter and arrogance1 for   
the transcendental  height of supreme   
folly and ,aristophanic ridicule of the 
world4 ,perhaps  we are still           
discovering the domain of our invention 
just here1 the  domain where even we can
 still be original1 probably as         
parodists of  the world's history and as
 ,god's ,merry-,andrews1--perhaps1      
though nothing  else of the present have
 a future1 our laughter itself may have 
a  future6    #bbd4 ,the historical     
sense 7or the capacity for divining     
quickly  the order of rank of the       
valuations according to which a people1 
a  community1 or an individual has      
lived1 the divining instinct for the    
relationships of these valuations1 for  
the relation of the authority  of the   
valuations to the authority of the      
operating forces71--this  historical    

sense1 which we ,europeans claim as our 
specialty1 has come  to us in the train 
of the enchanting and mad semi-barbarity
 into which  ,europe has been plunged by
 the democratic mingling of classes and 
races--it is only the nineteenth century
 that has recognized this  faculty as   
its sixth sense4 ,owing to this         
mingling1 the past of every  form and   
mode of life1 and of cultures which were
 formerly closely  contiguous and       
superimposed on one another1 flows forth
 into us modern  souls2 our instincts   
now run back in all directions1 we      
ourselves are  a kind of chaos3 in the  
end1 as we have said1 the spirit        
perceives its  advantage therein4 ,by   
means of our semi-barbarity in body and 
in desire1  we have secret access       
everywhere1 such as a noble age never   
had2 we have  access above all to the   
labyrinth of imperfect civilizations1   
and to  every form of semi-barbarity    
that has at any time existed on earth2  
and  in so far as the most considerable 

part of human civilization hitherto  has
 just been semi-barbarity1 the          
historical sense implies almost the     
sense and instinct for everything1 the  
taste and tongue for everything3        
whereby it immediately proves itself to 
be an ,,ignoble sense4 ,for  instance1  
we enjoy ,homer once more3 it is perhaps
 our happiest  acquisition that we know 
how to appreciate ,homer1 whom men of   
distinguished culture 7as the ,french of
 the seventeenth century1 like          
,saint-,evremond1 who reproached him for
 his ,,esprit ,,vaste1 and even         
,voltaire1 the last echo of the century7
 cannot and could not so easily         
appropriate--whom they scarcely         
permitted themselves to enjoy4 ,the very
  decided ,yea and ,nay of their palate1
 their promptly ready disgust1 their    
hesitating reluctance with regard to    
everything strange1 their horror of  the
 bad taste even of lively curiosity1 and
 in general the averseness of  every    
distinguished and self-sufficing culture

 to avow a new desire1  a               
dissatisfaction with its own condition1 
or an admiration of what is  strange3   
all this determines and disposes them   
unfavourably even towards  the best     
things of the world which are not their 
property or could not  become their     
prey--and no faculty is more            
unintelligible to such men  than just   
this historical sense1 with its         
truckling1 plebeian  curiosity4 ,the    
case is not different with ,shakespeare1
 that marvelous                         
,spanish-,moorish-,saxon synthesis of   
taste1 over whom an ancient ,athenian   
of the circle of ,a,eschylus would have 
half-killed himself with laughter  or   
irritation3 but we--accept precisely    
this wild motleyness1 this  medley of   
the most delicate1 the most coarse1 and 
the most artificial1  with a secret     
confidence and cordiality2 we enjoy it  
as a refinement  of art reserved        
expressly for us1 and allow ourselves to
 be as little  disturbed by the         

repulsive fumes and the proximity of the
 ,english  populace in which            
,shakespeare's art and taste lives1 as  
perhaps on  the ,chiaja of ,naples1     
where1 with all our senses awake1 we go 
our way1  enchanted and voluntarily1 in 
spite of the drain-odour of the lower   
quarters of the town4 ,that as men of   
the historical sense we have  our       
virtues1 is not to be disputed3--we are 
unpretentious1 unselfish1  modest1      
brave1 habituated to self-control and   
self-renunciation1 very  grateful1 very 
patient1 very complaisant--but with all 
this we are  perhaps not very tasteful4 
,let us finally confess it1 that what is
  most difficult for us men of the      
historical sense to grasp1 feel1  taste1
 and love1 what finds us fundamentally  
prejudiced and almost  hostile1 is      
precisely the perfection and ultimate   
maturity in every  culture and art1 the 
essentially noble in works and men1     
their moment  of smooth sea and halcyon 
self-sufficiency1 the goldenness and    

coldness  which all things show that    
have perfected themselves4 ,perhaps our 
great  virtue of the historical sense is
 in necessary contrast to ,,good taste1 
at least to the very bad taste2 and we  
can only evoke in ourselves             
imperfectly1 hesitatingly1 and with     
compulsion the small1 short1 and  happy 
godsends and glorifications of human    
life as they shine here and  there3     
those moments and marvelous experiences 
when a great power has  voluntarily come
 to a halt before the boundless and     
infinite1--when a  super-abundance of   
refined delight has been enjoyed by a   
sudden checking  and petrifying1 by     
standing firmly and planting oneself    
fixedly on still  trembling ground4     
,,proportionateness is strange to us1   
let us confess it  to ourselves2 our    
itching is really the itching for the   
infinite1 the  immeasurable4 ,like the  
rider on his forward panting horse1 we  
let the  reins fall before the infinite1
 we modern men1 we semi-barbarians--and 

are only in ,,our highest bliss when    
we--,,are ,,in ,,most ,,danger4    #bbe4
 ,whether it be hedonism1 pessimism1    
utilitarianism1 or eudaemonism1  all    
those modes of thinking which measure   
the worth of things according  to       
,,pleasure and ,,pain1 that is1         
according to accompanying circumstances 
and secondary considerations1 are       
plausible modes of thought and          
naivetes1 which every one conscious of  
,,creative powers and an artist's       
conscience will look down upon with     
scorn1 though not without sympathy4     
,sympathy for you6--to be sure1 that is 
not sympathy as you understand  it3 it  
is not sympathy for social distress1 for
 society with its  sick and misfortuned1
 for the hereditarily vicious and       
defective who lie  on the ground around 
us2 still less is it sympathy for the   
grumbling1  vexed1 revolutionary        
slave-classes who strive after          
power--they call it  freedom4 ,,our     
sympathy is a loftier and               

further-sighted sympathy3--we  see how  
,,man dwarfs himself1 how ,,you dwarf   
him6 and there are moments  when we view
 ,,your sympathy with an indescribable  
anguish1 when we resist  it1--when we   
regard your seriousness as more         
dangerous than any kind  of levity4 ,you
 want1 if possible--and there is not a  
more foolish if  possible--,,to ,,do    
,,away ,,with ,,suffering2 and we8--it  
really seems that ,,we  would rather    
have it increased and made worse than it
 has ever been6  ,well-being1 as you    
understand it--is certainly not a goal2 
it seems  to us an ,,end2 a condition   
which at once renders man ludicrous and 
contemptible--and makes his destruction 
,,desirable6 ,the discipline  of        
suffering1 of ,,great suffering--know ye
 not that it is only ,,this  discipline 
that has produced all the elevations of 
humanity hitherto8  ,the tension of soul
 in misfortune which communicates to it 
its energy1  its shuddering in view of  
rack and ruin1 its inventiveness and    

bravery  in undergoing1 enduring1       
interpreting1 and exploiting misfortune1
 and  whatever depth1 mystery1 disguise1
 spirit1 artifice1 or greatness has     
been bestowed upon the soul--has it not 
been bestowed through suffering1        
through the discipline of great         
suffering8 ,in man ,,creature and       
,,creator  are united3 in man there is  
not only matter1 shred1 excess1 clay1   
mire1  folly1 chaos2 but there is also  
the creator1 the sculptor1 the hardness 
of the hammer1 the divinity of the      
spectator1 and the seventh day--do  ye  
understand this contrast8 ,and that     
,,your sympathy for the creature  in man
 applies to that which has to be        
fashioned1 bruised1 forged1  stretched1 
roasted1 annealed1 refined--to that     
which must necessarily  ,,suffer1 and   
,,is ,,meant to suffer8 ,and our        
sympathy--do ye not understand  what our
 ,,reverse sympathy applies to1 when it 
resists your sympathy as  the worst of  
all pampering and enervation8--,so it is

 sympathy ,,against  sympathy6--,but to 
repeat it once more1 there are higher   
problems than  the problems of pleasure 
and pain and sympathy2 and all systems  
of  philosophy which deal only with     
these are naivetes4    #bbf4 ,,we       
,,immoralists4--,this world with which  
,,we are concerned1 in which  we have to
 fear and love1 this almost invisible1  
inaudible world of  delicate command and
 delicate obedience1 a world of almost  
in every  respect1 captious1 insidious1 
sharp1 and tender--yes1 it is well      
protected from clumsy spectators and    
familiar curiosity6 ,we are  woven into 
a strong net and garment of duties1 and 
,,cannot disengage  ourselves--precisely
 here1 we are men of duty1 even we6     
,occasionally1  it is true1 we dance in 
our chains and betwixt our swords2 it   
is none the less true that more often we
 gnash our teeth under the              
circumstances1 and are impatient at the 
secret hardship of our lot4 ,but  do    
what we will1 fools and appearances say 

of us3 ,these are men ,,without         
duty1--we have always fools and         
appearances against us6    #bbg4        
,honesty1 granting that it is the virtue
 of which we cannot rid  ourselves1 we  
free spirits--well1 we will labour at it
 with all our  perversity and love1 and 
not tire of perfecting ourselves in     
,,our  virtue1 which alone remains3 may 
its glance some day overspread like  a  
gilded1 blue1 mocking twilight this     
aging civilization with its dull  gloomy
 seriousness6 ,and if1 nevertheless1 our
 honesty should one day  grow weary1 and
 sigh1 and stretch its limbs1 and find  
us too hard1 and  would fain have it    
pleasanter1 easier1 and gentler1 like an
 agreeable  vice1 let us remain ,,hard1 
we latest ,stoics1 and let us send to   
its  help whatever devilry we have in   
us3--our disgust at the clumsy  and     
undefined1 our ,,nitimur ,,in ,,vetitum1
 our love of adventure1  our sharpened  
and fastidious curiosity1 our most      
subtle1 disguised1  intellectual ,will  

to ,power and universal conquest1 which 
rambles and  roves avidiously around all
 the realms of the future--let us go    
with all  our devils to the help of our 
,god6 ,it is probable that people will  
misunderstand and mistake us on that    
account3 what does it matter6 ,they     
will say3 ,their 'honesty'--that is     
their devilry1 and nothing else6  ,what 
does it matter6 ,and even if they were  
right--have not all ,gods  hitherto been
 such sanctified1 re-baptized devils8   
,and after all1 what  do we know of     
ourselves8 ,and what the spirit that    
leads us wants ,,to ,,be  ,,called8 7,it
 is a question of names47 ,and how many 
spirits we harbour8  ,our honesty1 we   
free spirits--let us be careful lest it 
become our  vanity1 our ornament and    
ostentation1 our limitation1 our        
stupidity6  ,every virtue inclines to   
stupidity1 every stupidity to virtue2   
stupid  to the point of sanctity1 they  
say in ,russia1--let us be careful lest 
out of pure honesty we eventually become

 saints and bores6 ,is not life  a      
hundred times too short for us--to bore 
ourselves8 ,one would have to  believe  
in eternal life in order to444    #bbh4 
,i hope to be forgiven for discovering  
that all moral philosophy  hitherto has 
been tedious and has belonged to the    
soporific  appliances--and that virtue1 
in my opinion1 has been ,,more injured  
by the ,,tediousness of its advocates   
than by anything else2 at the same      
time1 however1 ,i would not wish to     
overlook their general usefulness4 ,it  
is desirable that as few people as      
possible should reflect upon morals1    
and consequently it is very desirable   
that morals should not some day  become 
interesting6 ,but let us not be afraid6 
,things still remain today  as they have
 always been3 ,i see no one in ,europe  
who has 7or ,,discloses7  an idea of the
 fact that philosophizing concerning    
morals might be  conducted in a         
dangerous1 captious1 and ensnaring      
manner--that ,,calamity  might be       

involved therein4 ,observe1 for example1
 the indefatigable1  inevitable ,english
 utilitarians3 how ponderously and      
respectably they  stalk on1 stalk along 
7a ,homeric metaphor expresses it       
better7 in the  footsteps of ,bentham1  
just as he had already stalked in the   
footsteps of  the respectable           
,helvetius6 7no1 he was not a dangerous 
man1 ,helvetius1  ,,ce ,,senateur       
,,pococurante1 to use an expression of  
,galiani74 ,no new  thought1 nothing of 
the nature of a finer turning or better 
expression  of an old thought1 not even 
a proper history of what has been       
previously  thought on the subject3 an  
,,impossible literature1 taking it all  
in all1  unless one knows how to leaven 
it with some mischief4 ,in effect1 the  
old ,english vice called ,,cant1 which  
is ,,moral ,,tartuffism1 has insinuated 
itself also into these moralists 7whom  
one must certainly read with an  eye to 
their motives if one ,,must read them71 
concealed this time under  the new form 

of the scientific spirit2 moreover1     
there is not absent  from them a secret 
struggle with the pangs of conscience1  
from which a  race of former ,puritans  
must naturally suffer1 in all their     
scientific  tinkering with morals4 7,is 
not a moralist the opposite of a        
,puritan8  ,that is to say1 as a thinker
 who regards morality as questionable1  
as worthy of interrogation1 in short1 as
 a problem8 ,is moralizing              
not-immoral87 ,in the end1 they all want
 ,english morality to be  recognized as 
authoritative1 inasmuch as mankind1 or  
the general  utility1 or the happiness  
of the greatest number1--no6 the        
happiness  of ,,england1 will be best   
served thereby4 ,they would like1 by all
 means1  to convince themselves that the
 striving after ,english happiness1 ,i  
mean after ,,comfort and ,,fashion 7and 
in the highest instance1 a seat in      
,parliament71 is at the same time the   
true path of virtue2 in fact1 that  in  
so far as there has been virtue in the  

world hitherto1 it has  just consisted  
in such striving4 ,not one of those     
ponderous1  conscience-stricken         
herding-animals 7who undertake to       
advocate the  cause of egoism as        
conducive to the general welfare7 wants 
to have  any knowledge or inkling of the
 facts that the general welfare is  no  
ideal1 no goal1 no notion that can be at
 all grasped1 but is only a             
nostrum1--that what is fair to one ,,may
 ,,not at all be fair to another1  that 
the requirement of one morality for all 
is really a detriment to  higher men1 in
 short1 that there is a ,,distinction   
,,of ,,rank between man  and man1 and   
consequently between morality and       
morality4 ,they are an  unassuming and  
fundamentally mediocre species of men1  
these utilitarian  ,englishmen1 and1 as 
already remarked1 in so far as they are 
tedious1 one  cannot think highly enough
 of their utility4 ,one ought even to   
,,encourage  them1 as has been partially
 attempted in the following rhymes3--   

,hail1 ye worthies1 barrow-wheeling1    
,longer--better1 aye revealing1         
,stiffer aye in head and knee2          
,unenraptured1 never jesting1           
,mediocre everlasting1        ,,sans    
,,genie ,,et ,,sans ,,esprit6      #bbi4
 ,in these later ages1 which may be     
proud of their humanity1 there  still   
remains so much fear1 so much           
,,superstition of the fear1 of the      
cruel wild beast1 the mastering of which
 constitutes the very pride of  these   
humaner ages--that even obvious truths1 
as if by the agreement  of centuries1   
have long remained unuttered1 because   
they have the  appearance of helping the
 finally slain wild beast back to life  
again4  ,i perhaps risk something when  
,i allow such a truth to escape2 let    
others capture it again and give it so  
much milk of pious sentiment            
,,footnote3 ,an expression from         
,schiller's ,william ,tell1 ,act ,,iv1  
,scene  #c4 to drink1 that it will lie  
down quiet and forgotten1 in its old    

corner4--,one ought to learn anew about 
cruelty1 and open one's eyes2  one ought
 at last to learn impatience1 in order  
that such immodest  gross errors--as1   
for instance1 have been fostered by     
ancient and  modern philosophers with   
regard to tragedy--may no longer wander 
about  virtuously and boldly4 ,almost   
everything that we call higher culture  
is based upon the spiritualising and    
intensifying of ,,cruelty--this is  my  
thesis2 the wild beast has not been     
slain at all1 it lives1 it  flourishes1 
it has only been--transfigured4 ,that   
which constitutes the  painful delight  
of tragedy is cruelty2 that which       
operates agreeably in  so-called tragic 
sympathy1 and at the basis even of      
everything sublime1  up to the highest  
and most delicate thrills of            
metaphysics1 obtains its  sweetness     
solely from the intermingled ingredient 
of cruelty4 ,what the  ,roman enjoys in 
the arena1 the ,christian in the        
ecstasies of the cross1  the ,spaniard  

at the sight of the faggot and stake1 or
 of the bull-fight1  the present-day    
,japanese who presses his way to the    
tragedy1 the workman  of the ,parisian  
suburbs who has a homesickness for      
bloody revolutions1  the ,wagnerienne   
who1 with unhinged will1 undergoes the  
performance of  ,tristan and            
,isolde--what all these enjoy1 and      
strive with mysterious  ardour to drink 
in1 is the philtre of the great ,circe  
cruelty4 ,here1  to be sure1 we must put
 aside entirely the blundering          
psychology of  former times1 which could
 only teach with regard to cruelty that 
it originated at the sight of the       
suffering of ,,others3 there is an      
abundant1 super-abundant enjoyment even 
in one's own suffering1 in  causing     
one's own suffering--and wherever man   
has allowed himself to be  persuaded to 
self-denial in the ,,religious sense1 or
 to self-mutilation1  as among the      
,phoenicians and ascetics1 or in        
general1 to  desensualisation1          

decarnalisation1 and contrition1 to     
,puritanical  repentance-spasms1 to     
vivisection of conscience and to        
,pascal-like  ,,sacrifizia ,,dell'      
,,intelleto1 he is secretly allured and 
impelled  forwards by his cruelty1 by   
the dangerous thrill of cruelty         
,,towards  ,,himself4--,finally1 let us 
consider that even the seeker of        
knowledge  operates as an artist and    
glorifier of cruelty1 in that he compels
 his  spirit to perceive ,,against its  
own inclination1 and often enough       
against  the wishes of his heart3--he   
forces it to say ,nay1 where he would   
like  to affirm1 love1 and adore2       
indeed1 every instance of taking a thing
  profoundly and fundamentally1 is a    
violation1 an intentional injuring  of  
the fundamental will of the spirit1     
which instinctively aims at  appearance 
and superficiality1--even in every      
desire for knowledge there  is a drop of
 cruelty4    #bcj4 ,perhaps what ,i have
 said here about a fundamental will of  

the  spirit may not be understood       
without further details2 ,i may be      
allowed  a word of explanation4--,that  
imperious something which is popularly  
called the spirit1 wishes to be master  
internally and externally1  and to feel 
itself master2 it has the will of a     
multiplicity for a  simplicity1 a       
binding1 taming1 imperious1 and         
essentially ruling will4  ,its          
requirements and capacities here1 are   
the same as those assigned by           
physiologists to everything that lives1 
grows1 and multiplies4 ,the power  of   
the spirit to appropriate foreign       
elements reveals itself in a strong     
tendency to assimilate the new to the   
old1 to simplify the manifold1  to      
overlook or repudiate the absolutely    
contradictory2 just as it  arbitrarily  
re-underlines1 makes prominent1 and     
falsifies for itself  certain traits and
 lines in the foreign elements1 in every
 portion of  the outside world4 ,its    
object thereby is the incorporation of  

new  experiences1 the assortment of new 
things in the old arrangements--in      
short1 growth2 or more properly1 the    
,,feeling of growth1 the feeling of     
increased power--is its object4 ,this   
same will has at its service an         
apparently opposed impulse of the       
spirit1 a suddenly adopted preference   
of ignorance1 of arbitrary shutting out1
 a closing of windows1 an inner  denial 
of this or that1 a prohibition to       
approach1 a sort of defensive  attitude 
against much that is knowable1 a        
contentment with obscurity1  with the   
shutting-in horizon1 an acceptance and  
approval of ignorance3  as that which is
 all necessary according to the degree  
of its  appropriating power1 its        
digestive power1 to speak figuratively  
7and  in fact the spirit resembles a    
stomach more than anything else74 ,here 
also belong an occasional propensity of 
the spirit to let itself be  deceived   
7perhaps with a waggish suspicion that  
it is ,,not so and so1  but is only     

allowed to pass as such71 a delight in  
uncertainty and  ambiguity1 an exulting 
enjoyment of arbitrary1 out-of-the-way  
narrowness  and mystery1 of the         
too-near1 of the foreground1 of the     
magnified1  the diminished1 the         
misshapen1 the beautified--an enjoyment 
of the  arbitrariness of all these      
manifestations of power4 ,finally1 in   
this  connection1 there is the not      
unscrupulous readiness of the spirit to 
deceive other spirits and dissemble     
before them--the constant pressing  and 
straining of a creating1 shaping1       
changeable power3 the spirit  enjoys    
therein its craftiness and its variety  
of disguises1 it enjoys  also its       
feeling of security therein--it is      
precisely by its ,protean  arts that it 
is best protected and                   
concealed6--,,counter ,,to this         
propensity for appearance1 for          
simplification1 for a disguise1 for a   
cloak1 in short1 for an outside--for    
every outside is a cloak--there         

operates the sublime tendency of the man
 of knowledge1 which takes1 and         
,,insists on taking things profoundly1  
variously1 and thoroughly2 as a  kind of
 cruelty of the intellectual conscience 
and taste1 which every  courageous      
thinker will acknowledge in himself1    
provided1 as it ought  to be1 that he   
has sharpened and hardened his eye      
sufficiently long for  introspection1   
and is accustomed to severe discipline  
and even severe  words4 ,he will say3   
,there is something cruel in the        
tendency of my  spirit3 let the virtuous
 and amiable try to convince him that it
 is not  so6 ,in fact1 it would sound   
nicer1 if1 instead of our cruelty1      
perhaps  our extravagant honesty were   
talked about1 whispered about1 and      
glorified--we free1 ,,very free         
spirits--and some day perhaps ,,such    
will  actually be our--posthumous glory6
 ,meanwhile--for there is plenty of     
time until then--we should be least     
inclined to deck ourselves out in  such 

florid and fringed moral verbiage2 our  
whole former work has  just made us sick
 of this taste and its sprightly        
exuberance4 ,they are  beautiful1       
glistening1 jingling1 festive words3    
honesty1 love of truth1  love of wisdom1
 sacrifice for knowledge1 heroism of the
 truthful--there  is something in them  
that makes one's heart swell with pride4
 ,but we  anchorites and marmots have   
long ago persuaded ourselves in all the 
secrecy of an anchorite's conscience1   
that this worthy parade of  verbiage    
also belongs to the old false adornment1
 frippery1 and  gold-dust of unconscious
 human vanity1 and that even under such 
flattering colour and repainting1 the   
terrible original text ,,homo ,,natura  
must again be recognized4 ,in effect1 to
 translate man back again into  nature2 
to master the many vain and visionary   
interpretations and  subordinate        
meanings which have hitherto been       
scratched and daubed over  the eternal  
original text1 ,,homo ,,natura2 to bring

 it about that man shall  henceforth    
stand before man as he now1 hardened by 
the discipline  of science1 stands      
before the ,,other forms of nature1 with
 fearless  ,oedipus-eyes1 and stopped   
,ulysses-ears1 deaf to the enticements  
of old  metaphysical bird-catchers1 who 
have piped to him far too long3 ,thou   
art more6 thou art higher6 thou hast a  
different origin6--this may be  a       
strange and foolish task1 but that it is
 a ,,task1 who can deny6 ,why did  we   
choose it1 this foolish task8 ,or1 to   
put the question differently3  ,why     
knowledge at all8 ,every one will ask us
 about this4 ,and thus  pressed1 we1 who
 have asked ourselves the question a    
hundred times1 have  not found and      
cannot find any better answer4444       
#bca4 ,learning alters us1 it does what 
all nourishment does that does not      
merely conserve--as the physiologist    
knows4 ,but at the bottom of our  souls1
 quite down below1 there is certainly   
something unteachable1  a granite of    

spiritual fate1 of predetermined        
decision and answer to  predetermined1  
chosen questions4 ,in each cardinal     
problem there speaks  an unchangeable ,i
 am this2 a thinker cannot learn anew   
about man and  woman1 for instance1 but 
can only learn fully--he can only follow
 to the  end what is fixed about them in
 himself4 ,occasionally we find certain 
solutions of problems which make strong 
beliefs for us2 perhaps they  are       
henceforth called convictions4 ,later   
on--one sees in them only  footsteps to 
self-knowledge1 guide-posts to the      
problem which we  ourselves ,,are--or   
more correctly to the great stupidity   
which we embody1  our spiritual fate1   
the ,,unteachable in us1 quite down     
below4--,in view  of this liberal       
compliment which ,i have just paid      
myself1 permission  will perhaps be more
 readily allowed me to utter some truths
 about  woman as she is1 provided that  
it is known at the outset how literally 
they are merely--,,my truths4    #bcb4  

,woman wishes to be independent1 and    
therefore she begins to  enlighten men  
about woman as she is--,,this is one of 
the worst  developments of the general  
,,uglifying of ,europe4 ,for what must  
these  clumsy attempts of feminine      
scientificality and self-exposure bring 
to light6 ,woman has so much cause for  
shame2 in woman there is so  much       
pedantry1 superficiality1               
schoolmasterliness1 petty presumption1  
unbridledness1 and indiscretion         
concealed--study only woman's behaviour 
towards children6--which has really been
 best restrained and dominated  hitherto
 by the ,,fear of man4 ,alas1 if ever   
the eternally tedious in  woman--she has
 plenty of it6--is allowed to venture   
forth6 if she  begins radically and on  
principle to unlearn her wisdom and     
art-of  charming1 of playing1 of        
frightening away sorrow1 of alleviating 
and  taking easily2 if she forgets her  
delicate aptitude for agreeable         
desires6 ,female voices are already     

raised1 which1 by ,saint ,aristophanes6 
make one afraid3--with medical          
explicitness it is stated in a          
threatening manner what woman first and 
last ,,requires from man4 ,is  it not in
 the very worst taste that woman thus   
sets herself up to be  scientific8      
,enlightenment hitherto has fortunately 
been men's affair1  men's gift--we      
remained therewith among ourselves2 and 
in the end1  in view of all that women  
write about woman1 we may well have     
considerable doubt as to whether woman  
really ,,desires enlightenment  about   
herself--and ,,can desire it4 ,if woman 
does not thereby seek a new  ,,ornament 
for herself--,i believe ornamentation   
belongs to the eternally                
feminine8--why1 then1 she wishes to make
 herself feared3 perhaps she  thereby   
wishes to get the mastery4 ,but she does
 not want truth--what  does woman care  
for truth8 ,from the very first1 nothing
 is more foreign1  more repugnant1 or   
more hostile to woman than truth--her   

great art is  falsehood1 her chief      
concern is appearance and beauty4 ,let  
us confess  it1 we men3 we honour and   
love this very art and this very        
instinct in  woman3 we who have the hard
 task1 and for our recreation gladly    
seek the  company of beings under whose 
hands1 glances1 and delicate follies1   
our  seriousness1 our gravity1 and      
profundity appear almost like follies to
  us4 ,finally1 ,i ask the question3    
,did a woman herself ever acknowledge   
profundity in a woman's mind1 or justice
 in a woman's heart8 ,and is it  not    
true that on the whole woman has        
hitherto been most despised by  woman   
herself1 and not at all by us8--,we men 
desire that woman should  not continue  
to compromise herself by enlightening   
us2 just as it was  man's care and the  
consideration for woman1 when the church
 decreed3  mulier taceat in ecclesia4   
,it was to the benefit of woman when    
,napoleon  gave the too eloquent ,madame
 de ,stael to understand3 mulier taceat 

in  politicis6--and in my opinion1 he is
 a true friend of woman who calls  out  
to women today3 mulier taceat de        
mulierel4    #bcc4 ,it betrays          
corruption of the instincts--apart from 
the fact that  it betrays bad           
taste--when a woman refers to ,madame   
,roland1 or ,madame de  ,stael1 or      
,monsieur ,george ,sand1 as though      
something were proved thereby  in favour
 of woman as she is4 ,among men1 these  
are the three comical  women as they    
are--nothing more6--and just the best   
involuntary  counter-arguments against  
feminine emancipation and autonomy4     
#bcd4 ,stupidity in the kitchen2 woman  
as cook2 the terrible  thoughtlessness  
with which the feeding of the family and
 the master of  the house is managed6   
,woman does not understand what food    
means1 and she  insists on being cook6  
,if woman had been a thinking creature1 
she should  certainly1 as cook for      
thousands of years1 have discovered the 
most  important physiological facts1 and

 should likewise have got possession  of
 the healing art6 ,through bad female   
cooks--through the entire lack  of      
reason in the kitchen--the development  
of mankind has been longest  retarded   
and most interfered with3 even today    
matters are very little  better4 ,a word
 to ,high ,school girls4    #bce4 ,there
 are turns and casts of fancy1 there are
 sentences1 little  handfuls of words1  
in which a whole culture1 a whole       
society suddenly  crystallises itself4  
,among these is the incidental remark of
 ,madame de  ,lambert to her son3 ,,mon 
,,ami1 ,,ne ,,vous ,,permettez ,,jamais 
,,que ,,des ,,folies1  ,,qui ,,vous     
,,feront ,,grand ,,plaisir--the         
motherliest and wisest remark1 by  the  
way1 that was ever addressed to a son4  
#bcf4 ,i have no doubt that every noble 
woman will oppose what ,dante and       
,goethe believed about woman--the former
 when he sang1 ,,ella ,,guardava        
,,suso1 ,,ed ,,io ,,in ,,lei1 and the   
latter when he interpreted it1 the      

eternally feminine draws us ,,aloft2 for
 ,,this is just what she believes  of   
the eternally masculine4    #bcg4       
,,seven ,,apophthegms ,,for ,,women     
,how the longest ennui flees1 ,when a   
man comes to our knees6    ,age1 alas6  
and science staid1 ,furnish even weak   
virtue aid4    ,sombre garb and silence 
meet3 ,dress for every dame--discreet4  
,whom ,i thank when in my bliss8        
,god6--and my good tailoress6    ,young1
 a flower-decked cavern home2 ,old1 a   
dragon thence doth roam4    ,noble      
title1 leg that's fine1 ,man as well3   
,oh1 were ,,he mine6    ,speech in brief
 and sense in mass--,slippery for the   
jenny-ass6    #bcg;,a4 ,woman has       
hitherto been treated by men like birds1
 which1 losing  their way1 have come    
down among them from an elevation3 as   
something  delicate1 fragile1 wild1     
strange1 sweet1 and animating--but as   
something  also which must be cooped up 
to prevent it flying away4    #bch4 ,to 
be mistaken in the fundamental problem  

of man and woman1 to  deny here the     
profoundest antagonism and the necessity
 for an eternally  hostile tension1 to  
dream here perhaps of equal rights1     
equal  training1 equal claims and       
obligations3 that is a ,,typical sign of
  shallow-mindedness2 and a thinker who 
has proved himself shallow at  this     
dangerous spot--shallow in              
instinct6--may generally be regarded as 
suspicious1 nay more1 as betrayed1 as   
discovered2 he will probably prove  too 
short for all fundamental questions of  
life1 future as well as  present1 and   
will be unable to descend into ,,any of 
the depths4 ,on the  other hand1 a man  
who has depth of spirit as well as of   
desires1 and  has also the depth of     
benevolence which is capable of severity
 and  harshness1 and easily confounded  
with them1 can only think of woman as   
,,orientals do3 he must conceive of her 
as a possession1 as confinable          
property1 as a being predestined for    
service and accomplishing her  mission  

therein--he must take his stand in this 
matter upon the immense  rationality of 
,asia1 upon the superiority of the      
instinct of ,asia1 as  the ,greeks did  
formerly2 those best heirs and scholars 
of ,asia--who1  as is well known1 with  
their ,,increasing culture and amplitude
 of power1  from ,homer to the time of  
,pericles1 became gradually ,,stricter  
towards  woman1 in short1 more          
,oriental4 ,,how necessary1 ,,how       
logical1 even ,,how  humanely desirable 
this was1 let us consider for ourselves6
    #bci4 ,the weaker sex has in no     
previous age been treated with so  much 
respect by men as at present--this      
belongs to the tendency and  fundamental
 taste of democracy1 in the same way as 
disrespectfulness to  old age--what     
wonder is it that abuse should be       
immediately made of  this respect8 ,they
 want more1 they learn to make claims1  
the tribute  of respect is at last felt 
to be well-nigh galling2 rivalry for    
rights1  indeed actual strife itself1   

would be preferred3 in a word1 woman is 
losing modesty4 ,and let us immediately 
add that she is also losing  taste4 ,she
 is unlearning to ,,fear man3 but the   
woman who unlearns to  fear sacrifices  
her most womanly instincts4 ,that woman 
should venture  forward when the        
fear-inspiring quality in man--or more  
definitely1  the ,,man in man--is no    
longer either desired or fully          
developed1 is  reasonable enough and    
also intelligible enough2 what is more  
difficult  to understand is that        
precisely thereby--woman deteriorates4  
,this is  what is happening nowadays3   
let us not deceive ourselves about it6  
,wherever the industrial spirit has     
triumphed over the military  and        
aristocratic spirit1 woman strives for  
the economic and legal  independence of 
a clerk3 woman as clerkess is inscribed 
on the portal  of the modern society    
which is in course of formation4 ,while 
she  thus appropriates new rights1      
aspires to be master1 and inscribes     

progress of woman on her flags and      
banners1 the very opposite realises     
itself with terrible obviousness3       
,,woman ,,retrogrades4 ,since the       
,french  ,revolution the influence of   
woman in ,europe has ,,declined in      
proportion  as she has increased her    
rights and claims2 and the emancipation 
of  woman1 insofar as it is desired and 
demanded by women themselves 7and  not  
only by masculine shallow-pates71 thus  
proves to be a remarkable  symptom of   
the increased weakening and deadening of
 the most womanly  instincts4 ,there is 
,,stupidity in this movement1 an almost 
masculine  stupidity1 of which a        
well-reared woman--who is always a      
sensible  woman--might be heartily      
ashamed4 ,to lose the intuition as to   
the ground  upon which she can most     
surely achieve victory2 to neglect      
exercise in  the use of her proper      
weapons2 to let-herself-go before man1  
perhaps  even to the book1 where        
formerly she kept herself in control and

 in  refined1 artful humility2 to       
neutralize with her virtuous audacity   
man's  faith in a ,,veiled1             
fundamentally different ideal in woman1 
something  eternally1 necessarily       
feminine2 to emphatically and           
loquaciously  dissuade man from the idea
 that woman must be preserved1 cared    
for1  protected1 and indulged1 like some
 delicate1 strangely wild1 and  often   
pleasant domestic animal2 the clumsy and
 indignant collection of  everything of 
the nature of servitude and bondage     
which the position of  woman in the     
hitherto existing order of society has  
entailed and still  entails 7as though  
slavery were a counter-argument1 and not
 rather a  condition of every higher    
culture1 of every elevation of          
culture73--what  does all this betoken1 
if not a disintegration of womanly      
instincts1  a defeminising8 ,certainly1 
there are enough of idiotic friends and 
corrupters of woman among the learned   
asses of the masculine sex1 who  advise 

woman to defeminize herself in this     
manner1 and to imitate  all the         
stupidities from which man in ,europe1  
,european manliness1  suffers1--who     
would like to lower woman to general    
culture1 indeed  even to newspaper      
reading and meddling with politics4     
,here and there  they wish even to make 
women into free spirits and literary    
workers3 as  though a woman without     
piety would not be something perfectly  
obnoxious  or ludicrous to a profound   
and godless man2--almost everywhere her 
nerves are being ruined by the most     
morbid and dangerous kind of music  7our
 latest ,german music71 and she is daily
 being made more hysterical  and more   
incapable of fulfilling her first and   
last function1 that of  bearing robust  
children4 ,they wish to cultivate her in
 general still  more1 and intend1 as    
they say1 to make the weaker sex        
,,strong by  culture3 as if history did 
not teach in the most emphatic manner   
that  the cultivating of mankind and his

 weakening--that is to say1 the         
weakening1 dissipating1 and languishing 
of his ,,force ,,of ,,will--have  always
 kept pace with one another1 and that   
the most powerful and  influential women
 in the world 7and lastly1 the mother of
 ,napoleon7  had just to thank their    
force of will--and not their            
schoolmasters--for  their power and     
ascendancy over men4 ,that which        
inspires respect  in woman1 and often   
enough fear also1 is her ,,nature1 which
 is more  natural than that of man1 her 
genuine1 carnivora-like1 cunning        
flexibility1 her tiger-claws beneath the
 glove1 her ,,naivete in egoism1  her   
untrainableness and innate wildness1 the
 incomprehensibleness1  extent1 and     
deviation of her desires and virtues4   
,that which1 in spite  of fear1 excites 
one's sympathy for the dangerous and    
beautiful cat1  woman1 is that she seems
 more afflicted1 more vulnerable1 more  
necessitous of love1 and more condemned 
to disillusionment than any  other      

creature4 ,fear and sympathy it is with 
these feelings that man has  hitherto   
stood in the presence of woman1 always  
with one foot already in  tragedy1 which
 rends while it delights--,what8 ,and   
all that is now to  be at an end8 ,and  
the ,,disenchantment of woman is in     
progress8 ,the  tediousness of woman is 
slowly evolving8 ,oh ,europe6 ,europe6  
,we know  the horned animal which was   
always most attractive to thee1 from    
which  danger is ever again threatening 
thee6 ,thy old fable might once more    
become history--an immense stupidity    
might once again overmaster  thee and   
carry thee away6 ,and no ,god concealed 
beneath it--no6 only an  idea1 a modern 
idea6        ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,peoples
 ,,and ,,countries      #bdj4 ,i        
,,heard1 once again for the first time1 
,richard ,wagner's overture  to the     
,mastersinger3 it is a piece of         
magnificent1 gorgeous1 heavy1           
latter-day art1 which has the pride to  
presuppose two centuries of music  as   

still living1 in order that it may be   
understood3--it is an honour  to        
,germans that such a pride did not      
miscalculate6 ,what flavours  and       
forces1 what seasons and climes do we   
not find mingled in it6 ,it  impresses  
us at one time as ancient1 at another   
time as foreign1 bitter1  and too       
modern1 it is as arbitrary as it is     
pompously traditional1 it  is not       
infrequently roguish1 still oftener     
rough and coarse--it has fire  and      
courage1 and at the same time the loose1
 dun-coloured skin of fruits  which     
ripen too late4 ,it flows broad and     
full3 and suddenly there is a  moment of
 inexplicable hesitation1 like a gap    
that opens between cause  and effect1 an
 oppression that makes us dream1 almost 
a nightmare2 but  already it broadens   
and widens anew1 the old stream of      
delight--the most  manifold delight1--of
 old and new happiness2 including       
,,especially  the joy of the artist in  
himself1 which he refuses to conceal1   

his  astonished1 happy cognizance of his
 mastery of the expedients here         
employed1 the new1 newly acquired1      
imperfectly tested expedients of art    
which he apparently betrays to us4 ,all 
in all1 however1 no beauty1 no  ,south1 
nothing of the delicate southern        
clearness of the sky1 nothing  of grace1
 no dance1 hardly a will to logic2 a    
certain clumsiness even1  which is also 
emphasized1 as though the artist wished 
to say to us3 ,it  is part of my        
intention2 a cumbersome drapery1        
something arbitrarily  barbaric and     
ceremonious1 a flirring of learned and  
venerable conceits  and witticisms2     
something ,german in the best and worst 
sense of  the word1 something in the    
,german style1 manifold1 formless1 and  
inexhaustible2 a certain ,german potency
 and super-plenitude of  soul1 which is 
not afraid to hide itself under the     
,,raffinements of  decadence--which1    
perhaps1 feels itself most at ease      
there2 a real1  genuine token of the    

,german soul1 which is at the same time 
young and  aged1 too ripe and yet still 
too rich in futurity4 ,this kind of     
music  expresses best what ,i think of  
the ,germans3 they belong to the day    
before yesterday and the day after      
tomorrow--,,they ,,have ,,as ,,yet ,,no 
,,today4    #bda4 ,we good ,europeans1  
we also have hours when we allow        
ourselves a  warm-hearted patriotism1 a 
plunge and relapse into old loves and   
narrow  views--,i have just given an    
example of it--hours of national        
excitement1  of patriotic anguish1 and  
all other sorts of old-fashioned floods 
of  sentiment4 ,duller spirits may      
perhaps only get done with what confines
  its operations in us to hours and     
plays itself out in hours--in a         
considerable time3 some in half a year1 
others in half a lifetime1  according to
 the speed and strength with which they 
digest and change  their material4      
,indeed1 ,i could think of sluggish1    
hesitating races1  which even in our    

rapidly moving ,europe1 would require   
half a century  ere they could surmount 
such atavistic attacks of patriotism and
  soil-attachment1 and return once more 
to reason1 that is to say1 to  good     
,europeanism4 ,and while digressing on  
this possibility1 ,i  happen to become  
an ear-witness of a conversation between
 two old  patriots--they were evidently 
both hard of hearing and consequently   
spoke all the louder4 ,,he has as much1 
and knows as much1 philosophy as  a     
peasant or a corps-student1 said the    
one--he is still innocent4 ,but  what   
does that matter nowadays6 ,it is the   
age of the masses3 they lie on  their   
belly before everything that is massive4
 ,and so also in politicis4  ,a         
statesman who rears up for them a new   
,tower of ,babel1 some monstrosity  of  
empire and power1 they call             
'great'--what does it matter that we    
more  prudent and conservative ones do  
not meanwhile give up the old belief    
that it is only the great thought that  

gives greatness to an action or  affair4
 ,supposing a statesman were to bring   
his people into the position  of being  
obliged henceforth to practise 'high    
politics1' for which they  were by      
nature badly endowed and prepared1 so   
that they would have  to sacrifice their
 old and reliable virtues1 out of love  
to a new and  doubtful                  
mediocrity2--supposing a statesman were 
to condemn his people  generally to     
'practise politics1' when they have     
hitherto had something  better to do and
 think about1 and when in the depths of 
their souls  they have been unable to   
free themselves from a prudent loathing 
of  the restlessness1 emptiness1 and    
noisy wranglings of the essentially     
politics-practising nations2--supposing 
such a statesman were to  stimulate the 
slumbering passions and avidities of his
 people1 were to  make a stigma out of  
their former diffidence and delight in  
aloofness1  an offence out of their     
exoticism and hidden permanency1 were to

  depreciate their most radical         
proclivities1 subvert their consciences1
  make their minds narrow1 and their    
tastes 'national'--what6 a statesman    
who should do all this1 which his people
 would have to do penance for           
throughout their whole future1 if they  
had a future1 such a statesman  would be
 ,,great1 would he8--,undoubtedly6      
replied the other old patriot           
vehemently1 otherwise he ,,could ,,not  
have done it6 ,it was mad perhaps to    
wish such a thing6 ,but perhaps         
everything great has been just as mad   
at its commencement6--,misuse of words6 
cried his interlocutor1                 
contradictorily--strong6 strong6 ,strong
 and mad6 ,,not great6--,the old  men   
had obviously become heated as they thus
 shouted their truths in  each other's  
faces1 but ,i1 in my happiness and      
apartness1 considered how  soon a       
stronger one may become master of the   
strong1 and also that  there is a       
compensation for the intellectual       

superficialising of a  nation--namely1  
in the deepening of another4    #bdb4   
,whether we call it civilization1 or    
humanising1 or progress1  which now     
distinguishes the ,european1 whether we 
call it simply1 without  praise or      
blame1 by the political formula the     
,,democratic movement in                
,europe--behind all the moral and       
political foregrounds pointed to by     
such formulas1 an immense               
,,physiological ,,process goes on1 which
 is ever  extending the process of the  
assimilation of ,europeans1 their       
increasing detachment from the          
conditions under which1 climatically and
  hereditarily1 united races originate1 
their increasing independence of  every 
definite milieu1 that for centuries     
would fain inscribe itself  with equal  
demands on soul and body1--that is to   
say1 the slow emergence  of an          
essentially ,,super-,,national and      
nomadic species of man1 who  possesses1 
physiologically speaking1 a maximum of  

the art and power  of adaptation as his 
typical distinction4 ,this process of   
the ,,evolving  ,,european1 which can be
 retarded in its ,,tempo by great       
relapses1 but  will perhaps just gain   
and grow thereby in vehemence and       
depth--the  still-raging storm and      
stress of national sentiment pertains to
 it1  and also the anarchism which is   
appearing at present--this process  will
 probably arrive at results on which its
 naive propagators and  panegyrists1 the
 apostles of modern ideas1 would least  
care to reckon4  ,the same new          
conditions under which on an average a  
levelling and  mediocrising of man will 
take place--a useful1 industrious1      
variously  serviceable1 and clever      
gregarious man--are in the highest      
degree  suitable to give rise to        
exceptional men of the most dangerous   
and  attractive qualities4 ,for1 while  
the capacity for adaptation1 which is   
every day trying changing conditions1   
and begins a new work with every        

generation1 almost with every decade1   
makes the ,,powerfulness of the type    
impossible2 while the collective        
impression of such future ,europeans    
will probably be that of numerous1      
talkative1 weak-willed1 and very  handy 
workmen who ,,require a master1 a       
commander1 as they require their  daily 
bread2 while1 therefore1 the            
democratising of ,europe will tend to   
the production of a type prepared for   
,,slavery in the most subtle  sense of  
the term3 the ,,strong man will         
necessarily in individual and           
exceptional cases1 become stronger and  
richer than he has perhaps ever  been   
before--owing to the unprejudicedness of
 his schooling1 owing to  the immense   
variety of practice1 art1 and disguise4 
,i meant to say  that the democratising 
of ,europe is at the same time an       
involuntary  arrangement for the rearing
 of ,,tyrants--taking the word in all   
its  meanings1 even in its most         
spiritual sense4    #bdc4 ,i hear with  

pleasure that our sun is moving rapidly 
towards the  constellation ,hercules3   
and ,i hope that the men on this earth  
will do  like the sun4 ,and we foremost1
 we good ,europeans6    #bdd4 ,there was
 a time when it was customary to call   
,germans deep  by way of distinction2   
but now that the most successful type of
 new  ,germanism is covetous of quite   
other honours1 and perhaps misses       
smartness in all that has depth1 it is  
almost opportune and patriotic  to doubt
 whether we did not formerly deceive    
ourselves with that  commendation3 in   
short1 whether ,german depth is not at  
bottom something  different and         
worse--and something from which1 thank  
,god1 we are on the  point of           
successfully ridding ourselves4 ,let us 
try1 then1 to relearn  with regard to   
,german depth2 the only thing necessary 
for the purpose is  a little vivisection
 of the ,german soul4--,the ,german soul
 is above all  manifold1 varied in its  
source1 aggregated and super-imposed1   

rather  than actually built3 this is    
owing to its origin4 ,a ,german who     
would  embolden himself to assert3 ,two 
souls1 alas1 dwell in my breast1 would  
make a bad guess at the truth1 or1 more 
correctly1 he would come far  short of  
the truth about the number of souls4 ,as
 a people made up of  the most          
extraordinary mixing and mingling of    
races1 perhaps even with a              
preponderance of the pre-,aryan element 
as the people of the centre in  every   
sense of the term1 the ,germans are more
 intangible1 more ample1  more          
contradictory1 more unknown1 more       
incalculable1 more surprising1  and even
 more terrifying than other peoples are 
to themselves3--they  escape            
,,definition1 and are thereby alone the 
despair of the ,french4 ,it  ,,is       
characteristic of the ,germans that the 
question3 ,what is ,german8  never dies 
out among them4 ,kotzebue certainly knew
 his ,germans well  enough3 ,we are     
known1 they cried jubilantly to him--but

 ,sand also  thought he knew them4 ,jean
 ,paul knew what he was doing when he   
declared  himself incensed at ,fichte's 
lying but patriotic flatteries and      
exaggerations1--but it is probable that 
,goethe thought differently about       
,germans from ,jean ,paul1 even though  
he acknowledged him to be right with    
regard to ,fichte4 ,it is a question    
what ,goethe really thought about the   
,germans8--,but about many things around
 him he never spoke explicitly1  and all
 his life he knew how to keep an astute 
silence--probably he  had good reason   
for it4 ,it is certain that it was not  
the ,wars of  ,independence that made   
him look up more joyfully1 any more than
 it was  the ,french ,revolution1--the  
event on account of which he            
,,reconstructed  his ,faust1 and indeed 
the whole problem of man1 was the       
appearance  of ,napoleon4 ,there are    
words of ,goethe in which he condemns   
with  impatient severity1 as from a     
foreign land1 that which ,germans take a

  pride in1 he once defined the famous  
,german turn of mind as ,indulgence     
towards its own and others' weaknesses4 
,was he wrong8 it is  characteristic of 
,germans that one is seldom entirely    
wrong about them4  ,the ,german soul has
 passages and galleries in it1 there are
 caves1  hiding-places1 and dungeons    
therein1 its disorder has much of the   
charm  of the mysterious1 the ,german is
 well acquainted with the bypaths to    
chaos4 ,and as everything loves its     
symbol1 so the ,german loves the  clouds
 and all that is obscure1 evolving1     
crepuscular1 damp1 and  shrouded1 it    
seems to him that everything uncertain1 
undeveloped1  self-displacing1 and      
growing is deep4 ,the ,german himself   
does not  ,,exist1 he is ,,becoming1 he 
is developing himself4 ,development is  
therefore the essentially ,german       
discovery and hit in the great domain   
of philosophical formulas1--a ruling    
idea1 which1 together with ,german  beer
 and ,german music1 is labouring to     

,germanise all ,europe4 ,foreigners  are
 astonished and attracted by the riddles
 which the conflicting nature  at the   
basis of the ,german soul propounds to  
them 7riddles which  ,hegel systematised
 and ,richard ,wagner has in the end set
 to music74  ,good-natured and          
spiteful--such a juxtaposition1         
preposterous in the  case of every other
 people1 is unfortunately only too often
 justified  in ,germany one has only to 
live for a while among ,swabians to know
 this6  ,the clumsiness of the ,german  
scholar and his social distastefulness  
agree alarmingly well with his physical 
rope-dancing and nimble  boldness1 of   
which all the ,gods have learnt to be   
afraid4 ,if any one  wishes to see the  
,german soul demonstrated ad oculos1 let
 him  only look at ,german taste1 at    
,german arts and manners what boorish   
indifference to taste6 ,how the noblest 
and the commonest stand there  in       
juxtaposition6 ,how disorderly and how  
rich is the whole constitution  of this 

soul6 ,the ,german ,,drags at his soul1 
he drags at everything he  experiences4 
,he digests his events badly2 he never  
gets done  with them2 and ,german depth 
is often only a difficult1 hesitating   
digestion4 ,and just as all chronic     
invalids1 all dyspeptics like what  is  
convenient1 so the ,german loves        
frankness and honesty2 it is  so        
,,convenient to be frank and            
honest6--,this confidingness1 this      
complaisance1 this showing-the-cards of 
,german ,,honesty1 is probably the  most
 dangerous and most successful disguise 
which the ,german is up to  nowadays3 it
 is his proper ,mephistophelean art2    
with this he can still  achieve much6   
,the ,german lets himself go1 and       
thereby gazes with  faithful1 blue1     
empty ,german eyes--and other countries 
immediately  confound him with his      
dressing-gown6--,i meant to say that1   
let ,german  depth be what it           
will--among ourselves alone we perhaps  
take the  liberty to laugh at it--we    

shall do well to continue henceforth to 
honour its appearance and good name1 and
 not barter away too cheaply our  old   
reputation as a people of depth for     
,prussian smartness1 and  ,berlin wit   
and sand4 ,it is wise for a people to   
pose1 and ,,let itself  be regarded1 as 
profound1 clumsy1 good-natured1 honest1 
and foolish3 it  might even be--profound
 to do so6 ,finally1 we should do honour
 to  our name--we are not called the    
,,tiusche ,,volk 7deceptive people7 for 
nothing4444    #bde4 ,the good old time 
is past1 it sang itself out in          
,mozart--how  happy are ,,we that his   
,,rococo still speaks to us1 that his   
good  company1 his tender enthusiasm1   
his childish delight in the ,chinese and
  its flourishes1 his courtesy of heart1
 his longing for the elegant1 the       
amorous1 the tripping1 the tearful1 and 
his belief in the ,south1 can  still    
appeal to ,,something ,,left in us6 ,ah1
 some time or other it will be  over    
with it6--but who can doubt that it will

 be over still sooner with  the         
intelligence and taste for ,beethoven6  
,for he was only the last echo  of a    
break and transition in style1 and      
,,not1 like ,mozart1 the last echo  of a
 great ,european taste which had existed
 for centuries4 ,beethoven  is the      
intermediate event between an old mellow
 soul that is constantly  breaking down1
 and a future over-young soul that is   
always ,,coming2  there is spread over  
his music the twilight of eternal loss  
and eternal  extravagant hope1--the same
 light in which ,europe was bathed when 
it  dreamed with ,rousseau1 when it     
danced round the ,tree of ,liberty of   
the  ,revolution1 and finally almost    
fell down in adoration before ,napoleon4
  ,but how rapidly does ,,this very     
sentiment now pale1 how difficult       
nowadays is even the ,,apprehension of  
this sentiment1 how strangely does  the 
language of ,rousseau1 ,schiller1       
,shelley1 and ,byron sound to our ear1  
in whom ,,collectively the same fate of 

,europe was able to ,,speak1 which  knew
 how to ,,sing in ,beethoven6--,whatever
 ,german music came afterwards1  belongs
 to ,romanticism1 that is to say1 to a  
movement which1  historically           
considered1 was still shorter1 more     
fleeting1 and more  superficial than    
that great interlude1 the transition of 
,europe from  ,rousseau to ,napoleon1   
and to the rise of democracy4           
,weber--but what do  ,,we care nowadays 
for ,freischutz and ,oberon6 ,or        
,marschner's ,hans  ,heiling and        
,vampyre6 ,or even ,wagner's            
,tannhauser6 ,that is extinct1  although
 not yet forgotten music4 ,this whole   
music of ,romanticism1  besides1 was not
 noble enough1 was not musical enough1  
to maintain its  position anywhere but  
in the theatre and before the masses2   
from the  beginning it was second-rate  
music1 which was little thought of by   
genuine musicians4 ,it was different    
with ,felix ,mendelssohn1 that halcyon  
master1 who1 on account of his lighter1 

purer1 happier soul1 quickly  acquired  
admiration1 and was equally quickly     
forgotten3 as the beautiful  ,,episode  
of ,german music4 ,but with regard to   
,robert ,schumann1 who took  things     
seriously1 and has been taken seriously 
from the first--he  was the last that   
founded a school1--do we not now regard 
it as a  satisfaction1 a relief1 a      
deliverance1 that this very ,romanticism
  of ,schumann's has been surmounted8   
,schumann1 fleeing into the ,saxon      
,switzerland of his soul1 with a half   
,werther-like1 half ,jean-,paul-like    
nature 7assuredly not like ,beethoven6  
assuredly not like ,byron67--his        
,,manfred music is a mistake and a      
misunderstanding to the extent of       
injustice2 ,schumann1 with his taste1   
which was fundamentally a ,,petty  taste
 7that is to say1 a dangerous           
propensity--doubly dangerous among      
,germans--for quiet lyricism and        
intoxication of the feelings71 going    
constantly apart1 timidly withdrawing   

and retiring1 a noble weakling who      
revelled in nothing but anonymous joy   
and sorrow1 from the beginning  a sort  
of girl and ,,noli ,,me ,,tangere--this 
,schumann was already merely a  ,,german
 event in music1 and no longer a        
,european event1 as ,beethoven had      
been1 as in a still greater degree      
,mozart had been2 with ,schumann ,german
  music was threatened with its greatest
 danger1 that of ,,losing ,,the ,,voice 
,,for ,,the ,,soul ,,of ,,europe and    
sinking into a merely national affair4  
#bdf4 ,what a torture are books written 
in ,german to a reader who has a        
,,third ear6 ,how indignantly he stands 
beside the slowly turning swamp  of     
sounds without tune and rhythms without 
dance1 which ,germans call  a book6 ,and
 even the ,german who ,,reads books6    
,how lazily1 how  reluctantly1 how badly
 he reads6 ,how many ,germans know1 and 
consider it  obligatory to know1 that   
there is ,,art in every good            
sentence--art which  must be divined1 if

 the sentence is to be understood6 ,if  
there is a  misunderstanding about its  
,,tempo1 for instance1 the sentence     
itself  is misunderstood6 ,that one must
 not be doubtful about the              
rhythm-determining syllables1 that one  
should feel the breaking of the         
too-rigid symmetry as intentional and as
 a charm1 that one should lend a  fine  
and patient ear to every ,,staccato and 
every ,,rubato1 that one should  divine 
the sense in the sequence of the vowels 
and diphthongs1 and how  delicately and 
richly they can be tinted and retinted  
in the order of  their arrangement--who 
among book-reading ,germans is          
complaisant enough  to recognize such   
duties and requirements1 and to listen  
to so much art  and intention in        
language8 ,after all1 one just has no   
ear for it2  and so the most marked     
contrasts of style are not heard1 and   
the most  delicate artistry is as it    
were ,,squandered on the deaf4--,these  
were my  thoughts when ,i noticed how   

clumsily and unintuitively two masters  
in  the art of prose-writing have been  
confounded3 one1 whose words drop  down 
hesitatingly and coldly1 as from the    
roof of a damp cave--he counts  on their
 dull sound and echo2 and another who   
manipulates his language  like a        
flexible sword1 and from his arm down   
into his toes feels the  dangerous bliss
 of the quivering1 over-sharp blade1    
which wishes to  bite1 hiss1 and cut4   
#bdg4 ,how little the ,german style has 
to do with harmony and with the  ear1 is
 shown by the fact that precisely our   
good musicians themselves  write badly4 
,the ,german does not read aloud1 he    
does not read for the  ear1 but only    
with his eyes2 he has put his ears away 
in the drawer for  the time4 ,in        
antiquity when a man read--which was    
seldom enough--he read  something to    
himself1 and in a loud voice2 they were 
surprised when  any one read silently1  
and sought secretly the reason of it4   
,in a  loud voice3 that is to say1 with 

all the swellings1 inflections1 and     
variations of key and changes of        
,,tempo1 in which the ancient ,,public  
world took delight4 ,the laws of the    
written style were then the same  as    
those of the spoken style2 and these    
laws depended partly on the  surprising 
development and refined requirements of 
the ear and larynx2  partly on the      
strength1 endurance1 and power of the   
ancient lungs4 ,in  the ancient sense1 a
 period is above all a physiological    
whole1 inasmuch  as it is comprised in  
one breath4 ,such periods as occur in   
,demosthenes  and ,cicero1 swelling     
twice and sinking twice1 and all in one 
breath1  were pleasures to the men of   
,,antiquity1 who knew by their own      
schooling  how to appreciate the virtue 
therein1 the rareness and the difficulty
  in the deliverance of such a          
period2--,,we have really no right to   
the  ,,big period1 we modern men1 who   
are short of breath in every sense6     
,those  ancients1 indeed1 were all of   

them dilettanti in speaking1            
consequently  connoisseurs1 consequently
 critics--they thus brought their       
orators to  the highest pitch2 in the   
same manner as in the last century1 when
 all  ,italian ladies and gentlemen knew
 how to sing1 the virtuosoship of song  
7and with it also the art of melody7    
reached its elevation4 ,in ,germany1    
however 7until quite recently when a    
kind of platform eloquence began  shyly 
and awkwardly enough to flutter its     
young wings71 there was  properly       
speaking only one kind of public and    
,,approximately artistical              
discourse--that delivered from the      
pulpit4 ,the preacher was the only one  
in ,germany who knew the weight of a    
syllable or a word1 in what manner a    
sentence strikes1 springs1 rushes1      
flows1 and comes to a close2 he alone   
had a conscience in his ears1 often     
enough a bad conscience3 for reasons    
are not lacking why proficiency in      
oratory should be especially seldom     

attained by a ,german1 or almost always 
too late4 ,the masterpiece of  ,german  
prose is therefore with good reason the 
masterpiece of its  greatest preacher3  
the ,,bible has hitherto been the best  
,german  book4 ,compared with ,luther's 
,bible1 almost everything else is merely
  literature--something which has not   
grown in ,germany1 and therefore  has   
not taken and does not take root in     
,german hearts1 as the ,bible has  done4
    #bdh4 ,there are two kinds of       
geniuses3 one which above all engenders 
and  seeks to engender1 and another     
which willingly lets itself be          
fructified  and brings forth4 ,and      
similarly1 among the gifted nations1    
there are  those on whom the woman's    
problem of pregnancy has devolved1 and  
the  secret task of forming1 maturing1  
and perfecting--the ,greeks1 for        
instance1 were a nation of this kind1   
and so are the ,french2 and others      
which have to fructify and become the   
cause of new modes of life--like  the   

,jews1 the ,romans1 and1 in all modesty 
be it asked3 like the                   
,germans8--nations tortured and         
enraptured by unknown fevers and        
irresistibly forced out of themselves1  
amorous and longing for  foreign races  
7for such as let themselves be          
fructified71 and withal  imperious1 like
 everything conscious of being full of  
generative force1  and consequently     
empowered by the grace of ,god4 ,these  
two kinds of  geniuses seek each other  
like man and woman2 but they also       
misunderstand  each other--like man and 
woman4    #bdi4 ,every nation has its   
own ,tartuffery1 and calls that its     
virtue4--,one does not know--cannot     
know1 the best that is in one4    #bej4 
,what ,europe owes to the ,jews8--,many 
things1 good and bad1 and above  all one
 thing of the nature both of the best   
and the worst3 the grand  style in      
morality1 the fearfulness and majesty of
 infinite demands1 of  infinite         
significations1 the whole ,romanticism  

and sublimity of moral                  
questionableness--and consequently just 
the most attractive1 ensnaring1  and    
exquisite element in those iridescences 
and allurements to life1  in the        
aftersheen of which the sky of our      
,european culture1 its evening  sky1 now
 glows--perhaps glows out4 ,for this1 we
 artists among the  spectators and      
philosophers1 are--grateful to the      
,jews4    #bea4 ,it must be taken into  
the bargain1 if various clouds and      
disturbances--in short1 slight attacks  
of stupidity--pass over the  spirit of a
 people that suffers and ,,wants to     
suffer from national  nervous fever and 
political ambition3 for instance1 among 
present-day  ,germans there is          
alternately the anti-,french folly1 the 
anti-,semitic  folly1 the anti-,polish  
folly1 the ,christian-romantic folly1   
the  ,wagnerian folly1 the ,teutonic    
folly1 the ,prussian folly 7just look at
  those poor historians1 the ,sybels and
 ,treitschkes1 and their closely        

bandaged heads71 and whatever else these
 little obscurations of the  ,german    
spirit and conscience may be called4    
,may it be forgiven me that  ,i1 too1   
when on a short daring sojourn on very  
infected ground1 did not  remain wholly 
exempt from the disease1 but like every 
one else1 began  to entertain thoughts  
about matters which did not concern     
me--the first  symptom of political     
infection4 ,about the ,jews1 for        
instance1 listen  to the following3--,i 
have never yet met a ,german who was    
favourably  inclined to the ,jews2 and  
however decided the repudiation of      
actual  anti-,semitism may be on the    
part of all prudent and political men1  
this  prudence and policy is not perhaps
 directed against the nature of the     
sentiment itself1 but only against its  
dangerous excess1 and especially        
against the distasteful and infamous    
expression of this excess of            
sentiment2--on this point we must not   
deceive ourselves4 ,that ,germany  has  

amply ,,sufficient ,jews1 that the      
,german stomach1 the ,german blood1  has
 difficulty 7and will long have         
difficulty7 in disposing only of this   
quantity of ,jew--as the ,italian1 the  
,frenchman1 and the ,englishman  have   
done by means of a stronger             
digestion3--that is the unmistakable    
declaration and language of a general   
instinct1 to which one must listen  and 
according to which one must act4 ,let no
 more ,jews come in6 ,and shut  the     
doors1 especially towards the ,east     
7also towards ,austria76--thus  commands
 the instinct of a people whose nature  
is still feeble and  uncertain1 so that 
it could be easily wiped out1 easily    
extinguished1 by  a stronger race4 ,the 
,jews1 however1 are beyond all doubt the
 strongest1  toughest1 and purest race  
at present living in ,europe1 they know 
how  to succeed even under the worst    
conditions 7in fact better than under   
favourable ones71 by means of virtues of
 some sort1 which one would like        

nowadays to label as vices--owing above 
all to a resolute faith which  does not 
need to be ashamed before modern ideas1 
they alter only1  ,,when they do alter1 
in the same way that the ,russian       
,empire makes  its conquest--as an      
empire that has plenty of time and is   
not of  yesterday--namely1 according to 
the principle1 as slowly as possible6   
,a thinker who has the future of ,europe
 at heart1 will1 in all his             
perspectives concerning the future1     
calculate upon the ,jews1 as he  will   
calculate upon the ,russians1 as above  
all the surest and likeliest  factors in
 the great play and battle of forces4   
,that which is at present  called a     
nation in ,europe1 and is really rather 
a ,,res ,,facta than ,,nata  7indeed1   
sometimes confusingly similar to a ,,res
 ,,ficta ,,et ,,picta71 is in  every    
case something evolving1 young1 easily  
displaced1 and not yet  a race1 much    
less such a race ,,aere ,,perennus1 as  
the ,jews are such  nations should most 

carefully avoid all hot-headed rivalry  
and  hostility6 ,it is certain that the 
,jews1 if they desired--or if they  were
 driven to it1 as the anti-,semites seem
 to wish--,,could now have the          
ascendancy1 nay1 literally the          
supremacy1 over ,europe1 that they are  
,,not  working and planning for that end
 is equally certain4 ,meanwhile1 they   
rather wish and desire1 even somewhat   
importunely1 to be insorbed and         
absorbed by ,europe1 they long to be    
finally settled1 authorized1 and        
respected somewhere1 and wish to put an 
end to the nomadic life1 to the         
wandering ,jew1--and one should         
certainly take account of this impulse  
and tendency1 and ,,make ,,advances to  
it 7it possibly betokens a mitigation   
of the ,jewish instincts7 for which     
purpose it would perhaps be useful  and 
fair to banish the anti-,semitic bawlers
 out of the country4 ,one  should make  
advances with all prudence1 and with    
selection1 pretty much  as the ,english 

nobility do ,it stands to reason that   
the more powerful  and strongly marked  
types of new ,germanism could enter into
 relation  with the ,jews with the least
 hesitation1 for instance1 the nobleman 
officer from the ,prussian border it    
would be interesting in many ways  to   
see whether the genius for money and    
patience 7and especially some  intellect
 and intellectuality--sadly lacking in  
the place referred to7  could not in    
addition be annexed and trained to the  
hereditary art of  commanding and       
obeying--for both of which the country  
in question has  now a classic          
reputation ,but here it is expedient to 
break off my festal  discourse and my   
sprightly ,teutonomania for ,i have     
already reached my  ,,serious ,,topic1  
the ,european problem1 as ,i understand 
it1 the rearing  of a new ruling caste  
for ,europe4    #beb4 ,they are not a   
philosophical race--the ,english3 ,bacon
 represents an  ,,attack on the         
philosophical spirit generally1 ,hobbes1

 ,hume1 and ,locke1  an abasement1 and a
 depreciation of the idea of a          
philosopher for more  than a century4   
,it was ,,against ,hume that ,kant      
uprose and raised himself2  it was      
,locke of whom ,schelling ,,rightly     
said1 ,,je ,,meprise ,,locke2 in the    
struggle against the ,english mechanical
 stultification of the world1  ,hegel   
and ,schopenhauer 7along with ,goethe7  
were of one accord2 the  two hostile    
brother-geniuses in philosophy1 who     
pushed in different  directions towards 
the opposite poles of ,german thought1  
and thereby  wronged each other as only 
brothers will do4--,what is lacking in  
,england1 and has always been lacking1  
that half-actor and rhetorician  knew   
well enough1 the absurd muddle-head1    
,carlyle1 who sought to conceal  under  
passionate grimaces what he knew about  
himself3 namely1 what was  ,,lacking in 
,carlyle--real ,,power of intellect1    
real ,,depth of intellectual            
perception1 in short1 philosophy4 ,it is

 characteristic of such an              
unphilosophical race to hold on firmly  
to ,christianity--they ,,need its       
discipline for moralizing and           
humanizing4 ,the ,englishman1 more      
gloomy1  sensual1 headstrong1 and brutal
 than the ,german--is for that very     
reason1 as the baser of the two1 also   
the most pious3 he has all the  ,,more  
,,need of ,christianity4 ,to finer      
nostrils1 this ,english ,christianity   
itself has still a characteristic       
,english taint of spleen and alcoholic  
excess1 for which1 owing to good        
reasons1 it is used as an antidote--the 
finer poison to neutralize the coarser3 
a finer form of poisoning is  in fact a 
step in advance with coarse-mannered    
people1 a step towards                  
spiritualization4 ,the ,english         
coarseness and rustic demureness is     
still  most satisfactorily disguised by 
,christian pantomime1 and by praying    
and psalm-singing 7or1 more correctly1  
it is thereby explained and  differently

 expressed72 and for the herd of        
drunkards and rakes who  formerly       
learned moral grunting under the        
influence of ,methodism 7and  more      
recently as the ,salvation ,army71 a    
penitential fit may really be  the      
relatively highest manifestation of     
humanity to which they can  be elevated3
 so much may reasonably be admitted4    
,that1 however1 which  offends even in  
the humanest ,englishman is his lack of 
music1 to speak  figuratively 7and also 
literally73 he has neither rhythm nor   
dance in  the movements of his soul and 
body2 indeed1 not even the desire for   
rhythm and dance1 for music4 ,listen to 
him speaking2 look at the most          
beautiful ,englishwoman ,,walking--in no
 country on earth are there more        
beautiful doves and swans2 finally1     
listen to them singing6 ,but ,i ask  too
 much444    #bec4 ,there are truths     
which are best recognized by mediocre   
minds1  because they are best adapted   
for them1 there are truths which only   

possess charms and seductive power for  
mediocre spirits3--one is pushed  to    
this probably unpleasant conclusion1 now
 that the influence of  respectable but 
mediocre ,englishmen--,i may mention    
,darwin1 ,john  ,stuart ,mill1 and      
,herbert ,spencer--begins to gain the   
ascendancy in the  middle-class region  
of ,european taste4 ,indeed1 who could  
doubt that it  is a useful thing for    
,,such minds to have the ascendancy for 
a time8 ,it  would be an error to       
consider the highly developed and       
independently  soaring minds as         
specially qualified for determining and 
collecting many  little common facts1   
and deducing conclusions from them2 as  
exceptions1  they are rather from the   
first in no very favourable position    
towards  those who are the rules4 ,after
 all1 they have more to do than merely  
to perceive3--in effect1 they have to   
,,be something new1 they have to        
,,signify something new1 they have to   
,,represent new values6 ,the gulf       

between knowledge and capacity is       
perhaps greater1 and also more          
mysterious1 than one thinks3 the capable
 man in the grand style1 the  creator1  
will possibly have to be an ignorant    
person2--while on the  other hand1 for  
scientific discoveries like those of    
,darwin1 a certain  narrowness1 aridity1
 and industrious carefulness 7in short1 
something  ,english7 may not be         
unfavourable for arriving at            
them4--,finally1 let  it not be         
forgotten that the ,english1 with their 
profound mediocrity1  brought about once
 before a general depression of         
,european intelligence4    ,what is     
called modern ideas1 or the ideas of the
 eighteenth century1  or ,french        
ideas--that1 consequently1 against which
 the ,,german mind  rose up with        
profound disgust--is of ,english origin1
 there is no doubt  about it4 ,the      
,french were only the apes and actors of
 these ideas1 their  best soldiers1 and 
likewise1 alas6 their first and         

profoundest ,,victims2  for owing to the
 diabolical ,anglomania of modern ideas1
 the ,,ame  ,,francais has in the end   
become so thin and emaciated1 that at   
present  one recalls its sixteenth and  
seventeenth centuries1 its profound1    
passionate strength1 its inventive      
excellency1 almost with disbelief4  ,one
 must1 however1 maintain this verdict of
 historical justice in  a determined    
manner1 and defend it against present   
prejudices and  appearances3 the        
,european ,,noblesse--of sentiment1     
taste1 and manners1  taking the word in 
every high sense--is the work and       
invention of  ,,france2 the ,european   
ignobleness1 the plebeianism of modern  
ideas--is  ,,england',s work and        
invention4    #bed4 ,even at present    
,france is still the seat of the most   
intellectual  and refined culture of    
,europe1 it is still the high school of 
taste2 but  one must know how to find   
this ,france of taste4 ,he who belongs  
to it  keeps himself well               

concealed3--they may be a small number  
in whom it  lives and is embodied1      
besides perhaps being men who do not    
stand upon  the strongest legs1 in part 
fatalists1 hypochondriacs1 invalids1 in 
part persons over-indulged1             
over-refined1 such as have the          
,,ambition to  conceal themselves4      
,they have all something in common3 they
 keep their ears closed in  presence of 
the delirious folly and noisy spouting  
of the democratic  ,,bourgeois4 ,in     
fact1 a besotted and brutalized ,france 
at present sprawls  in the              
foreground--it recently celebrated a    
veritable orgy of bad taste1  and at the
 same time of self-admiration1 at the   
funeral of ,victor ,hugo4  ,there is    
also something else common to them3 a   
predilection to resist  intellectual    
,germanizing--and a still greater       
inability to do so6  ,in this ,france of
 intellect1 which is also a ,france of  
pessimism1  ,schopenhauer has perhaps   
become more at home1 and more indigenous

 than  he has ever been in ,germany2 not
 to speak of ,heinrich ,heine1 who has  
long ago been re-incarnated in the more 
refined and fastidious lyrists  of      
,paris2 or of ,hegel1 who at present1 in
 the form of ,taine--the ,,first  of    
living historians--exercises an almost  
tyrannical influence4 ,as  regards      
,richard ,wagner1 however1 the more     
,french music learns to  adapt itself to
 the actual needs of the ,,ame          
,,moderne1 the more will it  ,wagnerite2
 one can safely predict that            
beforehand1--it is already  taking place
 sufficiently6 ,there are1 however1     
three things which the  ,french can     
still boast of with pride as their      
heritage and possession1  and as        
indelible tokens of their ancient       
intellectual superiority  in ,europe1 in
 spite of all voluntary or involuntary  
,germanizing and  vulgarizing of taste4 
,,firstly1 the capacity for artistic    
emotion1 for  devotion to form1 for     
which the expression1 ,l',,art ,,pour   

,l',,art1 along  with numerous others1  
has been invented3--such capacity has   
not been  lacking in ,france for three  
centuries2 and owing to its reverence   
for  the small number1 it has again and 
again made a sort of chamber  music of  
literature possible1 which is sought for
 in vain elsewhere  in ,europe4--,the   
,,second thing whereby the ,french can  
lay claim to  a superiority over ,europe
 is their ancient1 many-sided1          
,,moralistic  culture1 owing to which   
one finds on an average1 even in the    
petty  ,,romanciers of the newspapers   
and chance ,,boulevardiers ,,de ,,paris1
 a  psychological sensitiveness and     
curiosity1 of which1 for example1 one   
has no conception 7to say nothing of the
 thing itself67 in ,germany4  ,the      
,germans lack a couple of centuries of  
the moralistic work requisite  thereto1 
which1 as we have said1 ,france has not 
grudged3 those who call  the ,germans   
naive on that account give them         
commendation for a defect4  7,as the    

opposite of the ,german inexperience and
 innocence ,,in ,,voluptate             
,,psychologica1 which is not too        
remotely associated with the tediousness
  of ,german intercourse1--and as the   
most successful expression of  genuine  
,french curiosity and inventive talent  
in this domain of delicate  thrills1    
,henri ,beyle may be noted2 that        
remarkable anticipatory and  forerunning
 man1 who1 with a ,napoleonic ,,tempo1  
traversed ,,his ,europe1  in fact1      
several centuries of the ,european soul1
 as a surveyor and  discoverer          
thereof3--it has required two           
generations to ,,overtake him  one way  
or other1 to divine long afterwards some
 of the riddles  that perplexed and     
enraptured him--this strange ,epicurean 
and man of  interrogation1 the last     
great psychologist of ,france74--,there 
is yet  a ,,third claim to superiority3 
in the ,french character there is a     
successful half-way synthesis of the    
,north and ,south1 which makes them     

comprehend many things1 and enjoins upon
 them other things1 which an            
,englishman can never comprehend4 ,their
 temperament1 turned alternately  to and
 from the ,south1 in which from time to 
time the ,provencal and  ,ligurian blood
 froths over1 preserves them from the   
dreadful1 northern  grey-in-grey1 from  
sunless conceptual-spectrism and from   
poverty of  blood--our ,,german         
infirmity of taste1 for the excessive   
prevalence  of which at the present     
moment1 blood and iron1 that is to say  
high  politics1 has with great          
resolution been prescribed 7according to
  a dangerous healing art1 which bids me
 wait and wait1 but not yet             
hope74--,there is also still in ,france 
a pre-understanding and  ready welcome  
for those rarer and rarely gratified    
men1 who are too  comprehensive to find 
satisfaction in any kind of             
fatherlandism1 and  know how to love the
 ,south when in the ,north and the      
,north when in the  ,south--the born    

,midlanders1 the good ,europeans4 ,for  
them ,,bizet  has made music1 this      
latest genius1 who has seen a new beauty
 and  seduction1--who has discovered a  
piece of the ,,south ,,in ,,music4      
#bee4 ,i hold that many precautions     
should be taken against ,german music4  
,suppose a person loves the ,south as ,i
 love it--as a great school  of recovery
 for the most spiritual and the most    
sensuous ills1 as a  boundless solar    
profusion and effulgence which          
o'erspreads a sovereign  existence      
believing in itself--well1 such a person
 will learn to be  somewhat on his guard
 against ,german music1 because1 in     
injuring his  taste anew1 it will also  
injure his health anew4 ,such a         
,southerner1 a  ,southerner not by      
origin but by ,,belief1 if he should    
dream of the future  of music1 must also
 dream of it being freed from the       
influence of the  ,north2 and must have 
in his ears the prelude to a deeper1    
mightier1 and  perhaps more perverse and

 mysterious music1 a super-,german      
music1 which  does not fade1 pale1 and  
die away1 as all ,german music does1 at 
the  sight of the blue1 wanton sea and  
the ,mediterranean clearness of sky--a  
super-,european music1 which holds its  
own even in presence of the brown       
sunsets of the desert1 whose soul is    
akin to the palm-tree1 and can be  at   
home and can roam with big1 beautiful1  
lonely beasts of prey444 ,i  could      
imagine a music of which the rarest     
charm would be that it knew  nothing    
more of good and evil2 only that here   
and there perhaps some  sailor's        
home-sickness1 some golden shadows and  
tender weaknesses might  sweep lightly  
over it2 an art which1 from the far     
distance1 would see  the colours of a   
sinking and almost incomprehensible     
,,moral world fleeing  towards it1 and  
would be hospitable enough and profound 
enough to  receive such belated         
fugitives4    #bef4 ,owing to the morbid
 estrangement which the                 

nationality-craze has  induced and still
 induces among the nations of ,europe1  
owing also to the  short-sighted and    
hasty-handed politicians1 who with the  
help of this  craze1 are at present in  
power1 and do not suspect to what extent
 the  disintegrating policy they pursue 
must necessarily be only an interlude   
policy--owing to all this and much else 
that is altogether unmentionable  at    
present1 the most unmistakable signs    
that ,,europe ,,wishes ,,to ,,be ,,one1 
are now overlooked1 or arbitrarily and  
falsely misinterpreted4 ,with all  the  
more profound and large-minded men of   
this century1 the real general  tendency
 of the mysterious labour of their souls
 was to prepare the way  for that new   
,,synthesis1 and tentatively to         
anticipate the ,european of  the future2
 only in their simulations1 or in their 
weaker moments1 in  old age perhaps1 did
 they belong to the fatherlands--they   
only rested  from themselves when they  
became patriots4 ,i think of such men as

  ,napoleon1 ,goethe1 ,beethoven1       
,stendhal1 ,heinrich ,heine1            
,schopenhauer3 it  must not be taken    
amiss if ,i also count ,richard ,wagner 
among them1 about  whom one must not let
 oneself be deceived by his own         
misunderstandings  7geniuses like him   
have seldom the right to understand     
themselves71  still less1 of course1 by 
the unseemly noise with which he is now 
resisted and opposed in ,france3 the    
fact remains1 nevertheless1 that        
,richard ,wagner and the ,,later        
,,french ,,romanticism of the forties1  
are  most closely and intimately related
 to one another4 ,they are akin1        
fundamentally akin1 in all the heights  
and depths of their requirements2  it is
 ,europe1 the ,,one ,europe1 whose soul 
presses urgently and longingly1         
outwards and upwards1 in their          
multifarious and boisterous             
art--whither8  into a new light8 towards
 a new sun8 ,but who would attempt to   
express  accurately what all these      

masters of new modes of speech could not
  express distinctly8 ,it is certain    
that the same storm and stress          
tormented them1 that they ,,sought in   
the same manner1 these last great       
seekers6 ,all of them steeped in        
literature to their eyes and ears--the  
first artists of universal literary     
culture--for the most part even         
themselves writers1 poets1              
intermediaries and blenders of the arts 
and  the senses 7,wagner1 as musician is
 reckoned among painters1 as poet  among
 musicians1 as artist generally among   
actors72 all of them fanatics  for      
,,expression at any cost--,i specially  
mention ,delacroix1 the nearest  related
 to ,wagner2 all of them great          
discoverers in the realm of the         
sublime1 also of the loathsome and      
dreadful1 still greater discoverers  in 
effect1 in display1 in the art of the   
show-shop2 all of them talented  far    
beyond their genius1 out and out        
,,virtuosi1 with mysterious accesses  to

 all that seduces1 allures1 constrains1 
and upsets2 born enemies of  logic and  
of the straight line1 hankering after   
the strange1 the  exotic1 the monstrous1
 the crooked1 and the                   
self-contradictory2 as men1  ,tantaluses
 of the will1 plebeian parvenus1 who    
knew themselves to be  incapable of a   
noble ,,tempo or of a ,,lento in life   
and action--think  of ,balzac1 for      
instance1--unrestrained workers1 almost 
destroying  themselves by work2         
antinomians and rebels in manners1      
ambitious and  insatiable1 without      
equilibrium and enjoyment2 all of them  
finally  shattering and sinking down at 
the ,christian cross 7and with right    
and reason1 for who of them would have  
been sufficiently profound and          
sufficiently original for an            
,,anti-,,christian philosophy872--on the
  whole1 a boldly daring1 splendidly    
overbearing1 high-flying1 and           
aloft-up-dragging class of higher men1  
who had first to teach their            

century--and it is the century of the   
,,masses--the conception higher  man4444
 ,let the ,german friends of ,richard   
,wagner advise together as to  whether  
there is anything purely ,german in the 
,wagnerian art1 or whether  its         
distinction does not consist precisely  
in coming from ,,super-,,german  sources
 and impulses3 in which connection it   
may not be underrated  how indispensable
 ,paris was to the development of his   
type1 which the  strength of his        
instincts made him long to visit at the 
most  decisive time--and how the whole  
style of his proceedings1 of his        
self-apostolate1 could only perfect     
itself in sight of the ,french          
socialistic original4 ,on a more subtle 
comparison it will perhaps be  found1 to
 the honour of ,richard ,wagner's       
,german nature1 that he has  acted in   
everything with more strength1 daring1  
severity1 and elevation  than a         
nineteenth-century ,frenchman could have
 done--owing to the  circumstance that  

we ,germans are as yet nearer to        
barbarism than the  ,french2--perhaps   
even the most remarkable creation of    
,richard ,wagner is  not only at        
present1 but for ever inaccessible1     
incomprehensible1 and  inimitable to the
 whole latter-day ,latin race3 the      
figure of ,siegfried1  that ,,very      
,,free man1 who is probably far too     
free1 too hard1 too  cheerful1 too      
healthy1 too ,,anti-,,catholic for the  
taste of old and mellow  civilized      
nations4 ,he may even have been a sin   
against ,romanticism1 this  anti-,latin 
,siegfried3 well1 ,wagner atoned amply  
for this sin in his old  sad days1      
when--anticipating a taste which has    
meanwhile passed into  politics--he     
began1 with the religious vehemence     
peculiar to him1 to  preach1 at least1  
,,the ,,way ,,to ,,rome1 if not to walk 
therein4--,that  these last words may   
not be misunderstood1 ,i will call to my
 aid a few  powerful rhymes1 which will 
even betray to less delicate ears what  

,i  mean--what ,i mean ,,counter ,,to   
the last ,wagner and his ,parsifal      
music3--    --,is this our mode8--,from 
,german heart came this vexed ululating8
 ,from  ,german body1 this              
self-lacerating8 ,is ours this priestly 
hand-dilation1  ,this incense-fuming    
exaltation8 ,is ours this faltering1    
falling1  shambling1 ,this quite        
uncertain ding-dong-dangling8 ,this sly 
nun-ogling1 ,ave-hour-bell ringing1     
,this wholly false enraptured           
heaven-o'erspringing8--,is this our     
mode8--,think well6--ye still wait for  
admission--,for what ye hear is         
,,rome--,,rome',s ,,faith ,,by          
,,intuition6        ,,chapter ,,ix4     
,,what ,,is ,,noble8      #beg4 ,,every 
elevation of the type man1 has hitherto 
been the work of an  aristocratic       
society and so it will always be--a     
society believing in  a long scale of   
gradations of rank and differences of   
worth among human  beings1 and requiring
 slavery in some form or other4 ,without

 the ,,pathos  ,,of ,,distance1 such as 
grows out of the incarnated difference  
of classes1  out of the constant        
out-looking and down-looking of the     
ruling caste on  subordinates and       
instruments1 and out of their equally   
constant  practice of obeying and       
commanding1 of keeping down and keeping 
at a  distance--that other more         
mysterious pathos could never have      
arisen1 the  longing for an ever new    
widening of distance within the soul    
itself1  the formation of ever higher1  
rarer1 further1 more extended1 more     
comprehensive states1 in short1 just the
 elevation of the type man1  the        
continued self-surmounting of man1 to   
use a moral formula in  a supermoral    
sense4 ,to be sure1 one must not resign 
oneself to  any humanitarian illusions  
about the history of the origin of an   
aristocratic society 7that is to say1 of
 the preliminary condition for  the     
elevation of the type man73 the truth is
 hard4 ,let us acknowledge              

unprejudicedly how every higher         
civilization hitherto has ,,originated6 
,men with a still natural nature1       
barbarians in every terrible sense of   
the word1 men of prey1 still in         
possession of unbroken strength of will 
and desire for power1 threw themselves  
upon weaker1 more moral1 more  peaceful 
races 7perhaps trading or cattle-rearing
 communities71 or upon  old mellow      
civilizations in which the final vital  
force was flickering  out in brilliant  
fireworks of wit and depravity4 ,at the 
commencement1  the noble caste was      
always the barbarian caste3 their       
superiority did  not consist first of   
all in their physical1 but in their     
psychical  power--they were more        
,,complete men 7which at every point    
also implies  the same as more complete 
beasts74    #beh4 ,corruption--as the   
indication that anarchy threatens to    
break out  among the instincts1 and that
 the foundation of the emotions1 called 
life1 is convulsed--is something        

radically different according to  the   
organization in which it manifests      
itself4 ,when1 for instance1 an         
aristocracy like that of ,france at the 
beginning of the ,revolution1  flung    
away its privileges with sublime disgust
 and sacrificed itself  to an excess of 
its moral sentiments1 it was            
corruption3--it was really  only the    
closing act of the corruption which had 
existed for centuries1  by virtue of    
which that aristocracy had abdicated    
step by step its  lordly prerogatives   
and lowered itself to a ,,function of   
royalty 7in  the end even to its        
decoration and parade-dress74 ,the      
essential thing1  however1 in a good and
 healthy aristocracy is that it should  
not regard  itself as a function either 
of the kingship or the commonwealth1 but
  as the ,,significance and highest     
justification thereof--that it should   
therefore accept with a good conscience 
the sacrifice of a legion  of           
individuals1 who1 ,,for ,,its ,,sake1   

must be suppressed and reduced to       
imperfect men1 to slaves and            
instruments4 ,its fundamental belief    
must  be precisely that society is ,,not
 allowed to exist for its own sake1 but 
only as a foundation and scaffolding1 by
 means of which a select class  of      
beings may be able to elevate themselves
 to their higher duties1 and  in general
 to a higher ,,existence3 like those    
sun-seeking climbing plants  in         
,java--they are called ,sipo            
,matador1--which encircle an oak so     
long and so often with their arms1 until
 at last1 high above it1 but  supported 
by it1 they can unfold their tops in the
 open light1 and  exhibit their         
happiness4    #bei4 ,to refrain mutually
 from injury1 from violence1 from       
exploitation1  and put one's will on a  
par with that of others3 this may result
 in a  certain rough sense in good      
conduct among individuals when the      
necessary  conditions are given 7namely1
 the actual similarity of the           

individuals  in amount of force and     
degree of worth1 and their co-relation  
within one  organization74 ,as soon1    
however1 as one wished to take this     
principle  more generally1 and if       
possible even as the ,,fundamental      
,,principle ,,of  ,,society1 it would   
immediately disclose what it really     
is--namely1 a ,will  to the ,,denial of 
life1 a principle of dissolution and    
decay4 ,here one  must think profoundly 
to the very basis and resist all        
sentimental  weakness3 life itself is   
,,essentially appropriation1 injury1    
conquest  of the strange and weak1      
suppression1 severity1 obtrusion of     
peculiar forms1 incorporation1 and at   
the least1 putting it mildest1          
exploitation2--but why should one for   
ever use precisely these words  on which
 for ages a disparaging purpose has been
 stamped8 ,even the  organization within
 which1 as was previously supposed1 the 
individuals treat each other as         
equal--it takes place in every  healthy 

aristocracy--must itself1 if it be a    
living and not a dying  organization1 do
 all that towards other bodies1 which   
the individuals  within it refrain from 
doing to each other it will have to be  
the  incarnated ,will to ,power1 it will
 endeavour to grow1 to gain ground1     
attract to itself and acquire           
ascendancy--not owing to any morality or
  immorality1 but because it ,,lives1   
and because life ,,is precisely ,will to
  ,power4 ,on no point1 however1 is the 
ordinary consciousness of ,europeans    
more unwilling to be corrected than on  
this matter1 people now rave            
everywhere1 even under the guise of     
science1 about coming conditions of     
society in which the exploiting         
character is to be absent--that sounds  
to my ears as if they promised to invent
 a mode of life which should  refrain   
from all organic functions4             
,exploitation does not belong to a      
depraved1 or imperfect and primitive    
society it belongs to the nature of  the

 living being as a primary organic      
function1 it is a consequence  of the   
intrinsic ,will to ,power1 which is     
precisely the ,will to  ,life--,granting
 that as a theory this is a novelty--as 
a reality it is  the ,,fundamental      
,,fact of all history let us be so far  
honest towards  ourselves6    #bfj4 ,in 
a tour through the many finer and       
coarser moralities which have  hitherto 
prevailed or still prevail on the earth1
 ,i found certain traits  recurring     
regularly together1 and connected with  
one another1 until  finally two primary 
types revealed themselves to me1 and a  
radical  distinction was brought to     
light4 ,there is ,,master-,,morality and
  ,,slave-,,morality1--,i would at once 
add1 however1 that in all higher and    
mixed civilizations1 there are also     
attempts at the reconciliation of  the  
two moralities1 but one finds still     
oftener the confusion and  mutual       
misunderstanding of them1 indeed        
sometimes their close                   

juxtaposition--even in the same man1    
within one soul4 ,the distinctions  of  
moral values have either originated in a
 ruling caste1 pleasantly  conscious of 
being different from the ruled--or among
 the ruled class1  the slaves and       
dependents of all sorts4 ,in the first  
case1 when it is  the rulers who        
determine the conception good1 it is the
 exalted1 proud  disposition which is   
regarded as the distinguishing feature1 
and that  which determines the order of 
rank4 ,the noble type of man separates  
from himself the beings in whom the     
opposite of this exalted1 proud         
disposition displays itself he despises 
them4 ,let it at once be noted  that in 
this first kind of morality the         
antithesis good and bad  means          
practically the same as noble and       
despicable1--the antithesis  good and   
,,evil is of a different origin4 ,the   
cowardly1 the timid1 the  insignificant1
 and those thinking merely of narrow    
utility are despised2  moreover1 also1  

the distrustful1 with their constrained 
glances1 the  self-abasing1 the dog-like
 kind of men who let themselves be      
abused1  the mendicant flatterers1 and  
above all the liars3--it is a           
fundamental  belief of all aristocrats  
that the common people are untruthful4  
,we  truthful ones--the nobility in     
ancient ,greece called themselves4 ,it  
is  obvious that everywhere the         
designations of moral value were at     
first  applied to ,,men2 and were only  
derivatively and at a later period      
applied  to ,,actions2 it is a gross    
mistake1 therefore1 when historians of  
morals  start with questions like1 ,why 
have sympathetic actions been praised8  
,the noble type of man regards ,,himself
 as a determiner of values2 he  does not
 require to be approved of2 he passes   
the judgment3 ,what is  injurious to me 
is injurious in itself2 he knows that it
 is he himself  only who confers honour 
on things2 he is a ,,creator ,,of       
,,values4 ,he  honours whatever he      

recognizes in himself3 such morality    
equals  self-glorification4 ,in the     
foreground there is the feeling of      
plenitude1  of power1 which seeks to    
overflow1 the happiness of high tension1
 the  consciousness of a wealth which   
would fain give and bestow3--the noble  
man also helps the unfortunate1 but     
not--or scarcely--out of pity1 but      
rather from an impulse generated by the 
super-abundance of power4 ,the  noble   
man honours in himself the powerful one1
 him also who has power  over himself1  
who knows how to speak and how to keep  
silence1 who  takes pleasure in         
subjecting himself to severity and      
hardness1 and has  reverence for all    
that is severe and hard4 ,wotan placed a
 hard heart in  my breast1 says an old  
,scandinavian ,saga3 it is thus rightly 
expressed  from the soul of a proud     
,viking4 ,such a type of man is even    
proud of not  being made for sympathy2  
the hero of the ,saga therefore adds    
warningly3  ,he who has not a hard heart

 when young1 will never have one4 ,the  
noble  and brave who think thus are the 
furthest removed from the morality      
which sees precisely in sympathy1 or in 
acting for the good of others1  or in   
,,desinteressement1 the characteristic  
of the moral2 faith  in oneself1 pride  
in oneself1 a radical enmity and irony  
towards  selflessness1 belong as        
definitely to noble morality1 as do a   
careless  scorn and precaution in       
presence of sympathy and the warm       
heart4--,it  is the powerful who ,,know 
how to honour1 it is their art1 their   
domain  for invention4 ,the profound    
reverence for age and for tradition--all
 law  rests on this double              
reverence1--the belief and prejudice in 
favour of  ancestors and unfavourable to
 newcomers1 is typical in the morality  
of  the powerful2 and if1 reversely1 men
 of modern ideas believe almost         
instinctively in progress and the       
future1 and are more and more  lacking  
in respect for old age1 the ignoble     

origin of these ideas has  complacently 
betrayed itself thereby4 ,a morality of 
the ruling class1  however1 is more     
especially foreign and irritating to    
present-day taste  in the sternness of  
its principle that one has duties only  
to one's  equals2 that one may act      
towards beings of a lower rank1 towards 
all  that is foreign1 just as seems good
 to one1 or as the heart desires1  and  
in any case beyond good and evil3 it is 
here that sympathy and  similar         
sentiments can have a place4 ,the       
ability and obligation to  exercise     
prolonged gratitude and prolonged       
revenge--both only within the  circle of
 equals1--artfulness in retaliation1    
,,raffinement of the idea  in           
friendship1 a certain necessity to have 
enemies 7as outlets for the  emotions of
 envy1 quarrelsomeness1 arrogance--in   
fact1 in order to be  a good ,,friend73 
all these are typical characteristics of
 the noble  morality1 which1 as has been
 pointed out1 is not the morality of    

modern  ideas1 and is therefore at      
present difficult to realize1 and also  
to  unearth and disclose4--,it is       
otherwise with the second type of       
morality1  ,,slave-,,morality4          
,supposing that the abused1 the         
oppressed1 the suffering1  the          
unemancipated1 the weary1 and those     
uncertain of themselves should          
moralize1 what will be the common       
element in their moral estimates8       
,probably a pessimistic suspicion with  
regard to the entire situation of  man  
will find expression1 perhaps a         
condemnation of man1 together with  his 
situation4 ,the slave has an            
unfavourable eye for the virtues of the 
powerful2 he has a skepticism and       
distrust1 a ,,refinement of distrust of 
everything good that is there           
honoured--he would fain persuade himself
  that the very happiness there is not  
genuine4 ,on the other hand1 ,,those    
qualities which serve to alleviate the  
existence of sufferers are  brought into

 prominence and flooded with light2 it  
is here that  sympathy1 the kind1       
helping hand1 the warm heart1 patience1 
diligence1  humility1 and friendliness  
attain to honour2 for here these are the
 most  useful qualities1 and almost the 
only means of supporting the burden of  
existence4 ,slave-morality is           
essentially the morality of utility4    
,here is the seat of the origin of the  
famous antithesis good and  evil3--power
 and dangerousness are assumed to reside
 in the evil1  a certain dreadfulness1  
subtlety1 and strength1 which do not    
admit of  being despised4 ,according to 
slave-morality1 therefore1 the evil man 
arouses fear2 according to              
master-morality1 it is precisely the    
good  man who arouses fear and seeks to 
arouse it1 while the bad man is         
regarded as the despicable being4 ,the  
contrast attains its maximum when1  in  
accordance with the logical consequences
 of slave-morality1 a shade  of         
depreciation--it may be slight and      

well-intentioned--at last attaches      
itself to the good man of this morality2
 because1 according to the  servile mode
 of thought1 the good man must in any   
case be the ,,safe  man3 he is          
good-natured1 easily deceived1 perhaps a
 little stupid1 un  bonhomme4           
,everywhere that slave-morality gains   
the ascendancy1 language  shows a       
tendency to approximate the             
significations of the words good  and   
stupid4--,a last fundamental difference3
 the desire for ,,freedom1  the instinct
 for happiness and the refinements of   
the feeling of liberty  belong as       
necessarily to slave-morals and         
morality1 as artifice and  enthusiasm in
 reverence and devotion are the regular 
symptoms of an  aristocratic mode of    
thinking and estimating4--,hence we can 
understand  without further detail why  
love ,,as ,a ,,passion--it is our       
,european  specialty--must absolutely be
 of noble origin2 as is well known1 its 
invention is due to the ,provencal      

poet-cavaliers1 those brilliant1        
ingenious men of the gai saber1 to whom 
,europe owes so much1 and  almost owes  
itself4    #bfa4 ,vanity is one of the  
things which are perhaps most difficult 
for  a noble man to understand3 he will 
be tempted to deny it1 where another    
kind of man thinks he sees it           
self-evidently4 ,the problem for him is 
to represent to his mind beings who seek
 to arouse a good opinion of  themselves
 which they themselves do not           
possess--and consequently also  do not  
deserve1--and who yet ,,believe in this 
good opinion  afterwards4 ,this seems to
 him on the one hand such bad taste and 
so  self-disrespectful1 and on the other
 hand so grotesquely unreasonable1  that
 he would like to consider vanity an    
exception1 and is doubtful  about it in 
most cases when it is spoken of4 ,he    
will say1 for  instance3 ,i may be      
mistaken about my value1 and on the     
other hand  may nevertheless demand that
 my value should be acknowledged by     

others  precisely as ,i rate it3--that1 
however1 is not vanity 7but             
self-conceit1  or1 in most cases1 that  
which is called 'humility1' and also    
'modesty'74 ,or he will even say3 ,for  
many reasons ,i can delight in  the good
 opinion of others1 perhaps because ,i  
love and honour them1  and rejoice in   
all their joys1 perhaps also because    
their good opinion  endorses and        
strengthens my belief in my own good    
opinion1 perhaps  because the good      
opinion of others1 even in cases where  
,i do not share  it1 is useful to me1 or
 gives promise of usefulness3--all this1
 however1  is not vanity4 ,the man of   
noble character must first bring it home
  forcibly to his mind1 especially with 
the aid of history1 that1 from  time    
immemorial1 in all social strata in any 
way dependent1 the ordinary  man ,,was  
only that which he ,,passed ,,for3--not 
being at all accustomed to  fix values1 
he did not assign even to himself any   
other value than that  which his master 

assigned to him 7it is the peculiar     
,,right ,,of ,,masters to  create       
values74 ,it may be looked upon as the  
result of an extraordinary  atavism1    
that the ordinary man1 even at present1 
is still always ,,waiting  for an       
opinion about himself1 and then         
instinctively submitting himself  to it2
 yet by no means only to a good opinion1
 but also to a bad  and unjust one      
7think1 for instance1 of the greater    
part of the  self-appreciations and     
self-depreciations which believing women
 learn  from their confessors1 and which
 in general the believing ,christian    
learns from his ,church74 ,in fact1     
conformably to the slow rise of the     
democratic social order 7and its cause1 
the blending of the blood  of masters   
and slaves71 the originally noble and   
rare impulse of  the masters to assign a
 value to themselves and to think well  
of  themselves1 will now be more and    
more encouraged and extended2 but  it   
has at all times an older1 ampler1 and  

more radically ingrained  propensity    
opposed to it--and in the phenomenon of 
vanity this older  propensity           
overmasters the younger4 ,the vain      
person rejoices over ,,every  good      
opinion which he hears about himself    
7quite apart from the point  of view of 
its usefulness1 and equally regardless  
of its truth or  falsehood71 just as he 
suffers from every bad opinion3 for he  
subjects  himself to both1 he feels     
himself subjected to both1 by that      
oldest  instinct of subjection which    
breaks forth in him4--,it is the slave  
in the vain man's blood1 the remains of 
the slave's craftiness--and how  much of
 the slave is still left in woman1 for  
instance6--which  seeks to ,,seduce to  
good opinions of itself2 it is the      
slave1 too1 who  immediately afterwards 
falls prostrate himself before these    
opinions1 as  though he had not called  
them forth4--,and to repeat it again3   
vanity is  an atavism4    #bfb4 ,a      
,,species originates1 and a type becomes

 established and strong in  the long    
struggle with essentially constant      
,,unfavourable conditions4 ,on  the     
other hand1 it is known by the          
experience of breeders that species     
which receive super-abundant            
nourishment1 and in general a surplus of
  protection and care1 immediately tend 
in the most marked way to develop       
variations1 and are fertile in prodigies
 and monstrosities 7also in  monstrous  
vices74 ,now look at an aristocratic    
commonwealth1 say  an ancient ,greek    
polis1 or ,venice1 as a voluntary or    
involuntary  contrivance for the purpose
 of ,,rearing human beings2 there are   
there men  beside one another1 thrown   
upon their own resources1 who want to   
make  their species prevail1 chiefly    
because they ,,must prevail1 or else    
run the terrible danger of being        
exterminated4 ,the favour1 the          
super-abundance1 the protection are     
there lacking under which variations    
are fostered2 the species needs itself  

as species1 as something which1         
precisely by virtue of its hardness1 its
 uniformity1 and simplicity of          
structure1 can in general prevail and   
make itself permanent in  constant      
struggle with its neighbours1 or with   
rebellious or  rebellion-threatening    
vassals4 ,the most varied experience    
teaches it  what are the qualities to   
which it principally owes the fact that 
it still exists1 in spite of all ,gods  
and men1 and has hitherto been          
victorious3 these qualities it calls    
virtues1 and these virtues alone  it    
develops to maturity4 ,it does so with  
severity1 indeed it desires  severity2  
every aristocratic morality is          
intolerant in the education  of youth1  
in the control of women1 in the marriage
 customs1 in the  relations of old and  
young1 in the penal laws 7which have an 
eye only  for the degenerating73 it     
counts intolerance itself among the     
virtues1  under the name of justice4 ,a 
type with few1 but very marked features1

  a species of severe1 warlike1 wisely  
silent1 reserved1 and reticent  men 7and
 as such1 with the most delicate        
sensibility for the charm and  nuances  
of society7 is thus established1        
unaffected by the vicissitudes  of      
generations2 the constant struggle with 
uniform ,,unfavourable  conditions is1  
as already remarked1 the cause of a type
 becoming  stable and hard4 ,finally1   
however1 a happy state of things        
results1 the  enormous tension is       
relaxed2 there are perhaps no more      
enemies among the  neighbouring peoples1
 and the means of life1 even of the     
enjoyment  of life1 are present in      
superabundance4 ,with one stroke the    
bond and  constraint of the old         
discipline severs3 it is no longer      
regarded as  necessary1 as a condition  
of existence--if it would continue1 it  
can  only do so as a form of ,,luxury1  
as an archaizing ,,taste4 ,variations1  
whether they be deviations 7into the    
higher1 finer1 and rarer71 or           

deteriorations and monstrosities1 appear
 suddenly on the scene in the  greatest 
exuberance and splendour2 the individual
 dares to be individual  and detach     
himself4 ,at this turning-point of      
history there manifest  themselves1 side
 by side1 and often mixed and entangled 
together1 a  magnificent1 manifold1     
virgin-forest-like up-growth and        
up-striving1 a  kind of ,,tropical      
,,tempo in the rivalry of growth1 and an
 extraordinary  decay and               
self-destruction1 owing to the savagely 
opposing and seemingly  exploding       
egoisms1 which strive with one another  
for sun and light1  and can no longer   
assign any limit1 restraint1 or         
forbearance for  themselves by means of 
the hitherto existing morality4 ,it was 
this  morality itself which piled up the
 strength so enormously1 which bent  the
 bow in so threatening a manner3--it is 
now out of date1 it is  getting out of  
date4 ,the dangerous and disquieting    
point has been  reached when the        

greater1 more manifold1 more            
comprehensive life ,,is  ,,lived        
,,beyond the old morality2 the          
individual stands out1 and is  obliged  
to have recourse to his own law-giving1 
his own arts and  artifices for         
self-preservation1 self-elevation1 and  
self-deliverance4  ,nothing but new     
,whys1 nothing but new ,hows1 no common 
formulas any  longer1 misunderstanding  
and disregard in league with each other1
 decay1  deterioration1 and the loftiest
 desires frightfully entangled1 the     
genius of the race overflowing from all 
the cornucopias of good and bad1  a     
portentous simultaneousness of ,spring  
and ,autumn1 full of new charms  and    
mysteries peculiar to the fresh1 still  
inexhausted1 still unwearied            
corruption4 ,danger is again present1   
the mother of morality1 great  danger2  
this time shifted into the individual1  
into the neighbour and  friend1 into the
 street1 into their own child1 into     
their own heart1  into all the most     

personal and secret recesses of their   
desires and  volitions4 ,what will the  
moral philosophers who appear at this   
time have  to preach8 ,they discover1   
these sharp onlookers and loafers1 that 
the  end is quickly approaching1 that   
everything around them decays and       
produces decay1 that nothing will endure
 until the day after tomorrow1  except  
one species of man1 the incurably       
,,mediocre4 ,the mediocre alone  have a 
prospect of continuing and propagating  
themselves--they will  be the men of the
 future1 the sole survivors2 be like    
them6 become  mediocre6 is now the only 
morality which has still a significance1
  which still obtains a hearing4--,but  
it is difficult to preach this  morality
 of mediocrity6 it can never avow what  
it is and what it  desires6 it has to   
talk of moderation and dignity and duty 
and brotherly  love--it will have       
difficulty ,,in ,,concealing ,,its      
,,irony6    #bfc4 ,there is an          
,,instinct ,,for ,,rank1 which more than

 anything else is  already the sign of a
 ,,high rank2 there is a ,,delight in   
the ,,nuances  of reverence which leads 
one to infer noble origin and habits4   
,the  refinement1 goodness1 and         
loftiness of a soul are put to a        
perilous test  when something passes by 
that is of the highest rank1 but is not 
yet protected by the awe of authority   
from obtrusive touches and              
incivilities3 something that goes its   
way like a living touchstone1           
undistinguished1 undiscovered1 and      
tentative1 perhaps voluntarily veiled   
and disguised4 ,he whose task and       
practice it is to investigate souls1    
will avail himself of many varieties of 
this very art to determine the  ultimate
 value of a soul1 the unalterable1      
innate order of rank to which  it       
belongs3 he will test it by its         
,,instinct ,,for ,,reverence4           
,,difference  ,,engendre ,,haine3 the   
vulgarity of many a nature spurts up    
suddenly like  dirty water1 when any    

holy vessel1 any jewel from closed      
shrines1 any  book bearing the marks of 
great destiny1 is brought before it2    
while  on the other hand1 there is an   
involuntary silence1 a hesitation of the
  eye1 a cessation of all gestures1 by  
which it is indicated that a soul       
,,feels the nearness of what is         
worthiest of respect4 ,the way in which1
 on  the whole1 the reverence for the   
,,bible has hitherto been maintained  in
 ,europe1 is perhaps the best example of
 discipline and refinement of  manners  
which ,europe owes to ,christianity3    
books of such profoundness  and supreme 
significance require for their          
protection an external  tyranny of      
authority1 in order to acquire the      
,,period of thousands of  years which is
 necessary to exhaust and unriddle them4
 ,much has been  achieved when the      
sentiment has been at last instilled    
into the masses  7the shallow-pates and 
the boobies of every kind7 that they are
 not  allowed to touch everything1 that 

there are holy experiences before  which
 they must take off their shoes and keep
 away the unclean hand--it  is almost   
their highest advance towards humanity4 
,on the contrary1 in  the so-called     
cultured classes1 the believers in      
modern ideas1 nothing  is perhaps so    
repulsive as their lack of shame1 the   
easy insolence of  eye and hand with    
which they touch1 taste1 and finger     
everything2 and it  is possible that    
even yet there is more ,,relative       
nobility of taste1 and  more tact for   
reverence among the people1 among the   
lower classes of  the people1 especially
 among peasants1 than among the         
newspaper-reading  ,,demimonde of       
intellect1 the cultured class4    #bfd4 
,it cannot be effaced from a man's soul 
what his ancestors have  preferably and 
most constantly done3 whether they were 
perhaps diligent  economizers attached  
to a desk and a cash-box1 modest and    
citizen-like  in their desires1 modest  
also in their virtues2 or whether they  

were  accustomed to commanding from     
morning till night1 fond of rude        
pleasures  and probably of still ruder  
duties and responsibilities2 or whether1
  finally1 at one time or another1 they 
have sacrificed old privileges of  birth
 and possession1 in order to live wholly
 for their faith--for their  ,god1--as  
men of an inexorable and sensitive      
conscience1 which blushes  at every     
compromise4 ,it is quite impossible for 
a man ,,not to have  the qualities and  
predilections of his parents and        
ancestors in his  constitution1 whatever
 appearances may suggest to the         
contrary4 ,this is  the problem of race4
 ,granted that one knows something of   
the parents1  it is admissible to draw a
 conclusion about the child3 any kind   
of offensive incontinence1 any kind of  
sordid envy1 or of clumsy               
self-vaunting--the three things which   
together have constituted the  genuine  
plebeian type in all times--such must   
pass over to the child1 as  surely as   

bad blood2 and with the help of the best
 education and culture  one will only   
succeed in ,,deceiving with regard to   
such heredity4--,and  what else does    
education and culture try to do         
nowadays6 ,in our very  democratic1 or  
rather1 very plebeian age1 education and
 culture ,,must  be essentially the art 
of deceiving--deceiving with regard to  
origin1  with regard to the inherited   
plebeianism in body and soul4 ,an       
educator  who nowadays preached         
truthfulness above everything else1 and 
called out  constantly to his pupils3   
,be true6 ,be natural6 ,show yourselves 
as you  are6--even such a virtuous and  
sincere ass would learn in a short time 
to have recourse to the ,,furca of      
,horace1 ,,naturam ,,expellere3 with    
what  results8 ,plebeianism ,,usque     
,,recurret4 ,,footnote3 ,horace's       
,epistles1  ,i4 x4 #bd4    #bfe4 ,at the
 risk of displeasing innocent ears1 ,i  
submit that egoism  belongs to the      
essence of a noble soul1 ,i mean the    

unalterable belief  that to a being such
 as we1 other beings must naturally be  
in  subjection1 and have to sacrifice   
themselves4 ,the noble soul accepts the 
fact of his egoism without question1 and
 also without consciousness of          
harshness1 constraint1 or arbitrariness 
therein1 but rather as something  that  
may have its basis in the primary law of
 things3--if he sought a  designation   
for it he would say3 ,it is justice     
itself4 ,he acknowledges  under certain 
circumstances1 which made him hesitate  
at first1 that  there are other equally 
privileged ones2 as soon as he has      
settled this  question of rank1 he moves
 among those equals and equally         
privileged  ones with the same          
assurance1 as regards modesty and       
delicate respect1  which he enjoys in   
intercourse with himself--in accordance 
with an  innate heavenly mechanism which
 all the stars understand4 ,it is an    
,,additional instance of his egoism1    
this artfulness and self-limitation  in 

intercourse with his equals--every star 
is a similar egoist2 he  honours        
,,himself in them1 and in the rights    
which he concedes to them1 he  has no   
doubt that the exchange of honours and  
rights1 as the ,,essence of  all        
intercourse1 belongs also to the natural
 condition of things4 ,the  noble soul  
gives as he takes1 prompted by the      
passionate and sensitive  instinct of   
requital1 which is at the root of his   
nature4 ,the notion of  favour has1     
,,inter ,,pares1 neither significance   
nor good repute2 there  may be a sublime
 way of letting gifts as it were light  
upon one from  above1 and of drinking   
them thirstily like dew-drops2 but for  
those  arts and displays the noble soul 
has no aptitude4 ,his egoism hinders him
  here3 in general1 he looks aloft      
unwillingly--he looks either ,,forward1 
horizontally and deliberately1 or       
downwards--,,he ,,knows ,,that ,,he ,,is
 ,,on ,a  ,,height4    #bff4 ,one can   
only truly esteem him who does not      

,,look ,,out ,,for  himself4--,goethe to
 ,rath ,schlosser4    #bfg4 ,the        
,chinese have a proverb which mothers   
even teach their children3  ,,siao-,,sin
 7,,make ,,thy ,,heart ,,small74 ,this  
is the essentially fundamental  tendency
 in latter-day civilizations4 ,i have no
 doubt that an ancient  ,greek1 also1   
would first of all remark the           
self-dwarfing in us ,europeans  of      
today--in this respect alone we should  
immediately be distasteful  to him4     
#bfh4 ,what1 after all1 is              
ignobleness8--,words are vocal symbols  
for  ideas2 ideas1 however1 are more or 
less definite mental symbols  for       
frequently returning and concurring     
sensations1 for groups of  sensations4  
,it is not sufficient to use the same   
words in order to  understand one       
another3 we must also employ the same   
words for the same  kind of internal    
experiences1 we must in the end have    
experiences ,,in  ,,common4 ,on this    
account the people of one nation        

understand one another  better than     
those belonging to different nations1   
even when they use  the same language2  
or rather1 when people have lived long  
together under  similar conditions 7of  
climate1 soil1 danger1 requirement1     
toil7 there  ,,originates therefrom an  
entity that understands itself--namely1 
a  nation4 ,in all souls a like number  
of frequently recurring experiences     
have gained the upper hand over those   
occurring more rarely3 about  these     
matters people understand one another   
rapidly and always more  rapidly--the   
history of language is the history of a 
process of  abbreviation2 on the basis  
of this quick comprehension people      
always  unite closer and closer4 ,the   
greater the danger1 the greater is the  
need of agreeing quickly and readily    
about what is necessary2 not to         
misunderstand one another in            
danger--that is what cannot at all be   
dispensed with in intercourse4 ,also in 
all loves and friendships one has  the  

experience that nothing of the kind     
continues when the discovery  has been  
made that in using the same words1 one  
of the two parties has  feelings1       
thoughts1 intuitions1 wishes1 or fears  
different from those of  the other4     
7,the fear of the eternal               
misunderstanding3 that is the good      
genius which so often keeps persons of  
different sexes from too  hasty         
attachments1 to which sense and heart   
prompt them--and ,,not some             
,schopenhauerian genius of the species67
 ,whichever groups of sensations  within
 a soul awaken most readily1 begin to   
speak1 and give the word of             
command--these decide as to the general 
order of rank of its values1 and        
determine ultimately its list of        
desirable things4 ,a man's estimates of 
value betray something of the           
,,structure of his soul1 and wherein it 
sees its conditions of life1 its        
intrinsic needs4 ,supposing now that    
necessity has from all time drawn       

together only such men as could  express
 similar requirements and similar       
experiences by similar symbols1  it     
results on the whole that the easy      
,,communicability of need1  which       
implies ultimately the undergoing only  
of average and ,,common  experiences1   
must have been the most potent of all   
the forces which  have hitherto operated
 upon mankind4 ,the more similar1 the   
more ordinary  people1 have always had  
and are still having the advantage2 the 
more  select1 more refined1 more unique1
 and difficultly comprehensible1 are    
liable to stand alone2 they succumb to  
accidents in their isolation1 and       
seldom propagate themselves4 ,one must  
appeal to immense opposing forces1  in  
order to thwart this natural1           
all-too-natural ,,progressus ,,in       
,,simile1  the evolution of man to the  
similar1 the ordinary1 the average1 the 
gregarious--to the ,,ignoble--6    #bfi4
 ,the more a psychologist--a born1 an   
unavoidable psychologist  and           

soul-diviner--turns his attention to the
 more select cases and  individuals1 the
 greater is his danger of being         
suffocated by sympathy3  he ,,needs     
sternness and cheerfulness more than any
 other man4 ,for  the corruption1 the   
ruination of higher men1 of the more    
unusually  constituted souls1 is in     
fact1 the rule3 it is dreadful to have  
such a  rule always before one's eyes4  
,the manifold torment of the            
psychologist  who has discovered this   
ruination1 who discovers once1 and then 
discovers ,,almost repeatedly throughout
 all history1 this universal  inner     
desperateness of higher men1 this       
eternal too late6 in every  sense--may  
perhaps one day be the cause of his     
turning with  bitterness against his own
 lot1 and of his making an attempt at   
self-destruction--of his going to ruin  
himself4 ,one may perceive  in almost   
every psychologist a tell-tale          
inclination for delightful  intercourse 
with commonplace and well-ordered men2  

the fact is thereby  disclosed that he  
always requires healing1 that he needs a
 sort  of flight and forgetfulness1 away
 from what his insight and              
incisiveness--from what his             
business--has laid upon his conscience4 
,the fear of his memory is peculiar to  
him4 ,he is easily silenced by the      
judgment of others2 he hears with       
unmoved countenance how people honour1  
admire1 love1 and glorify1 where he has 
,,perceived--or he even conceals  his   
silence by expressly assenting to some  
plausible opinion4 ,perhaps  the paradox
 of his situation becomes so dreadful   
that1 precisely  where he has learnt    
,,great ,,sympathy1 together with great 
,,contempt1 the  multitude1 the         
educated1 and the visionaries1 have on  
their part learnt  great                
reverence--reverence for great men and  
marvelous animals1 for  the sake of whom
 one blesses and honours the fatherland1
 the earth1 the  dignity of mankind1 and
 one's own self1 to whom one points the 

young1  and in view of whom one educates
 them4 ,and who knows but in all great  
instances hitherto just the same        
happened3 that the multitude worshipped 
a ,god1 and that the ,god was only a    
poor sacrificial animal6 ,,success  has 
always been the greatest liar--and the  
work itself is a success2  the great    
statesman1 the conqueror1 the           
discoverer1 are disguised in  their     
creations until they are unrecognizable2
 the work of the artist1  of the        
philosopher1 only invents him who has   
created it1 is ,,reputed  to have       
created it2 the great men1 as they are  
reverenced1 are poor  little fictions   
composed afterwards2 in the world of    
historical values  spurious coinage     
,,prevails4 ,those great poets1 for     
example1 such as  ,byron1 ,musset1 ,poe1
 ,leopardi1 ,kleist1 ,gogol 7,i do not  
venture to mention  much greater names1 
but ,i have them in my mind71 as they   
now appear1 and  were perhaps obliged to
 be3 men of the moment1 enthusiastic1   

sensuous1  and childish1 light-minded   
and impulsive in their trust and        
distrust2  with souls in which usually  
some flaw has to be concealed2 often    
taking  revenge with their works for an 
internal defilement1 often seeking      
forgetfulness in their soaring from a   
too true memory1 often lost in  the mud 
and almost in love with it1 until they  
become like the  ,will-o'-the-,wisps    
around the swamps1 and ,,pretend ,,to   
,,be stars--the people  then call them  
idealists1--often struggling with       
protracted disgust1  with an            
ever-reappearing phantom of disbelief1  
which makes them cold1  and obliges them
 to languish for ,,gloria and devour    
faith as it is  out of the hands of     
intoxicated adulators3--what a ,,torment
 these great  artists are and the       
so-called higher men in general1 to him 
who has once  found them out6 ,it is    
thus conceivable that it is just from   
woman--who  is clairvoyant in the world 
of suffering1 and also unfortunately    

eager  to help and save to an extent far
 beyond her powers--that ,,they have    
learnt so readily those outbreaks of    
boundless devoted ,,sympathy1 which  the
 multitude1 above all the reverent      
multitude1 do not understand1  and      
overwhelm with prying and               
self-gratifying interpretations4 ,this  
sympathizing invariably deceives itself 
as to its power2 woman would  like to   
believe that love can do                
,,everything--it is the ,,superstition  
peculiar to her4 ,alas1 he who knows the
 heart finds out how poor1  helpless1   
pretentious1 and blundering even the    
best and deepest love  is--he finds that
 it rather ,,destroys than saves6--,it  
is possible that  under the holy fable  
and travesty of the life of ,jesus there
 is hidden  one of the most painful     
cases of the martyrdom of ,,knowledge   
,,about ,,love3  the martyrdom of the   
most innocent and most craving heart1   
that  never had enough of any human     
love1 that ,,demanded love1 that        

demanded  inexorably and frantically to 
be loved and nothing else1 with terrible
  outbursts against those who refused   
him their love2 the story of a poor     
soul insatiated and insatiable in love1 
that had to invent hell to send  thither
 those who ,,would ,,not love him--and  
that at last1 enlightened  about human  
love1 had to invent a ,god who is entire
 love1 entire  ,,capacity for love--who 
takes pity on human love1 because it is 
so  paltry1 so ignorant6 ,he who has    
such sentiments1 he who has such        
,,knowledge about love--,,seeks for     
death6--,but why should one deal with   
such painful matters8 ,provided1 of     
course1 that one is not obliged to do   
so4    #bgj4 ,the intellectual          
haughtiness and loathing of every man   
who has  suffered deeply--it almost     
determines the order of rank ,,how      
deeply men  can suffer--the chilling    
certainty1 with which he is thoroughly  
imbued  and coloured1 that by virtue of 
his suffering he ,,knows ,,more than the

  shrewdest and wisest can ever know1   
that he has been familiar with1  and at 
home in1 many distant1 dreadful worlds  
of which ,,you know  nothing6--this     
silent intellectual haughtiness of the  
sufferer1 this  pride of the elect of   
knowledge1 of the initiated1 of the     
almost  sacrificed1 finds all forms of  
disguise necessary to protect itself    
from  contact with officious and        
sympathizing hands1 and in general from 
all  that is not its equal in suffering4
 ,profound suffering makes noble3  it   
separates4--,one of the most refined    
forms of disguise is ,epicurism1  along 
with a certain ostentatious boldness of 
taste1 which takes  suffering lightly1  
and puts itself on the defensive against
 all that  is sorrowful and profound4   
,they are gay men who make use of       
gaiety1  because they are misunderstood 
on account of it--they ,,wish to be     
misunderstood4 ,there are scientific    
minds who make use of science1  because 
it gives a gay appearance1 and because  

scientificness leads to  the conclusion 
that a person is superficial--they      
,,wish to mislead to a  false           
conclusion4 ,there are free insolent    
minds which would fain conceal  and deny
 that they are broken1 proud1 incurable 
hearts 7the cynicism of  ,hamlet--the   
case of ,galiani72 and occasionally     
folly itself is the mask  of an         
unfortunate ,,over-,,assured            
knowledge4--,from which it follows that 
it  is the part of a more refined       
humanity to have reverence for the mask1
  and not to make use of psychology and 
curiosity in the wrong place4    #bga4  
,that which separates two men most      
profoundly is a different sense  and    
grade of purity4 ,what does it matter   
about all their honesty and  reciprocal 
usefulness1 what does it matter about   
all their mutual  good-will3 the fact   
still remains--they cannot smell each   
other6 ,the  highest instinct for purity
 places him who is affected with it in  
the  most extraordinary and dangerous   

isolation1 as a saint3 for it is just   
holiness--the highest spiritualization  
of the instinct in question4 ,any  kind 
of cognizance of an indescribable excess
 in the joy of the bath1  any kind of   
ardour or thirst which perpetually      
impels the soul out  of night into the  
morning1 and out of gloom1 out of       
affliction into  clearness1 brightness1 
depth1 and refinement3--just as much as 
such a  tendency ,,distinguishes--it is 
a noble tendency--it also               
,,separates4--,the  pity of the saint is
 pity for the ,,filth of the human1     
all-too-human4  ,and there are grades   
and heights where pity itself is        
regarded by him as  impurity1 as filth4 
#bgb4 ,signs of nobility3 never to think
 of lowering our duties to the  rank of 
duties for everybody2 to be unwilling to
 renounce or to share  our              
responsibilities2 to count our          
prerogatives1 and the exercise of  them1
 among our ,,duties4    #bgc4 ,a man who
 strives after great things1 looks upon 

every one whom  he encounters on his way
 either as a means of advance1 or a     
delay and  hindrance--or as a temporary 
resting-place4 ,his peculiar lofty      
,,bounty  to his fellow-men is only     
possible when he attains his elevation  
and  dominates4 ,impatience1 and the    
consciousness of being always condemned 
to comedy up to that time--for even     
strife is a comedy1 and conceals the    
end1 as every means does--spoil all     
intercourse for him2 this kind of  man  
is acquainted with solitude1 and what is
 most poisonous in it4    #bgd4 ,,the   
,,problem ,,of ,,those ,,who            
,,wait4--,happy chances are necessary1  
and  many incalculable elements1 in     
order that a higher man in whom the     
solution of a problem is dormant1 may   
yet take action1 or break forth1  as one
 might say--at the right moment4 ,on an 
average it ,,does ,,not happen2  and in 
all corners of the earth there are      
waiting ones sitting who  hardly know to
 what extent they are waiting1 and still

 less that they  wait in vain4          
,occasionally1 too1 the waking call     
comes too late--the  chance which gives 
permission to take action--when their   
best youth1  and strength for action    
have been used up in sitting still2 and 
how many  a one1 just as he sprang up1  
has found with horror that his limbs are
  benumbed and his spirits are now too  
heavy6 ,it is too late1 he has  said to 
himself--and has become self-distrustful
 and henceforth for ever  useless4--,in 
the domain of genius1 may not the       
,raphael without  hands 7taking the     
expression in its widest sense7 perhaps 
not be the  exception1 but the          
rule8--,perhaps genius is by no means so
 rare3 but  rather the five hundred     
,,hands which it requires in order to   
tyrannize  over the ,,greek ,,inserted  
,,here1 the right time--in order to take
  chance by the forelock6    #bge4 ,he  
who does not ,,wish to see the height of
 a man1 looks all the  more sharply at  
what is low in him1 and in the          

foreground--and thereby  betrays        
himself4    #bgf4 ,in all kinds of      
injury and loss the lower and coarser   
soul is  better off than the nobler     
soul3 the dangers of the latter must be 
greater1 the probability that it will   
come to grief and perish is in  fact    
immense1 considering the multiplicity of
 the conditions of its  existence4--,in 
a lizard a finger grows again which has 
been lost2 not so  in man4--    #bgg4   
,it is too bad6 ,always the old story6  
,when a man has finished  building his  
house1 he finds that he has learnt      
unawares something  which he ,,ought    
absolutely to have known before         
he--began to build4 ,the  eternal1 fatal
 ,too late6 ,the melancholia of         
everything ,,completed--6               
#bgh4--,wanderer1 who art thou8 ,i see  
thee follow thy path without scorn1     
without love1 with unfathomable eyes1   
wet and sad as a plummet which has      
returned to the light insatiated out of 
every depth--what did it seek  down     

there8--with a bosom that never sighs1  
with lips that conceal their  loathing1 
with a hand which only slowly grasps3   
who art thou8 what  hast thou done8     
,rest thee here3 this place has         
hospitality for every  one--refresh     
thyself6 ,and whoever thou art1 what is 
it that now pleases  thee8 ,what will   
serve to refresh thee8 ,only name it1   
whatever ,i have  ,i offer thee6 ,to    
refresh me8 ,to refresh me8 ,oh1 thou   
prying one1  what sayest thou6 ,but give
 me1 ,i pray thee--- ,what8 what8 ,speak
 out6  ,another mask6 ,a second mask6   
#bgi4 ,men of profound sadness betray   
themselves when they are happy3 they    
have a mode of seizing upon happiness as
 though they would choke and  strangle  
it1 out of jealousy--ah1 they know only 
too well that it will  flee from them6  
#bhj4 ,bad6 ,bad6 ,what8 ,does he       
not--go back8 ,yes6 ,but you            
misunderstand  him when you complain    
about it4 ,he goes back like every one  
who is about  to make a great spring4   

#bha4--,will people believe it of me8   
,but ,i insist that they believe it  of 
me3 ,i have always thought very         
unsatisfactorily of myself and about    
myself1 only in very rare cases1 only   
compulsorily1 always without  delight in
 'the subject1' ready to digress from   
'myself1' and always  without faith in  
the result1 owing to an unconquerable   
distrust of the  ,,possibility of       
self-knowledge1 which has led me so far 
as to feel a  ,,contradictio ,,in       
,,adjecto even in the idea of 'direct   
knowledge' which  theorists allow       
themselves3--this matter of fact is     
almost the most  certain thing ,i know  
about myself4 ,there must be a sort of  
repugnance  in me to ,,believe anything 
definite about myself4--,is there       
perhaps  some enigma therein8 ,probably2
 but fortunately nothing for my own     
teeth4--,perhaps it betrays the species 
to which ,i belong8--but not to  myself1
 as is sufficiently agreeable to me4    
#bhb4--;,but what has happened to       

you8--,i do not know1 he said1          
hesitatingly2 perhaps the ,harpies have 
flown over my table4--,it  sometimes    
happens nowadays that a gentle1 sober1  
retiring man becomes  suddenly mad1     
breaks the plates1 upsets the table1    
shrieks1 raves1  and shocks             
everybody--and finally withdraws1       
ashamed1 and raging at                  
himself--whither8 for what purpose8 ,to 
famish apart8 ,to suffocate with  his   
memories8--,to him who has the desires  
of a lofty and dainty soul1  and only   
seldom finds his table laid and his food
 prepared1 the danger  will always be   
great--nowadays1 however1 it is         
extraordinarily so4  ,thrown into the   
midst of a noisy and plebeian age1 with 
which he does  not like to eat out of   
the same dish1 he may readily perish of 
hunger  and thirst--or1 should he       
nevertheless finally fall to1 of sudden 
nausea4--,we have probably all sat at   
tables to which we did not belong2  and 
precisely the most spiritual of us1 who 

are most difficult to  nourish1 know the
 dangerous ,,dyspepsia which originates 
from a sudden  insight and              
disillusionment about our food and our  
messmates--the  ,,after-,,dinner        
,,nausea4    #bhc4 ,if one wishes to    
praise at all1 it is a delicate and at  
the  same time a noble self-control1 to 
praise only where one ,,does ,,not      
agree--otherwise in fact one would      
praise oneself1 which is contrary  to   
good taste3--a self-control1 to be sure1
 which offers excellent  opportunity and
 provocation to constant                
,,misunderstanding4 ,to be able to      
allow oneself this veritable luxury of  
taste and morality1 one must  not live  
among intellectual imbeciles1 but rather
 among men whose  misunderstandings and 
mistakes amuse by their refinement--or  
one will  have to pay dearly for        
it6--,he praises me1 ,,therefore he     
acknowledges me  to be right--this      
asinine method of inference spoils half 
of the life  of us recluses1 for it     

brings the asses into our neighbourhood 
and  friendship4    #bhd4 ,to live in a 
vast and proud tranquility2 always      
beyond444 ,to have1  or not to have1    
one's emotions1 one's ,for and ,against1
 according to  choice2 to lower oneself 
to them for hours2 to ,,seat oneself on 
them as  upon horses1 and often as upon 
asses3--for one must know how to make   
use of their stupidity as well as of    
their fire4 ,to conserve one's  three   
hundred foregrounds2 also one's black   
spectacles3 for there are  circumstances
 when nobody must look into our eyes1   
still less into our  motives4 ,and to   
choose for company that roguish and     
cheerful vice1  politeness4 ,and to     
remain master of one's four virtues1    
courage1  insight1 sympathy1 and        
solitude4 ,for solitude is a virtue with
 us1 as  a sublime bent and bias to     
purity1 which divines that in the       
contact of  man and man--in society--it 
must be unavoidably impure4 ,all society
  makes one somehow1 somewhere1 or      

sometime--commonplace4    #bhe4 ,the    
greatest events and thoughts--the       
greatest thoughts1 however1  are the    
greatest events--are longest in being   
comprehended3 the  generations which are
 contemporary with them do not          
,,experience such  events--they live    
past them4 ,something happens there as  
in the realm of  stars4 ,the light of   
the furthest stars is longest in        
reaching man2 and  before it has arrived
 man ,,denies--that there are stars     
there4 ,how  many centuries does a mind 
require to be understood8--that is also 
a  standard1 one also makes a gradation 
of rank and an etiquette therewith1     
such as is necessary for mind and for   
star4    #bhf4 ,here is the prospect    
free1 the mind exalted4 ,,footnote3     
,goethe's  ,faust1 ,part ,,ii1 ,act ,v4 
,the words of ,dr4 ,marianus4--,but     
there is a  reverse kind of man1 who is 
also upon a height1 and has also a free 
prospect--but looks ,,downwards4        
#bhg4 ,what is noble8 ,what does the    

word noble still mean for us  nowadays8 
,how does the noble man betray himself1 
how is he recognized  under this heavy  
overcast sky of the commencing          
plebeianism1 by which  everything is    
rendered opaque and leaden8--,it is not 
his actions which  establish his        
claim--actions are always ambiguous1    
always inscrutable2  neither is it his  
works4 ,one finds nowadays among artists
 and scholars  plenty of those who      
betray by their works that a profound   
longing for  nobleness impels them2 but 
this very ,,need of nobleness is        
radically  different from the needs of  
the noble soul itself1 and is in fact   
the  eloquent and dangerous sign of the 
lack thereof4 ,it is not the works1  but
 the ,,belief which is here decisive and
 determines the order of  rank--to      
employ once more an old religious       
formula with a new and deeper           
meaning--it is some fundamental         
certainty which a noble soul has about  
itself1 something which is not to be    

sought1 is not to be found1 and         
perhaps1 also1 is not to be lost4--,,the
 ,,noble ,,soul ,,has ,,reverence ,,for 
,,itself4--    #bhh4 ,there are men who 
are unavoidably intellectual1 let them  
turn  and twist themselves as they will1
 and hold their hands before their      
treacherous eyes--as though the hand    
were not a betrayer2 it always  comes   
out at last that they have something    
which they hide--namely1  intellect4    
,one of the subtlest means of deceiving1
 at least as long as  possible1 and of  
successfully representing oneself to be 
stupider  than one really is--which in  
everyday life is often as desirable as  
an umbrella1--is called ,,enthusiasm1   
including what belongs to it1 for       
instance1 virtue4 ,for as ,galiani said1
 who was obliged to know it3 ,,vertu    
,,est ,,enthousiasme4    #bhi4 ,in the  
writings of a recluse one always hears  
something of the echo  of the           
wilderness1 something of the murmuring  
tones and timid vigilance  of solitude2 

in his strongest words1 even in his cry 
itself1 there  sounds a new and more    
dangerous kind of silence1 of           
concealment4 ,he who  has sat day and   
night1 from year's end to year's end1   
alone with his  soul in familiar discord
 and discourse1 he who has become a     
cave-bear1  or a treasure-seeker1 or a  
treasure-guardian and dragon in his     
cave--it  may be a labyrinth1 but can   
also be a gold-mine--his ideas          
themselves  eventually acquire a        
twilight-colour of their own1 and an    
odour1 as much  of the depth as of the  
mould1 something uncommunicative and    
repulsive1  which blows chilly upon     
every passer-by4 ,the recluse does not  
believe  that a philosopher--supposing  
that a philosopher has always in the    
first  place been a recluse--ever       
expressed his actual and ultimate       
opinions in  books3 are not books       
written precisely to hide what is in    
us8--indeed1  he will doubt whether a   
philosopher ,,can have ultimate and     

actual  opinions at all2 whether behind 
every cave in him there is not1 and must
  necessarily be1 a still deeper cave3  
an ampler1 stranger1 richer  world      
beyond the surface1 an abyss behind     
every bottom1 beneath every  foundation4
 ,every philosophy is a foreground      
philosophy--this is a  recluse's        
verdict3 ,there is something arbitrary  
in the fact that the  ,,philosopher came
 to a stand here1 took a retrospect1 and
 looked around2  that he ,,here laid his
 spade aside and did not dig any        
deeper--there  is also something        
suspicious in it4 ,every philosophy also
 ,,conceals a  philosophy2 every opinion
 is also a ,,lurking-,,place1 every word
 is also a  ,,mask4    #bij4 ,every deep
 thinker is more afraid of being        
understood than of being  misunderstood4
 ,the latter perhaps wounds his vanity2 
but the former  wounds his heart1 his   
sympathy1 which always says3 ,ah1 why   
would you  also have as hard a time of  
it as ,i have8    #bia4 ,man1 a         

,,complex1 mendacious1 artful1 and      
inscrutable animal1 uncanny  to the     
other animals by his artifice and       
sagacity1 rather than by his  strength1 
has invented the good conscience in     
order finally to enjoy his  soul as     
something ,,simple2 and the whole of    
morality is a long1 audacious           
falsification1 by virtue of which       
generally enjoyment at the sight of  the
 soul becomes possible4 ,from this point
 of view there is perhaps much  more in 
the conception of art than is generally 
believed4    #bib4 ,a philosopher3 that 
is a man who constantly experiences1    
sees1  hears1 suspects1 hopes1 and      
dreams extraordinary things2 who is     
struck  by his own thoughts as if they  
came from the outside1 from above and   
below1 as a species of events and       
lightning-flashes ,,peculiar ,,to ,,him2
 who  is perhaps himself a storm        
pregnant with new lightnings2 a         
portentous  man1 around whom there is   
always rumbling and mumbling and gaping 

and  something uncanny going on4 ,a     
philosopher3 alas1 a being who often    
runs away from himself1 is often afraid 
of himself--but whose curiosity  always 
makes him come to himself again4        
#bic4 ,a man who says3 ,i like that1 ,i 
take it for my own1 and mean to  guard  
and protect it from every one2 a man who
 can conduct a case1  carry out a       
resolution1 remain true to an opinion1  
keep hold of a woman1  punish and       
overthrow insolence2 a man who has his  
indignation and his  sword1 and to whom 
the weak1 the suffering1 the oppressed1 
and even the  animals willingly submit  
and naturally belong2 in short1 a man   
who is a  ,,master by nature--when such 
a man has sympathy1 well6 ,,that        
sympathy has  value6 ,but of what       
account is the sympathy of those who    
suffer6 ,or of  those even who preach   
sympathy6 ,there is nowadays1 throughout
 almost the  whole of ,europe1 a sickly 
irritability and sensitiveness towards  
pain1  and also a repulsive             

irrestrainableness in complaining1 an   
effeminizing1  which1 with the aid of   
religion and philosophical nonsense1    
seeks  to deck itself out as something  
superior--there is a regular cult of    
suffering4 ,the ,,unmanliness of that   
which is called sympathy by such  groups
 of visionaries1 is always1 ,i believe1 
the first thing that  strikes the       
eye4--,one must resolutely and radically
 taboo this latest  form of bad taste2  
and finally ,i wish people to put the   
good amulet1  ,,gai ,,saber 7gay        
science1 in ordinary language71 on heart
 and neck1 as  a protection against it4 
#bid4 ,,the ,,olympian ,,vice4--,despite
 the philosopher who1 as a genuine      
,englishman1 tried to bring laughter    
into bad repute in all thinking         
minds--,laughing is a bad infirmity of  
human nature1 which every  thinking mind
 will strive to overcome 7,hobbes71--,i 
would even  allow myself to rank        
philosophers according to the quality of
 their  laughing--up to those who are   

capable of ,,golden laughter4 ,and      
supposing  that ,gods also philosophize1
 which ,i am strongly inclined to       
believe1  owing to many reasons--,i have
 no doubt that they also know how to    
laugh  thereby in an overman-like and   
new fashion--and at the expense of all  
serious things6 ,gods are fond of       
ridicule3 it seems that they cannot     
refrain from laughter even in holy      
matters4    #bie4 ,the genius of the    
heart1 as that great mysterious one     
possesses  it1 the tempter-god and born 
rat-catcher of consciences1 whose voice 
can  descend into the nether-world of   
every soul1 who neither speaks a word   
nor casts a glance in which there may   
not be some motive or touch  of         
allurement1 to whose perfection it      
pertains that he knows how to           
appear1--not as he is1 but in a guise   
which acts as an ,,additional           
constraint on his followers to press    
ever closer to him1 to follow him  more 
cordially and thoroughly2--the genius of

 the heart1 which imposes  silence and  
attention on everything loud and        
self-conceited1 which  smoothes rough   
souls and makes them taste a new        
longing--to lie placid  as a mirror1    
that the deep heavens may be reflected  
in them2--the genius  of the heart1     
which teaches the clumsy and too hasty  
hand to hesitate1  and to grasp more    
delicately2 which scents the hidden and 
forgotten  treasure1 the drop of        
goodness and sweet spirituality under   
thick dark  ice1 and is a divining-rod  
for every grain of gold1 long buried and
  imprisoned in mud and sand2 the genius
 of the heart1 from contact with  which 
every one goes away richer2 not favoured
 or surprised1 not as  though gratified 
and oppressed by the good things of     
others2 but richer  in himself1 newer   
than before1 broken up1 blown upon1 and 
sounded by a  thawing wind2 more        
uncertain1 perhaps1 more delicate1 more 
fragile1 more  bruised1 but full of     
hopes which as yet lack names1 full of a

 new will  and current1 full of a new   
ill-will and counter-current444 but what
 am ,i  doing1 my friends8 ,of whom am  
,i talking to you8 ,have ,i forgotten   
myself  so far that ,i have not even    
told you his name8 ,unless it be that   
you  have already divined of your own   
accord who this questionable ,god  and  
spirit is1 that wishes to be ,,praised  
in such a manner8 ,for1 as it  happens  
to every one who from childhood onward  
has always been on his  legs1 and in    
foreign lands1 ,i have also encountered 
on my path many  strange and dangerous  
spirits2 above all1 however1 and again  
and again1  the one of whom ,i have just
 spoken3 in fact1 no less a personage   
than  the ,god ,,dionysus1 the great    
equivocator and tempter1 to whom1 as you
  know1 ,i once offered in all secrecy  
and reverence my first-fruits--the      
last1 as it seems to me1 who has offered
 a ,,sacrifice to him1 for ,i  have     
found no one who could understand what  
,i was then doing4 ,in  the meantime1   

however1 ,i have learned much1 far too  
much1 about the  philosophy of this     
,god1 and1 as ,i said1 from mouth to    
mouth--,i1 the last  disciple and       
initiate of the ,god ,dionysus3 and     
perhaps ,i might at last  begin to give 
you1 my friends1 as far as ,i am        
allowed1 a little taste of  this        
philosophy8 ,in a hushed voice1 as is   
but seemly3 for it has to do  with much 
that is secret1 new1 strange1 wonderful1
 and uncanny4 ,the  very fact that      
,dionysus is a philosopher1 and that    
therefore ,gods also  philosophize1     
seems to me a novelty which is not      
unensnaring1 and might  perhaps arouse  
suspicion precisely among               
philosophers2--among you1 my  friends1  
there is less to be said against it1    
except that it comes too  late and not  
at the right time2 for1 as it has been  
disclosed to me1 you  are loth nowadays 
to believe in ,god and gods4 ,it may    
happen1 too1 that  in the frankness of  
my story ,i must go further than is     

agreeable to the  strict usages of your 
ears8 ,certainly the ,god in question   
went further1  very much further1 in    
such dialogues1 and was always many     
paces ahead of  me444 ,indeed1 if it    
were allowed1 ,i should have to give    
him1 according  to human usage1 fine    
ceremonious tides of lustre and merit1  
,i should  have to extol his courage as 
investigator and discoverer1 his        
fearless  honesty1 truthfulness1 and    
love of wisdom4 ,but such a ,god does   
not know  what to do with all that      
respectable trumpery and pomp4 ,keep    
that1 he  would say1 for thyself and    
those like thee1 and whoever else       
require  it6 ,i--have no reason to cover
 my nakedness6 ,one suspects that this  
kind of divinity and philosopher perhaps
 lacks shame8--,he once said3  ,under   
certain circumstances ,i love           
mankind--and referred thereby to        
,ariadne1 who was present2 in my opinion
 man is an agreeable1 brave1  inventive 
animal1 that has not his equal upon     

earth1 he makes his way  even through   
all labyrinths4 ,i like man1 and often  
think how ,i can  still further advance 
him1 and make him stronger1 more evil1  
and more  profound4--,stronger1 more    
evil1 and more profound8 ,i asked in    
horror4  ,yes1 he said again1 stronger1 
more evil1 and more profound2 also more 
beautiful--and thereby the tempter-god  
smiled with his halcyon smile1  as      
though he had just paid some charming   
compliment4 ,one here sees at  once that
 it is not only shame that this divinity
 lacks2--and in general  there are good 
grounds for supposing that in some      
things the ,gods could  all of them come
 to us men for instruction4 ,we men     
are--more human4--    #bif4 ,alas6 what 
are you1 after all1 my written and      
painted thoughts6 ,not  long ago you    
were so variegated1 young and malicious1
 so full of thorns  and secret spices1  
that you made me sneeze and laugh--and  
now8 ,you  have already doffed your     
novelty1 and some of you1 ,i fear1 are  

ready  to become truths1 so immortal do 
they look1 so pathetically honest1 so   
tedious6 ,and was it ever otherwise8    
,what then do we write and paint1  we   
mandarins with ,chinese brush1 we       
immortalisers of things which ,,lend    
themselves to writing1 what are we alone
 capable of painting8 ,alas1 only  that 
which is just about to fade and begins  
to lose its odour6 ,alas1  only         
exhausted and departing storms and      
belated yellow sentiments6 ,alas1  only 
birds strayed and fatigued by flight1   
which now let themselves be  captured   
with the hand--with ,,our hand6 ,we     
immortalize what cannot live  and fly   
much longer1 things only which are      
exhausted and mellow6 ,and it  is only  
for your ,,afternoon1 you1 my written   
and painted thoughts1 for  which alone  
,i have colours1 many colours1 perhaps1 
many variegated  softenings1 and fifty  
yellows and browns and greens and       
reds2--but  nobody will divine thereby  
how ye looked in your morning1 you      

sudden  sparks and marvels of my        
solitude1 you1 my old1 beloved--,,evil  
thoughts6          ,,from ,,the         
,,heights    ,by ,f ,w ,nietzsche       
,translated by ,l4 ,a4 ,magnus          
#a4         ,,midday of ,life6 ,oh1     
season of delight6                      
,my summer's park6       ,uneaseful joy 
to look1 to lurk1 to hark--       ,i    
peer for friends1 am ready day and      
night1--       ,where linger ye1 my     
friends8 ,the time is right6            
#b4         ,is not the glacier's grey  
today for you                           
,rose-garlanded8       ,the brooklet    
seeks you1 wind1 cloud1 with longing    
thread       ,and thrust themselves yet 
higher to the blue1       ,to spy for   
you from farthest eagle's view4         
#c4         ,my table was spread out for
 you on high--                          
,who dwelleth so       ,star-near1 so   
near the grisly pit below8--       ,my  
realm--what realm hath wider boundary8  
,my honey--who hath sipped its          

fragrancy8                           #d4
         ,friends1 ye are there6 ,woe   
me1--yet ,i am not                      
,he whom ye seek8       ,ye stare and   
stop--better your wrath could speak6    
,i am not ,i8 ,hand1 gait1 face1        
changed8 ,and what       ,i am1 to you  
my friends1 now am ,i not8              
#e4         ,am ,i an other8 ,strange am
 ,i to ,me8                        ,yet 
from ,me sprung8       ,a wrestler1 by  
himself too oft self-wrung8             
,hindering too oft my own self's        
potency1       ,wounded and hampered by 
self-victory8                           
#f4         ,i sought where-so the wind 
blows keenest4 ,there                   
,i learned to dwell       ,where no man 
dwells1 on lonesome ice-lorn fell1      
,and unlearned ,man and ,god and curse  
and prayer8       ,became a ghost       
haunting the glaciers bare8             
#g4         ,ye1 my old friends6 ,look6 
,ye turn pale1 filled o'er              
,with love and fear6       ,go6 ,yet not

 in wrath4 ,ye could ne'er live here4   
,here in the farthest realm of ice and  
scaur1       ,a huntsman must one be1   
like chamois soar4                      
#h4         ,an evil huntsman was ,i8   
,see how taut                      ,my  
bow was bent6       ,strongest was he by
 whom such bolt were sent--       ,woe  
now6 ,that arrow is with peril fraught1 
,perilous as none4--,have yon safe home 
ye sought6                           #i4
         ,ye go6 ,thou didst endure     
enough1 oh1 heart2--                    
,strong was thy hope2       ,unto new   
friends thy portals widely ope1         
,let old ones be4 ,bid memory depart6   
,wast thou young then1 now--better young
 thou art6                              
#aj4         ,what linked us once       
together1 one hope's tie--              
7,who now doth con       ,those lines1  
now fading1 ,love once wrote thereon87--
       ,is like a parchment1 which the  
hand is shy       ,to touch--like       
crackling leaves1 all seared1 all dry4  

#aa4         ,oh6 ,friends no more6     
,they are--what name for those8--       
,friends' phantom-flight       ,knocking
 at my heart's window-pane at night1    
,gazing on me1 that speaks ,we were and 
goes1--       ,oh1 withered words1 once 
fragrant as the rose6                   
#ab4         ,pinings of youth that     
might not understand6                   
,for which ,i pined1       ,which ,i    
deemed changed with me1 kin of my kind3 
,but they grew old1 and thus were doomed
 and banned3       ,none but new kith   
are native of my land6                  
#ac4         ,midday of life6 ,my second
 youth's delight6                       
,my summer's park6       ,unrestful joy 
to long1 to lurk1 to hark6       ,i peer
 for friends6--am ready day and night1  
,for my new friends4 ,come6 ,come6 ,the 
time is right6                          
#ad4         ,this song is done1--the   
sweet sad cry of rue                    
,sang out its end2       ,a wizard      
wrought it1 he the timely friend1       

,the midday-friend1--no1 do not ask me  
who2       ,at midday 'twas1 when one   
became as two4                          
#ae4         ,we keep our ,feast of     
,feasts1 sure of our bourne1            
,our aims self-same3       ,the ,guest  
of ,guests1 friend ,zarathustra1 came6  
,the world now laughs1 the grisly veil  
was torn1       ,and ,light and ,dark   
were one that wedding-morn4