Thus Spake Zarathustra — Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spake Zarathustra

Friedrich Nietzsche · Licence: Public domain · Source

• And just behold, my friends! Here where the tarantula's den is, riseth aloft an ancient temple's ruins--just behold it with enlightened eyes! ¶1279
• Verily, he who here towered aloft his thoughts in stone, knew as well as the wisest ones about the secret of life! ¶1280
• That there is struggle and inequality even in beauty, and war for power and supremacy: that doth he here teach us in the plainest parable. ¶1281
• How divinely do vault and arch here contrast in the struggle: how with light and shade they strive against each other, the divinely striving ones.-- ¶1282
• Thus, steadfast and beautiful, let us also be enemies, my friends! Divinely will we strive AGAINST one another!-- ¶1283
• Alas! There hath the tarantula bit me myself, mine old enemy! Divinely steadfast and beautiful, it hath bit me on the finger! ¶1284
• "Punishment must there be, and justice"--so thinketh it: "not gratuitously shall he here sing songs in honour of enmity!" ¶1285
• Yea, it hath revenged itself! And alas! now will it make my soul also dizzy with revenge! ¶1286
• That I may NOT turn dizzy, however, bind me fast, my friends, to this pillar! Rather will I be a pillar-saint than a whirl of vengeance! ¶1287
• Verily, no cyclone or whirlwind is Zarathustra: and if he be a dancer, he is not at all a tarantula-dancer!-- ¶1288
• The people have ye served and the people's superstition--NOT the truth!--all ye famous wise ones! And just on that account did they pay you reverence. ¶1291
• And on that account also did they tolerate your unbelief, because it was a pleasantry and a by-path for the people. Thus doth the master give free scope to his slaves, and even enjoyeth their presumptuousness. ¶1292
• But he who is hated by the people, as the wolf by the dogs--is the free spirit, the enemy of fetters, the non-adorer, the dweller in the woods. ¶1293
• To hunt him out of his lair--that was always called "sense of right" by the people: on him do they still hound their sharpest-toothed dogs. ¶1294
• "For there the truth is, where the people are! Woe, woe to the seeking ones!"--thus hath it echoed through all time. ¶1295
• Your people would ye justify in their reverence: that called ye "Will to Truth," ye famous wise ones! ¶1296
• And your heart hath always said to itself: "From the people have I come: from thence came to me also the voice of God." ¶1297
• Stiff-necked and artful, like the ass, have ye always been, as the advocates of the people. ¶1298
• And many a powerful one who wanted to run well with the people, hath harnessed in front of his horses--a donkey, a famous wise man. ¶1299
• And now, ye famous wise ones, I would have you finally throw off entirely the skin of the lion! ¶1300
• The skin of the beast of prey, the speckled skin, and the dishevelled locks of the investigator, the searcher, and the conqueror! ¶1301
• Ah! for me to learn to believe in your "conscientiousness," ye would first have to break your venerating will. ¶1302
• Conscientious--so call I him who goeth into God-forsaken wildernesses, and hath broken his venerating heart. ¶1303
• In the yellow sands and burnt by the sun, he doubtless peereth thirstily at the isles rich in fountains, where life reposeth under shady trees. ¶1304
• But his thirst doth not persuade him to become like those comfortable ones: for where there are oases, there are also idols. ¶1305
• Hungry, fierce, lonesome, God-forsaken: so doth the lion-will wish itself. ¶1306
• Free from the happiness of slaves, redeemed from Deities and adorations, fearless and fear-inspiring, grand and lonesome: so is the will of the conscientious. ¶1307
• In the wilderness have ever dwelt the conscientious, the free spirits, as lords of the wilderness; but in the cities dwell the well-foddered, famous wise ones--the draught-beasts. ¶1308
• For, always, do they draw, as asses--the PEOPLE'S carts! ¶1309
• Not that I on that account upbraid them: but serving ones do they remain, and harnessed ones, even though they glitter in golden harness. ¶1310
• And often have they been good servants and worthy of their hire. For thus saith virtue: "If thou must be a servant, seek him unto whom thy service is most useful! ¶1311
• The spirit and virtue of thy master shall advance by thou being his servant: thus wilt thou thyself advance with his spirit and virtue!" ¶1312
• And verily, ye famous wise ones, ye servants of the people! Ye yourselves have advanced with the people's spirit and virtue--and the people by you! To your honour do I say it! ¶1313
• But the people ye remain for me, even with your virtues, the people with purblind eyes--the people who know not what SPIRIT is! ¶1314
• Spirit is life which itself cutteth into life: by its own torture doth it increase its own knowledge,--did ye know that before? ¶1315
• And the spirit's happiness is this: to be anointed and consecrated with tears as a sacrificial victim,--did ye know that before? ¶1316
• And the blindness of the blind one, and his seeking and groping, shall yet testify to the power of the sun into which he hath gazed,--did ye know that before? ¶1317
• And with mountains shall the discerning one learn to BUILD! It is a small thing for the spirit to remove mountains,--did ye know that before? ¶1318
• Ye know only the sparks of the spirit: but ye do not see the anvil which it is, and the cruelty of its hammer! ¶1319
• Verily, ye know not the spirit's pride! But still less could ye endure the spirit's humility, should it ever want to speak! ¶1320

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