Thus Spake Zarathustra — Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spake Zarathustra

Friedrich Nietzsche · License: Public domain · Source

• As a tiger doth he ever stand, on the point of springing; but I do not like those strained souls; ungracious is my taste towards all those self-engrossed ones. ¶1492
• And ye tell me, friends, that there is to be no dispute about taste and tasting? But all life is a dispute about taste and tasting! ¶1493
• Taste: that is weight at the same time, and scales and weigher; and alas for every living thing that would live without dispute about weight and scales and weigher! ¶1494
• Should he become weary of his sublimeness, this sublime one, then only will his beauty begin--and then only will I taste him and find him savoury. ¶1495
• And only when he turneth away from himself will he o'erleap his own shadow--and verily! into HIS sun. ¶1496
• Far too long did he sit in the shade; the cheeks of the penitent of the spirit became pale; he almost starved on his expectations. ¶1497
• Contempt is still in his eye, and loathing hideth in his mouth. To be sure, he now resteth, but he hath not yet taken rest in the sunshine. ¶1498
• As the ox ought he to do; and his happiness should smell of the earth, and not of contempt for the earth. ¶1499
• As a white ox would I like to see him, which, snorting and lowing, walketh before the plough-share: and his lowing should also laud all that is earthly! ¶1500
• Dark is still his countenance; the shadow of his hand danceth upon it. O'ershadowed is still the sense of his eye. ¶1501
• His deed itself is still the shadow upon him: his doing obscureth the doer. Not yet hath he overcome his deed. ¶1502
• To be sure, I love in him the shoulders of the ox: but now do I want to see also the eye of the angel. ¶1503
• Also his hero-will hath he still to unlearn: an exalted one shall he be, and not only a sublime one:--the ether itself should raise him, the will-less one! ¶1504
• He hath subdued monsters, he hath solved enigmas. But he should also redeem his monsters and enigmas; into heavenly children should he transform them. ¶1505
• As yet hath his knowledge not learned to smile, and to be without jealousy; as yet hath his gushing passion not become calm in beauty. ¶1506
• Verily, not in satiety shall his longing cease and disappear, but in beauty! Gracefulness belongeth to the munificence of the magnanimous. ¶1507
• His arm across his head: thus should the hero repose; thus should he also surmount his repose. ¶1508
• But precisely to the hero is BEAUTY the hardest thing of all. Unattainable is beauty by all ardent wills. ¶1509
• A little more, a little less: precisely this is much here, it is the most here. ¶1510
• To stand with relaxed muscles and with unharnessed will: that is the hardest for all of you, ye sublime ones! ¶1511
• When power becometh gracious and descendeth into the visible--I call such condescension, beauty. ¶1512
• And from no one do I want beauty so much as from thee, thou powerful one: let thy goodness be thy last self-conquest. ¶1513
• All evil do I accredit to thee: therefore do I desire of thee the good. ¶1514
• Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings, who think themselves good because they have crippled paws! ¶1515
• The virtue of the pillar shalt thou strive after: more beautiful doth it ever become, and more graceful--but internally harder and more sustaining--the higher it riseth. ¶1516
• Yea, thou sublime one, one day shalt thou also be beautiful, and hold up the mirror to thine own beauty. ¶1517
• Then will thy soul thrill with divine desires; and there will be adoration even in thy vanity! ¶1518
• For this is the secret of the soul: when the hero hath abandoned it, then only approacheth it in dreams--the superhero.-- ¶1519
• Too far did I fly into the future: a horror seized upon me. ¶1522
• And when I looked around me, lo! there time was my sole contemporary. ¶1523
• Then did I fly backwards, homewards--and always faster. Thus did I come unto you, ye present-day men, and into the land of culture. ¶1524
• For the first time brought I an eye to see you, and good desire: verily, with longing in my heart did I come. ¶1525
• But how did it turn out with me? Although so alarmed--I had yet to laugh! Never did mine eye see anything so motley-coloured! ¶1526
• I laughed and laughed, while my foot still trembled, and my heart as well. "Here forsooth, is the home of all the paintpots,"--said I. ¶1527
• With fifty patches painted on faces and limbs--so sat ye there to mine astonishment, ye present-day men! ¶1528
• And with fifty mirrors around you, which flattered your play of colours, and repeated it! ¶1529
• Verily, ye could wear no better masks, ye present-day men, than your own faces! Who could--RECOGNISE you! ¶1530
• Written all over with the characters of the past, and these characters also pencilled over with new characters--thus have ye concealed yourselves well from all decipherers! ¶1531
• And though one be a trier of the reins, who still believeth that ye have reins! Out of colours ye seem to be baked, and out of glued scraps. ¶1532
• All times and peoples gaze divers-coloured out of your veils; all customs and beliefs speak divers-coloured out of your gestures. ¶1533

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