Here is the first stumbling-block: the tedious ness and monotony which all
mechanical
activity brings with it.
Nietzsche - Works - v15 - Will to Power - b
THE ORDER OF RANK.
311
those who were weakest towards themselves) were established as a standard of valuation.
The confusion went so far that precisely the great virtuosos of life (whose self-control presents the sharpest contrast to the vicious and the un bridled) were branded with the most opprobrious names. Even to this day people feel themselves compelled to disparage a Caesar Borgia: it is simply ludicrous. The Church has anathematised German Kaisers owing to their vices: as if a monk
or a priest had the right to say a word as to what a Frederick II. should allow himself. Don Juan is sent to hell: this is very naif. Has anybody ever noticed that all interesting men are lacking in heaven? . . . This is only a hint to the girls, as to where they may best find salvation. If one
think at all logically, and also have a profound insight into that which makes a great man, there can be no doubt at all that the Church has dis patched all "great men" to Hades--its fight is against all "greatness in man. "
872.
The rights which a man arrogates to himself are relative to the duties which he sets himself, and to the tasks which he feels capable of per
forming. The great majority of men have no right to life, and are only a misfortune to their higher fellows.
873.
The misunderstanding of egoism: on the part of ignoble natures who know nothing of the lust of
? ? ? ? THE WILL TO POWER.
conquest and the insatiability of great love, and who likewise know nothing of the overflowing feelings of power which make a man wish to overcome things, to force them over to himself, and to lay them on his heart, the power which impels an artist to his material. It often happens also that the active spirit looks for a field for its activity. In ordinary "egoism" it is precisely the "non-ego,"
the profoundly mediocre creature, the member of the Herd, who wishes to maintain himself--and when this is perceived by the rarer, more subtle, and less mediocre natures, it revolts them. For the judgment of the latter is this: "We are the noble! It is much more important to maintain us than that cattle ! "
874.
The degeneration of the ruler and of the ruling classes has been the cause of all the great dis orders in history! Without the Roman Caesars and Roman society, Christianity would never have prevailed.
When it occurs to inferior men to doubt whether higher men exist, then the danger is great! It is then that men finally discover that there are virtues even among inferior, suppressed, and poor-spirited men, and that everybody is equal before God: which is the non plus ultra of all confounded nonsense that has ever appeared on earth! 'For in the end higher men begin to measure themselves according to the standard of virtues upheld by the slaves--and discover that
312
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THE ORDER OF RANK.
313
they are "proud," etc. , and that all their higher qualities should be condemned.
When Nero and Caracalla stood at the helm, it was then that the paradox arose: "The lowest man is of more value than that one on the throne ! " And thus the path was prepafed for an image of
God which was as remote as possible from the image of the mightiest,--God on the Cross!
875.
Higher man and gregarious mam--When great men are wanting, the great of the past are con verted into demigods or whole gods: the rise of religions proves that mankind no longer has any
? in man (" nor in woman neither," as in Hamlet's case). Or a host of men are brought together in a heap, and it is hoped that as a
Parliament they will operate just as tyrannically. Tyrannising is the distinctive quality of great
men: they make inferior men stupid.
876.
Buckle affords the best example of the extent to which a plebeian agitator of the mob is in capable of arriving at a clear idea of the concept, "higher nature. " The opinion which he combats so passionately--that "great men," individuals,
statesmen, geniuses, warriors, are the levers and causes of all great movements, is in stinctively misunderstood by him, as if it meant that all that was essential and valuable in such
princes,
? ? ? 314
THE WILL TO POWER.
a " higher man," was the fact that he was capable of setting masses in motion; in short, that his sole merit was the effect he produced. . . . But the " higher nature" of the great man resides precisely in being different, in being unable to communicate with others, in the loftiness of his rank--not in any sort of effect he may produce even though this be the shattering Of both hemi spheres.
877.
The Revolution made Napoleon possible: that
is its justification. We ought to desire anarchical collapse of the whole of our civilisation if such a reward were to be its result. Napoleon made nationalism possible: that is the latter's excuse.
The value of a man (apart, of course, from morality and immorality: because with these
the
? a man's worth is not even
does not lie in his utility; because he would continue to exist even if there were nobody to whom he could be useful. And why could not that man be the very pinnacle of manhood who was the source Of the worst possible effects for his race: so high and so superior, that in his presence everything would go to rack and ruin from envy?
878.
To appraise the value of a man according to his utility to mankind, or according to what he costs or the damage he able to inflict upon
concepts
skimmed)
? ? it,
is
it,
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-
just as good and just as bad as to appraise the value of work of art according to its effects. But in this way the value of one man compared with another not even touched upon. The "moral valuation," in so far as social, measures men altogether according to their effects. But what about the man who has his own taste on his tongue, who surrounded and concealed by his isolation, uncommunicative and not to be communicated with; man whom no one has fathomed yet--that to say, creature of higher, and, at any rate, diferent species: how would ye appraise his worth, seeing that ye
THE ORDER OF RANK.
315
? ' cannot know him and can compare him with
nothing
Moral valuation was the cause of the most
enormous obtuseness of judgment: the value of man in himself underrated, well-nigh over
looked, practically denied. This the remains of simple-minded teleology: the value of man can only be measured with regard to other men.
879.
To be obsessed moral considerations supposes very low grade of intellect: shows that the instinct for special rights, for standing apart, the feeling of freedom in creative natures, in "children of God " (or of the devil), lacking. And irrespective of whether he preaches ruling morality or criticises the prevailing ethical code from the point of view of his own ideal: by doing these things man shows that he belongs
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316
to the herd--even though he may be What it is most in need of--that is to say, a " shepherd. "
880.
We should substitute morality by the will to our own ends, and consequently to the means to them.
881.
Concerning the order qf rank--What is it that constitutes the mediocrity of the typical man? That he does not understand that things neces sarily have their other side; that he combats evil conditions as if they could be dispensed with; that he will not take the one with the other; that he would fain obliterate and erase the character of a thing; of a circumstance, of an age, and of a person, by calling only a portion of their qualities good, and suppressing the remainder. The "desirability" of the mediocre is that which we others combat: their ideal is something which shall no longer contain anything harmful, evil, dangerous, questionable, and destructive. We recognise the reverse of this: that with every growth of man his other side must grow as well; that the highest man, if such a concept be allowed, would be that man who would represent the antag onistic character of existence most strikingly, and would be its glory and its only justification. . . . Ordinary men may only represent a small corner and nook of this natural character; they perish the moment the multifariousness of the elements composing them, and the tension between their
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THE ORDER OF RANK.
antagonistic traits, increases: but this the pre requisite for greatness in man. That man should become better and at the same time more evil, my formula for this inevitable fact.
The majority of people are only piecemeal and fragmentary examples of man: only when all these creatures are jumbled together does one
whole man arise Whole ages and whole peoples in this sense, have fragmentary character about them; may perhaps be part of the economy of human development that man should develop himself only piecemeal. But, for this reason, one should not forget that the only important con sideration the rise of the synthetic man; that inferior men, and by far the great majority of
people,
Mankind does not advance in straight line often type attained which again lost (for instance, with all the eflorts Of three hundred
years, we have not reached the men of the Renais-- sance again, and in addition to this we must not forget that the man of the Renaissance was already behind his brother of classical antiquity).
882.
The superiority of the Greek and the man of the Renaissance recognised, but people would like to produce them without the conditions and causes of which they were the result.
point.
317
? are but rehearsals and exercises out of which here and there a whole man may arise; a man who human milestone, and who indicates how far mankind has advanced up to certain
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THE WILL TO POWER.
883.
"Purification of taste " can only be the result of the strengthening of the type. Our society to-day represents only the cultivating'systems; the cultivated man is lacking. The great synthetic man, in whom the various forces for attaining a purpose are correctly harnessed together, is alto gether wanting. The specimen we possess is the multifarious man, the most interesting form of chaos that has ever existed: but not the chaos
preceding the creation of the world, but that fol lowing it: Goethe as the most beautiful expression of the type (completely and utterly un-Olympian ! )'
p 884.
Handel, Leibniz, Goethe, and Bismarck, are characteristic of the strong German type. They lived with equanimity, surrounded by contrasts. They were full of that agile kind of strength which cautiously avoids convictions and doctrines, i by using the one as a weapon against the other,
and reserving absolute freedom for themselves.
885.
Of this I am convinced, that if the rise of great and rare men had been made dependent upon the voices of the multitude (taking for granted, of
*Tbe Germans always call Goethe the Olympian--TR.
? ? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK. 319
course, that the latter knew the qualities which belong to greatness, and also the price that all
greatness pays for its self-development), then there would never have been any such thing as great man!
The fact that things pursue their course inde pendently of the voice of the many, the reason why few astonishing things have taken place on earth.
886.
The Order of Rank in Human Values.
A man should not be valued according to isolated acts. Epidermal actions. Nothing more rare than personal act. Class, rank, race, environ ment, accident--all these things are much more likely to be expressed in an action or deed than the "personality " of the doer.
(b) We should on no account jump to the con clusion that there are many people who are per sonalities. Some men are but conglomerations of
? (a)
whilst the majority are not even one. In all cases in which those average qualities pre
which ensure the maintenance of the to be personality would involve un
necessary expense, would be a luxury--in fact, would be foolish to ":mand of anybody that he Should be personality. In such circumstances
everybody channel or transmitting vessel.
A " personality " relatively isolated phen omenon; in view of the superior importance of the continuation of the race an average level,
personalities,
ponderate, V species,
(c)
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personality might even be regarded as something hostile to nature. For a personality to be possible, timely isolation and the necessity for an existence of offence and defence, are prerequisites; something in the nature of a walled enclosure, a capacity for shutting out the world ; but above all, a much lower degree of sensitiveness than the average man has, who is too easily infected with the views Of others.
The first question concerning the order of rank: how far is a man disposed to be solitary or gre
garious? (in the latter case,his valueconsists in those qualities which secure the survival of his tribe or his type ; in the former case, his qualities are those which distinguish him from others, which isolate and defend him, and make his solitude possible).
Consequence: the solitary type should not be valued from the standpoint of the gregarious type, or vice versd.
Viewed from above, both types are necessary; as is likewise their antagonism,--and nothing is more thoroughly reprehensible than the "desire" which would develop a third thing out of the two (" virtue " as hermaphroditism). This is as little worthy of desire as the equalisation and reconcilia tion of the sexes. The distinguishing qualities must be developed ever more and more, the gulf must be made ever wider. . . .
The concept of degeneration in both cases: the approximation of the qualities of the herd to those of solitary creatures: and vice versd--in short, when they begin to resemble each other. This concept Of degeneration is beyond the sphere of moral
judgments.
? ? ? ? '
Where the strongest natures are to be sought. The ruin and degeneration of the solitary species much greater and more terrible: they have the in stincts of the herd, and the tradition of values, against them; their weapons of defence, their in stincts of self-preservation, are from the beginning insufficiently strong and reliable--fortune must be
peculiarly favourable to them they are to prosper (they prosper best in the lowest ranks and dregs of society; ye are seeking personalities there that ye will find them with much greater certainty than in the middle classes! )
When the dispute between ranks and classes, which aims at equality of rights, almost settled,
the fight will begin against the solitaryI person. certain sense the latter can maintain and develop himself most easily in a democratic society: there
where the coarser means of defence are no longer necessary, and certain habit of order, honesty, justice, trust, already general condition. ) The strongest must be most tightly bound, most strictly
watched, laid in chains and supervised: this the instinct of the herd. To them belongs regime of self-mastery, of ascetic detachment, of "duties" consisting in exhausting work, in which one can no longer call one's soul one's own.
888.
am attempting an economic justification of virtue. The object to make man as useful as
vor. . 11.
THE ORDER OF RANK.
321
887.
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possible, and to make him approximate as nearly as one can to an infallible machine : to this end he
must be equipped with machine-like virtues must learn to value those states in which he works in a most mechanically useful way, as the highest of all: to this end it is necessary to make him as disgusted as possible with the other states, and to represent them as very dangerous and despicable).
Here is the first stumbling-block: the tedious ness and monotony which all mechanical activity brings with it. To learn to endure this--and not only to endure but to see tedium enveloped in
ray of exceeding charm: this hitherto has been the task of all higher schools. TO learn something which you don't care a fig about, and to find pre cisely your "duty" in this "objective" activity; to learn to value happiness and duty as things apart; this the invaluable task and performance Of higher schools. It on this account that the philologist has, hitherto, been the educator per se:
because his activity, in itself, afl'ords the best pattern of magnificent monotony in action; under
his banner youths learn to " swat ": first requisite for the thorough fulfilment of mechanical duties in the future (as State Officials, husbands, slaves of the desk, newspaper readers, and soldiers). Such an existence may perhaps require philosoph ical glorification and justification more than any
other: pleasurable feelings must be valued by some sort of infallible tribunal, as altogether of inferior rank " duty per se," perhaps even the pathos of re verence in regard to everything unpleasant,----must be demanded imperativer as that which above all
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useful, delightful, and practical things. . mechanical form of existence regarded as the highest and most respectable form of existence,
worshipping itself (type: Kant as the fanatic of the formal concept "Thou shalt
889.
The economic valuation of all the ideals that have existed hitherto--that to say, the selection and rearing of definite passions and states at the cost of other passions and states. The law-giver (or the instinct of the community) selects number
of states and passions the existence of which
guarantees
the performance of regular actions actions would thus be the result of
THE ORDER OF RANK.
323
? (mechanical
the regular requirements of those passions and
states).
In the event of these states and passions con
taining ingredients which were painful, means would have to be found for overcoming this pain fulness by means of valuation; pain would have to be interpreted as something valuable, as some thing pleasurable in higher sense. Conceived in
formula " How does something unpleasant become pleasant! " For instance, when our obedience and our submission to the law become honoured, thanks
to the energy, power, and self-control they entail. The same, holds good of our public spirit, of our
neighbourliness, of our patriotism, our " humanisa tion," our "altruism," and our "heroism. " The object of all idealism should be to induce people to do unpleasant things cheerfully.
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890.
The belittlement of man must be held as the chief aim for a long while: because what is needed in the first place is a broad basis from which a stronger species of man may arise (to what extent hitherto has ever stronger species of man arisen from a substratum of inferior people
891.
The absurd and contemptible form of idealism which would not have mediocrity mediocre, and which instead of feeling triumphant at being ex ceptional, becomes indignant at cowardice, false ness, pettiness, and wretchedness. We should not wish things to be any dgfi'erent, we should make the gulfs even wider l--The higher types among men should be compelled to distinguish themselves by means 01 the sacrifices which they make to their own existence.
Principal point of view: distances must be es tablished, but no contrasts must be created. The middle classes must be dissolved, and their influence decreased: this the principal means of main taining distances.
892.
Who would dare to disgust the mediocre of their mediocrity! As you observe, do precisely the reverse: every step away from mediocrity--thus do teach--leads to immorality.
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mediocrity almost
unworthy of philo note of interrogation to his
THE ORDER OF RANK. 893.
325
" right to philosophy. " It precisely because he the exception that he' must protect the rule and ingratiate all mediocre people.
894.
What combat: that an exceptional form should make war upon the rule--instead of understanding that the continued existence of the rule the first condition of the value of the exception. For in stance, there are women who, instead of consider ing their abnormal thirst for knowledge as dis tinction, would fain dislocate the whole status of womanhood.
895.
The increase of strength despite the temporary ruin of the individual :--
A new level must be established;
We must have method of storing up forces
for the maintenance of small performances,
in opposition to economic waste; Destructive nature must for once be reduced
to an instrument of this economy of the future;
The weak must be maintained, because there an enormous mass of finiching work to
be done;
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THE WILL TO POWER.
The weak and the suffering must be upheld in their belief that existence is still possible ;
Solidarity must be implanted as an instinct opposed to the instinct of fear and servility ; War must be made upon accident, even upon
the accident of " the great man. "
896.
War upon great men justified on economic grounds. Great men are dangerous; they are accidents, exceptions, tempests, which are strong enough to question things which it has taken time to build and establish. Explosive material must not only be discharged harmlessly, but, if possible,
its discharge must be prevented altogether; this is the fundamental instinct of all civilised society.
897.
He who thinks over the question of how the type man may be elevated to its highest glory and power, will realise from the start that he must
place himself beyond morality; for morality was directed in its essentials at the opposite goal--that is to say, its aim was to arrest and to annihilate that glorious development wherever it was in pro cess of accomplishment. For, as a matter of fact, development of that sort implies that such an
enormous number of men must be subservient to that a counter-movement only too natural: the weaker, more delicate, more mediocre existences, find necessary to take up sides against that glory
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of life and power; and for that purpose they must get new valuation of themselves by means of which they are able to condemn, and possible to destroy, life in this high degree of plenitude. Morality therefore essentially the expression of hostility to life, in so far as would overcome vital types.
898.
The strong of the future--To what extent neces sity on the one hand and accident on the other have attained to conditions from which stronger species may be reared: this we are now able to understand and to bring about consciously; we can now create those conditions under which such an elevation possible.
Hitherto education has always aimed at the utility of society: not the greatest possible utility for the future, but the utility of the society actually extant. What people required were " instruments " for this purpose. Provided the wealth of forces were greater, would be possible to think of draft being made upon them, the aim of which would not be the utility of society, but some future utility.
The more people grasped to what extent the present form of society was in such state of tran sition as sooner or later to be no longer able to exist
for its own sake, but only as means in the hands of stronger race, the more this task would have to be brought forward.
The increasing belittlement of man precisely the impelling power which leads one to think of
317
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the cultivation of a stronger race: a race which would have a surplus precisely there where the dwarfed species was weak and growing weaker (will, responsibility, self-reliance, the ability to postulate aims for one's self).
The means would be those which history teaches: isolation by means of preservative interests which would be the reverse of those generally accepted; exercise in transvalued valuations; distance as pathos ; a clean conscience in what to-day is most despised and most prohibited.
The levelling of the mankind of Europe is the great process which should not be arrested; it should even be accelerated. The necessity of cleaving gulfs, of distance, of the order of rank, is therefore imperative; but not the necessity of re tarding the process above mentioned.
This levelled-down species requires justification as soon as it is attained: its justification is that it exists for the service of a higher and sovereign race which stands upon it and can only be elevated upon its shoulders to the task which it is destined to perform. Not only a ruling race whose task would be consummated in ruling alone: but a race
with vital spheres of its own, with an overflow of energy for beauty, bravery, culture, and manners, even for the most abstract thought; a yea-saying race which would be able to allow itself every kind of great luxury--strong enough to be able to dis pense with the tyranny of the imperatives of virtue, rich enough to be in no need of economy or pedantry; beyond good and evil; a forcing-house for rare and exceptional plants.
328
? ? ? ? New barbarians
Cynics Experiment-
alists Conquerors
900.
The union of intellectual superiority with well-be
ing and an overflow of strength.
THE ORDER OF RANK.
329
899.
Our psychologists, whose glance dwells in voluntarily upon the symptoms of decadence, lead us to mistrust intellect ever more and more. People persist in seeing only the weakening, pam
pering, and sickening efi'ects of intellect, but there are now going to appear :--
? I point to something new: certainly for such a democratic community there is a danger of bar barians; but these are sought only down below. There is also another kind of barbarians who come from the heights: a kind of conquering and ruling
' natures, which are in search of material that they can mould. Prometheus was a barbarian of this
- stamp.
901.
Principal standpoint: one should not suppose the mission of a higher species to be the leading of inferior men (as Comte does, for instance); but the inferior should be regarded as the foundation upon which a higher species may live their higher life--upon which alone they can stand.
? ? ? 330
THE WILL TO POWER.
The conditions under which a strong, noble species maintains itself (in the matter of intellectual discipline) are precisely the reverse of those under which the industrial masses--the tea-grocers :2 la Spencer--subsist. Those qualities which are within the grasp only of the strongest and most terrible natures, and which make their existence possible--leisure, adventure, disbelief, and even dis
sipation--would necessarily ruin mediocre natures --and does do sO--when they possess them. In the case of the latter industry, regularity, modera tion, and strong "conviction " are in their proper place--in short, all " gregarious virtues": under their influence these mediocre men become perfect.
902.
Concerning the ruling types. --The shepherd as opposed to the "lord " (the former is only a means to the maintenance of the herd; the latter, the
purpose for which the herd exists).
9? 3
The temporary preponderance of social valua tions is both comprehensible and useful; it is a matter of building a foundation upon which a
stronger species will ultimately be made possible. The standard of strength: to be able to live under the transvalued valuations, and to desire them for
all eternity. State and society regarded as a sub structure: economic point of view, education con ceived as breeding.
? ? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
904.
331
A consideration which " free spirits' lack: that the same discipline which makes a strong nature still stronger, and enables it to go in for big under takings, breahs up and withers the mediocre: doubt --la largeur de cwur--experiment--independence.
905.
The hammer. How should men who must value in the opposite way be constituted ? --Men who possess all the qualities of the modern soul, but are strong enough to convert them into real health? The means to their task.
906. .
The strong man, who is mighty in the instincts of a strong and healthy organisation, digests his deeds just as well as he digests his meals ; he even gets over the effects of heavy fare: in the main, however, he is led by an inviolable and severe instinct which prevents his doing anything which goes against his grain, just as he never does any thing against his taste.
907
Can we foresee the favourable circumstances under which creatures of the highest value might arise ? It is a thousand times too complicated, and the probabilities of failure are very great: on that account we cannot be inspired by the thought of
? ? ? ? 332
THE WILL TO POWER.
Scepticism. --To oppose this
striving after them !
we can enhance courage, insight, hardness, inde pendence, and the feeling of responsibility; we can also subtilise and learn to forestall the delicacy of the scales, so that favourable accidents may be enlisted on our side.
908.
Before we can even think of acting, an enormous amount of work requires to be done. In the main, however, a cautious exploitation of the present con ditions would be our best and most advisable course Of action. The actual creation of conditions such as those which occur by accident, presupposes the existence of iron men such as have not yet lived. Our first task must be to make the personal ideal prevail and become realised l He who has understood the nature of man and the origin of mankind's greatest specimens, shudders before man
and takes flight from all action: this is the result of inherited valuations! !
My consolation that the nature of man evil, and this guarantees his strength!
9? 9
The typical forms of self-development, or the eight principal questions :--
I. DO we want to be more multifarious or more simple than we are?
2. Do we want to be happier than we are, or more indifferent to both happiness and un happiness
? ? ? ?
is,
is
? '
THE ORDER OF RANK.
333
Do we want to be more satisfied with our selves,or moreexacting and moreinexorable? 4. Do we want to be softer, more yielding, and
more human than we are, or more in
human
Do we want to be more prudent than we are,
or more daring?
6. Do we want to attain goal, or do we want
to avoid all goals (like the philosopher, for instance, who scents boundary, cul-de
sac, a prison, piece of foolishness in every goal)
Do we want to become more respected, or more feared, or more despised?
Do we want to become tyrants, and seducers, or do we want to become shepherds and gregarious animals
910.
The type of my disciples--To such men as con cern me in any way wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities of all kinds. wish them to be acquainted with profound self contempt, with the martyrdom of self-distrust, with the misery of the defeated: have no pity for them; because wish them to have the only thing which to-day proves whether man has any value
or not, namely, the capacity of sticking to his guns.
911.
The happiness and self-contentedness of the lazzaroni, or the blessedness of " beautiful souls,"
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THE WILL TO POWER.
or the consumptive love of Puritan pietists, proves nothing in regard to the order of rank among men. As a great educator one ought in exorably to thrash a race of such blissful creatures into unhappiness. The danger of belittlement and of a slackening of powers follows immediately-- I am opposed to happiness a la Spinoza or d la Epicurus, and to all the relaxation of contemplative
states. But when virtue is the means to such happiness, well then, one must master even virtue.
912.
I cannot see how any one can make up for having missed going to a good school at the proper time. Such a person does not know himself; he walks through life without ever having learned to walk.
311
those who were weakest towards themselves) were established as a standard of valuation.
The confusion went so far that precisely the great virtuosos of life (whose self-control presents the sharpest contrast to the vicious and the un bridled) were branded with the most opprobrious names. Even to this day people feel themselves compelled to disparage a Caesar Borgia: it is simply ludicrous. The Church has anathematised German Kaisers owing to their vices: as if a monk
or a priest had the right to say a word as to what a Frederick II. should allow himself. Don Juan is sent to hell: this is very naif. Has anybody ever noticed that all interesting men are lacking in heaven? . . . This is only a hint to the girls, as to where they may best find salvation. If one
think at all logically, and also have a profound insight into that which makes a great man, there can be no doubt at all that the Church has dis patched all "great men" to Hades--its fight is against all "greatness in man. "
872.
The rights which a man arrogates to himself are relative to the duties which he sets himself, and to the tasks which he feels capable of per
forming. The great majority of men have no right to life, and are only a misfortune to their higher fellows.
873.
The misunderstanding of egoism: on the part of ignoble natures who know nothing of the lust of
? ? ? ? THE WILL TO POWER.
conquest and the insatiability of great love, and who likewise know nothing of the overflowing feelings of power which make a man wish to overcome things, to force them over to himself, and to lay them on his heart, the power which impels an artist to his material. It often happens also that the active spirit looks for a field for its activity. In ordinary "egoism" it is precisely the "non-ego,"
the profoundly mediocre creature, the member of the Herd, who wishes to maintain himself--and when this is perceived by the rarer, more subtle, and less mediocre natures, it revolts them. For the judgment of the latter is this: "We are the noble! It is much more important to maintain us than that cattle ! "
874.
The degeneration of the ruler and of the ruling classes has been the cause of all the great dis orders in history! Without the Roman Caesars and Roman society, Christianity would never have prevailed.
When it occurs to inferior men to doubt whether higher men exist, then the danger is great! It is then that men finally discover that there are virtues even among inferior, suppressed, and poor-spirited men, and that everybody is equal before God: which is the non plus ultra of all confounded nonsense that has ever appeared on earth! 'For in the end higher men begin to measure themselves according to the standard of virtues upheld by the slaves--and discover that
312
? ? ? ? pleasure
THE ORDER OF RANK.
313
they are "proud," etc. , and that all their higher qualities should be condemned.
When Nero and Caracalla stood at the helm, it was then that the paradox arose: "The lowest man is of more value than that one on the throne ! " And thus the path was prepafed for an image of
God which was as remote as possible from the image of the mightiest,--God on the Cross!
875.
Higher man and gregarious mam--When great men are wanting, the great of the past are con verted into demigods or whole gods: the rise of religions proves that mankind no longer has any
? in man (" nor in woman neither," as in Hamlet's case). Or a host of men are brought together in a heap, and it is hoped that as a
Parliament they will operate just as tyrannically. Tyrannising is the distinctive quality of great
men: they make inferior men stupid.
876.
Buckle affords the best example of the extent to which a plebeian agitator of the mob is in capable of arriving at a clear idea of the concept, "higher nature. " The opinion which he combats so passionately--that "great men," individuals,
statesmen, geniuses, warriors, are the levers and causes of all great movements, is in stinctively misunderstood by him, as if it meant that all that was essential and valuable in such
princes,
? ? ? 314
THE WILL TO POWER.
a " higher man," was the fact that he was capable of setting masses in motion; in short, that his sole merit was the effect he produced. . . . But the " higher nature" of the great man resides precisely in being different, in being unable to communicate with others, in the loftiness of his rank--not in any sort of effect he may produce even though this be the shattering Of both hemi spheres.
877.
The Revolution made Napoleon possible: that
is its justification. We ought to desire anarchical collapse of the whole of our civilisation if such a reward were to be its result. Napoleon made nationalism possible: that is the latter's excuse.
The value of a man (apart, of course, from morality and immorality: because with these
the
? a man's worth is not even
does not lie in his utility; because he would continue to exist even if there were nobody to whom he could be useful. And why could not that man be the very pinnacle of manhood who was the source Of the worst possible effects for his race: so high and so superior, that in his presence everything would go to rack and ruin from envy?
878.
To appraise the value of a man according to his utility to mankind, or according to what he costs or the damage he able to inflict upon
concepts
skimmed)
? ? it,
is
it,
? .
-
just as good and just as bad as to appraise the value of work of art according to its effects. But in this way the value of one man compared with another not even touched upon. The "moral valuation," in so far as social, measures men altogether according to their effects. But what about the man who has his own taste on his tongue, who surrounded and concealed by his isolation, uncommunicative and not to be communicated with; man whom no one has fathomed yet--that to say, creature of higher, and, at any rate, diferent species: how would ye appraise his worth, seeing that ye
THE ORDER OF RANK.
315
? ' cannot know him and can compare him with
nothing
Moral valuation was the cause of the most
enormous obtuseness of judgment: the value of man in himself underrated, well-nigh over
looked, practically denied. This the remains of simple-minded teleology: the value of man can only be measured with regard to other men.
879.
To be obsessed moral considerations supposes very low grade of intellect: shows that the instinct for special rights, for standing apart, the feeling of freedom in creative natures, in "children of God " (or of the devil), lacking. And irrespective of whether he preaches ruling morality or criticises the prevailing ethical code from the point of view of his own ideal: by doing these things man shows that he belongs
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316
to the herd--even though he may be What it is most in need of--that is to say, a " shepherd. "
880.
We should substitute morality by the will to our own ends, and consequently to the means to them.
881.
Concerning the order qf rank--What is it that constitutes the mediocrity of the typical man? That he does not understand that things neces sarily have their other side; that he combats evil conditions as if they could be dispensed with; that he will not take the one with the other; that he would fain obliterate and erase the character of a thing; of a circumstance, of an age, and of a person, by calling only a portion of their qualities good, and suppressing the remainder. The "desirability" of the mediocre is that which we others combat: their ideal is something which shall no longer contain anything harmful, evil, dangerous, questionable, and destructive. We recognise the reverse of this: that with every growth of man his other side must grow as well; that the highest man, if such a concept be allowed, would be that man who would represent the antag onistic character of existence most strikingly, and would be its glory and its only justification. . . . Ordinary men may only represent a small corner and nook of this natural character; they perish the moment the multifariousness of the elements composing them, and the tension between their
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THE ORDER OF RANK.
antagonistic traits, increases: but this the pre requisite for greatness in man. That man should become better and at the same time more evil, my formula for this inevitable fact.
The majority of people are only piecemeal and fragmentary examples of man: only when all these creatures are jumbled together does one
whole man arise Whole ages and whole peoples in this sense, have fragmentary character about them; may perhaps be part of the economy of human development that man should develop himself only piecemeal. But, for this reason, one should not forget that the only important con sideration the rise of the synthetic man; that inferior men, and by far the great majority of
people,
Mankind does not advance in straight line often type attained which again lost (for instance, with all the eflorts Of three hundred
years, we have not reached the men of the Renais-- sance again, and in addition to this we must not forget that the man of the Renaissance was already behind his brother of classical antiquity).
882.
The superiority of the Greek and the man of the Renaissance recognised, but people would like to produce them without the conditions and causes of which they were the result.
point.
317
? are but rehearsals and exercises out of which here and there a whole man may arise; a man who human milestone, and who indicates how far mankind has advanced up to certain
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883.
"Purification of taste " can only be the result of the strengthening of the type. Our society to-day represents only the cultivating'systems; the cultivated man is lacking. The great synthetic man, in whom the various forces for attaining a purpose are correctly harnessed together, is alto gether wanting. The specimen we possess is the multifarious man, the most interesting form of chaos that has ever existed: but not the chaos
preceding the creation of the world, but that fol lowing it: Goethe as the most beautiful expression of the type (completely and utterly un-Olympian ! )'
p 884.
Handel, Leibniz, Goethe, and Bismarck, are characteristic of the strong German type. They lived with equanimity, surrounded by contrasts. They were full of that agile kind of strength which cautiously avoids convictions and doctrines, i by using the one as a weapon against the other,
and reserving absolute freedom for themselves.
885.
Of this I am convinced, that if the rise of great and rare men had been made dependent upon the voices of the multitude (taking for granted, of
*Tbe Germans always call Goethe the Olympian--TR.
? ? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK. 319
course, that the latter knew the qualities which belong to greatness, and also the price that all
greatness pays for its self-development), then there would never have been any such thing as great man!
The fact that things pursue their course inde pendently of the voice of the many, the reason why few astonishing things have taken place on earth.
886.
The Order of Rank in Human Values.
A man should not be valued according to isolated acts. Epidermal actions. Nothing more rare than personal act. Class, rank, race, environ ment, accident--all these things are much more likely to be expressed in an action or deed than the "personality " of the doer.
(b) We should on no account jump to the con clusion that there are many people who are per sonalities. Some men are but conglomerations of
? (a)
whilst the majority are not even one. In all cases in which those average qualities pre
which ensure the maintenance of the to be personality would involve un
necessary expense, would be a luxury--in fact, would be foolish to ":mand of anybody that he Should be personality. In such circumstances
everybody channel or transmitting vessel.
A " personality " relatively isolated phen omenon; in view of the superior importance of the continuation of the race an average level,
personalities,
ponderate, V species,
(c)
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personality might even be regarded as something hostile to nature. For a personality to be possible, timely isolation and the necessity for an existence of offence and defence, are prerequisites; something in the nature of a walled enclosure, a capacity for shutting out the world ; but above all, a much lower degree of sensitiveness than the average man has, who is too easily infected with the views Of others.
The first question concerning the order of rank: how far is a man disposed to be solitary or gre
garious? (in the latter case,his valueconsists in those qualities which secure the survival of his tribe or his type ; in the former case, his qualities are those which distinguish him from others, which isolate and defend him, and make his solitude possible).
Consequence: the solitary type should not be valued from the standpoint of the gregarious type, or vice versd.
Viewed from above, both types are necessary; as is likewise their antagonism,--and nothing is more thoroughly reprehensible than the "desire" which would develop a third thing out of the two (" virtue " as hermaphroditism). This is as little worthy of desire as the equalisation and reconcilia tion of the sexes. The distinguishing qualities must be developed ever more and more, the gulf must be made ever wider. . . .
The concept of degeneration in both cases: the approximation of the qualities of the herd to those of solitary creatures: and vice versd--in short, when they begin to resemble each other. This concept Of degeneration is beyond the sphere of moral
judgments.
? ? ? ? '
Where the strongest natures are to be sought. The ruin and degeneration of the solitary species much greater and more terrible: they have the in stincts of the herd, and the tradition of values, against them; their weapons of defence, their in stincts of self-preservation, are from the beginning insufficiently strong and reliable--fortune must be
peculiarly favourable to them they are to prosper (they prosper best in the lowest ranks and dregs of society; ye are seeking personalities there that ye will find them with much greater certainty than in the middle classes! )
When the dispute between ranks and classes, which aims at equality of rights, almost settled,
the fight will begin against the solitaryI person. certain sense the latter can maintain and develop himself most easily in a democratic society: there
where the coarser means of defence are no longer necessary, and certain habit of order, honesty, justice, trust, already general condition. ) The strongest must be most tightly bound, most strictly
watched, laid in chains and supervised: this the instinct of the herd. To them belongs regime of self-mastery, of ascetic detachment, of "duties" consisting in exhausting work, in which one can no longer call one's soul one's own.
888.
am attempting an economic justification of virtue. The object to make man as useful as
vor. . 11.
THE ORDER OF RANK.
321
887.
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possible, and to make him approximate as nearly as one can to an infallible machine : to this end he
must be equipped with machine-like virtues must learn to value those states in which he works in a most mechanically useful way, as the highest of all: to this end it is necessary to make him as disgusted as possible with the other states, and to represent them as very dangerous and despicable).
Here is the first stumbling-block: the tedious ness and monotony which all mechanical activity brings with it. To learn to endure this--and not only to endure but to see tedium enveloped in
ray of exceeding charm: this hitherto has been the task of all higher schools. TO learn something which you don't care a fig about, and to find pre cisely your "duty" in this "objective" activity; to learn to value happiness and duty as things apart; this the invaluable task and performance Of higher schools. It on this account that the philologist has, hitherto, been the educator per se:
because his activity, in itself, afl'ords the best pattern of magnificent monotony in action; under
his banner youths learn to " swat ": first requisite for the thorough fulfilment of mechanical duties in the future (as State Officials, husbands, slaves of the desk, newspaper readers, and soldiers). Such an existence may perhaps require philosoph ical glorification and justification more than any
other: pleasurable feelings must be valued by some sort of infallible tribunal, as altogether of inferior rank " duty per se," perhaps even the pathos of re verence in regard to everything unpleasant,----must be demanded imperativer as that which above all
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useful, delightful, and practical things. . mechanical form of existence regarded as the highest and most respectable form of existence,
worshipping itself (type: Kant as the fanatic of the formal concept "Thou shalt
889.
The economic valuation of all the ideals that have existed hitherto--that to say, the selection and rearing of definite passions and states at the cost of other passions and states. The law-giver (or the instinct of the community) selects number
of states and passions the existence of which
guarantees
the performance of regular actions actions would thus be the result of
THE ORDER OF RANK.
323
? (mechanical
the regular requirements of those passions and
states).
In the event of these states and passions con
taining ingredients which were painful, means would have to be found for overcoming this pain fulness by means of valuation; pain would have to be interpreted as something valuable, as some thing pleasurable in higher sense. Conceived in
formula " How does something unpleasant become pleasant! " For instance, when our obedience and our submission to the law become honoured, thanks
to the energy, power, and self-control they entail. The same, holds good of our public spirit, of our
neighbourliness, of our patriotism, our " humanisa tion," our "altruism," and our "heroism. " The object of all idealism should be to induce people to do unpleasant things cheerfully.
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890.
The belittlement of man must be held as the chief aim for a long while: because what is needed in the first place is a broad basis from which a stronger species of man may arise (to what extent hitherto has ever stronger species of man arisen from a substratum of inferior people
891.
The absurd and contemptible form of idealism which would not have mediocrity mediocre, and which instead of feeling triumphant at being ex ceptional, becomes indignant at cowardice, false ness, pettiness, and wretchedness. We should not wish things to be any dgfi'erent, we should make the gulfs even wider l--The higher types among men should be compelled to distinguish themselves by means 01 the sacrifices which they make to their own existence.
Principal point of view: distances must be es tablished, but no contrasts must be created. The middle classes must be dissolved, and their influence decreased: this the principal means of main taining distances.
892.
Who would dare to disgust the mediocre of their mediocrity! As you observe, do precisely the reverse: every step away from mediocrity--thus do teach--leads to immorality.
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? To hate sopher:
mediocrity almost
unworthy of philo note of interrogation to his
THE ORDER OF RANK. 893.
325
" right to philosophy. " It precisely because he the exception that he' must protect the rule and ingratiate all mediocre people.
894.
What combat: that an exceptional form should make war upon the rule--instead of understanding that the continued existence of the rule the first condition of the value of the exception. For in stance, there are women who, instead of consider ing their abnormal thirst for knowledge as dis tinction, would fain dislocate the whole status of womanhood.
895.
The increase of strength despite the temporary ruin of the individual :--
A new level must be established;
We must have method of storing up forces
for the maintenance of small performances,
in opposition to economic waste; Destructive nature must for once be reduced
to an instrument of this economy of the future;
The weak must be maintained, because there an enormous mass of finiching work to
be done;
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THE WILL TO POWER.
The weak and the suffering must be upheld in their belief that existence is still possible ;
Solidarity must be implanted as an instinct opposed to the instinct of fear and servility ; War must be made upon accident, even upon
the accident of " the great man. "
896.
War upon great men justified on economic grounds. Great men are dangerous; they are accidents, exceptions, tempests, which are strong enough to question things which it has taken time to build and establish. Explosive material must not only be discharged harmlessly, but, if possible,
its discharge must be prevented altogether; this is the fundamental instinct of all civilised society.
897.
He who thinks over the question of how the type man may be elevated to its highest glory and power, will realise from the start that he must
place himself beyond morality; for morality was directed in its essentials at the opposite goal--that is to say, its aim was to arrest and to annihilate that glorious development wherever it was in pro cess of accomplishment. For, as a matter of fact, development of that sort implies that such an
enormous number of men must be subservient to that a counter-movement only too natural: the weaker, more delicate, more mediocre existences, find necessary to take up sides against that glory
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of life and power; and for that purpose they must get new valuation of themselves by means of which they are able to condemn, and possible to destroy, life in this high degree of plenitude. Morality therefore essentially the expression of hostility to life, in so far as would overcome vital types.
898.
The strong of the future--To what extent neces sity on the one hand and accident on the other have attained to conditions from which stronger species may be reared: this we are now able to understand and to bring about consciously; we can now create those conditions under which such an elevation possible.
Hitherto education has always aimed at the utility of society: not the greatest possible utility for the future, but the utility of the society actually extant. What people required were " instruments " for this purpose. Provided the wealth of forces were greater, would be possible to think of draft being made upon them, the aim of which would not be the utility of society, but some future utility.
The more people grasped to what extent the present form of society was in such state of tran sition as sooner or later to be no longer able to exist
for its own sake, but only as means in the hands of stronger race, the more this task would have to be brought forward.
The increasing belittlement of man precisely the impelling power which leads one to think of
317
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the cultivation of a stronger race: a race which would have a surplus precisely there where the dwarfed species was weak and growing weaker (will, responsibility, self-reliance, the ability to postulate aims for one's self).
The means would be those which history teaches: isolation by means of preservative interests which would be the reverse of those generally accepted; exercise in transvalued valuations; distance as pathos ; a clean conscience in what to-day is most despised and most prohibited.
The levelling of the mankind of Europe is the great process which should not be arrested; it should even be accelerated. The necessity of cleaving gulfs, of distance, of the order of rank, is therefore imperative; but not the necessity of re tarding the process above mentioned.
This levelled-down species requires justification as soon as it is attained: its justification is that it exists for the service of a higher and sovereign race which stands upon it and can only be elevated upon its shoulders to the task which it is destined to perform. Not only a ruling race whose task would be consummated in ruling alone: but a race
with vital spheres of its own, with an overflow of energy for beauty, bravery, culture, and manners, even for the most abstract thought; a yea-saying race which would be able to allow itself every kind of great luxury--strong enough to be able to dis pense with the tyranny of the imperatives of virtue, rich enough to be in no need of economy or pedantry; beyond good and evil; a forcing-house for rare and exceptional plants.
328
? ? ? ? New barbarians
Cynics Experiment-
alists Conquerors
900.
The union of intellectual superiority with well-be
ing and an overflow of strength.
THE ORDER OF RANK.
329
899.
Our psychologists, whose glance dwells in voluntarily upon the symptoms of decadence, lead us to mistrust intellect ever more and more. People persist in seeing only the weakening, pam
pering, and sickening efi'ects of intellect, but there are now going to appear :--
? I point to something new: certainly for such a democratic community there is a danger of bar barians; but these are sought only down below. There is also another kind of barbarians who come from the heights: a kind of conquering and ruling
' natures, which are in search of material that they can mould. Prometheus was a barbarian of this
- stamp.
901.
Principal standpoint: one should not suppose the mission of a higher species to be the leading of inferior men (as Comte does, for instance); but the inferior should be regarded as the foundation upon which a higher species may live their higher life--upon which alone they can stand.
? ? ? 330
THE WILL TO POWER.
The conditions under which a strong, noble species maintains itself (in the matter of intellectual discipline) are precisely the reverse of those under which the industrial masses--the tea-grocers :2 la Spencer--subsist. Those qualities which are within the grasp only of the strongest and most terrible natures, and which make their existence possible--leisure, adventure, disbelief, and even dis
sipation--would necessarily ruin mediocre natures --and does do sO--when they possess them. In the case of the latter industry, regularity, modera tion, and strong "conviction " are in their proper place--in short, all " gregarious virtues": under their influence these mediocre men become perfect.
902.
Concerning the ruling types. --The shepherd as opposed to the "lord " (the former is only a means to the maintenance of the herd; the latter, the
purpose for which the herd exists).
9? 3
The temporary preponderance of social valua tions is both comprehensible and useful; it is a matter of building a foundation upon which a
stronger species will ultimately be made possible. The standard of strength: to be able to live under the transvalued valuations, and to desire them for
all eternity. State and society regarded as a sub structure: economic point of view, education con ceived as breeding.
? ? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
904.
331
A consideration which " free spirits' lack: that the same discipline which makes a strong nature still stronger, and enables it to go in for big under takings, breahs up and withers the mediocre: doubt --la largeur de cwur--experiment--independence.
905.
The hammer. How should men who must value in the opposite way be constituted ? --Men who possess all the qualities of the modern soul, but are strong enough to convert them into real health? The means to their task.
906. .
The strong man, who is mighty in the instincts of a strong and healthy organisation, digests his deeds just as well as he digests his meals ; he even gets over the effects of heavy fare: in the main, however, he is led by an inviolable and severe instinct which prevents his doing anything which goes against his grain, just as he never does any thing against his taste.
907
Can we foresee the favourable circumstances under which creatures of the highest value might arise ? It is a thousand times too complicated, and the probabilities of failure are very great: on that account we cannot be inspired by the thought of
? ? ? ? 332
THE WILL TO POWER.
Scepticism. --To oppose this
striving after them !
we can enhance courage, insight, hardness, inde pendence, and the feeling of responsibility; we can also subtilise and learn to forestall the delicacy of the scales, so that favourable accidents may be enlisted on our side.
908.
Before we can even think of acting, an enormous amount of work requires to be done. In the main, however, a cautious exploitation of the present con ditions would be our best and most advisable course Of action. The actual creation of conditions such as those which occur by accident, presupposes the existence of iron men such as have not yet lived. Our first task must be to make the personal ideal prevail and become realised l He who has understood the nature of man and the origin of mankind's greatest specimens, shudders before man
and takes flight from all action: this is the result of inherited valuations! !
My consolation that the nature of man evil, and this guarantees his strength!
9? 9
The typical forms of self-development, or the eight principal questions :--
I. DO we want to be more multifarious or more simple than we are?
2. Do we want to be happier than we are, or more indifferent to both happiness and un happiness
? ? ? ?
is,
is
? '
THE ORDER OF RANK.
333
Do we want to be more satisfied with our selves,or moreexacting and moreinexorable? 4. Do we want to be softer, more yielding, and
more human than we are, or more in
human
Do we want to be more prudent than we are,
or more daring?
6. Do we want to attain goal, or do we want
to avoid all goals (like the philosopher, for instance, who scents boundary, cul-de
sac, a prison, piece of foolishness in every goal)
Do we want to become more respected, or more feared, or more despised?
Do we want to become tyrants, and seducers, or do we want to become shepherds and gregarious animals
910.
The type of my disciples--To such men as con cern me in any way wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities of all kinds. wish them to be acquainted with profound self contempt, with the martyrdom of self-distrust, with the misery of the defeated: have no pity for them; because wish them to have the only thing which to-day proves whether man has any value
or not, namely, the capacity of sticking to his guns.
911.
The happiness and self-contentedness of the lazzaroni, or the blessedness of " beautiful souls,"
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THE WILL TO POWER.
or the consumptive love of Puritan pietists, proves nothing in regard to the order of rank among men. As a great educator one ought in exorably to thrash a race of such blissful creatures into unhappiness. The danger of belittlement and of a slackening of powers follows immediately-- I am opposed to happiness a la Spinoza or d la Epicurus, and to all the relaxation of contemplative
states. But when virtue is the means to such happiness, well then, one must master even virtue.
912.
I cannot see how any one can make up for having missed going to a good school at the proper time. Such a person does not know himself; he walks through life without ever having learned to walk.
