The question m&y
finally be asked: "Does it then pay, all trhis
bloom and magnificence of the total (which
indeed only manifests itself as the fear of the
new Colossus in other nations, and as the com-
pulsory favouring by them of national trade and
commerce) when all the nobler, finer, and more
intellectual plants and products, in which its soil
was hitherto so rich, must be sacrificed to this
coarse and opalescent flower of the nation ?
finally be asked: "Does it then pay, all trhis
bloom and magnificence of the total (which
indeed only manifests itself as the fear of the
new Colossus in other nations, and as the com-
pulsory favouring by them of national trade and
commerce) when all the nobler, finer, and more
intellectual plants and products, in which its soil
was hitherto so rich, must be sacrificed to this
coarse and opalescent flower of the nation ?
Nietzsche - v06 - Human All-Too-Human - a
"
474-
The Development of the Mind Feared
by the State. —The Greek polls was, like every
organising political power, exclusive and distrust-
ful of the growth of culture; its powerful funda-
mental impulse seemed almost solely to have a
paralysing and obstructive effect thereon. It did
not want to let any history or any becoming have
a place in culture; the education laid down in the
State laws was meant to be obligatory on all
generations to keep them at one stage of develop-
ment. Plato also, later on, did not desire it to be
otherwise in his ideal State. In spite of the polis
culture developed itself in this manner; indirectly
to be sure, and against its will, the polis furnished
assistance because the ambition of individuals
therein was stimulated to the utmost, so that,
having once found the path of intellectual develop-
ment, they followed it to its farthest extremity.
On the other hand, appeal should not be made to
the panegyric of Pericles, for it is only a great
optimistic dream about the alleged necessary con-
nection between the Polis and Athenian culture;
immediately before the night fell over Athens (the
plague and the breakdown of tradition), Thucy-
dides makes this culture flash up once more like
a transfiguring afterglow, to efface the remem-
brance of the evil day that had preceded.
## p. 345 (#500) ############################################
344 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
aims at the complete annihilation of the indi-
vidual, whom it deems an unauthorised luxury
of nature, which is to be improved by it into an
appropriate organ of the general community. Owing
to its relationship, it always appears in proximity
to excessive developments of power, like the old
typical socialist, Plato, at the court of the Sicilian
tyrant; it desires (and under certain circumstances
furthers) the Caesarian despotism of this century,
because, as has been said, it would like to become
its heir. But even this inheritance would not
suffice for its objects, it requires the most sub-
missive prostration of all citizens before the
absolute State, such as has never yet been realised;
and as it can no longer even count upon the old
religious piety towards the State, but must rather
strive involuntarily and continuously for the
abolition thereof,—because it strives for the aboli-
tion of all existing States,—it can only hope for
existence occasionally, here and there for short
periods, by means of the extremest terrorism. It
is therefore silently preparing itself for reigns of
terror, and drives the word "justice" like a nail
into the heads of the half-cultured masses in order
to deprive them completely of their understanding
(after they had already suffered seriously from the
half-culture), and to provide them with a good
conscience for the bad game they are to play.
Socialism may serve to teach, very brutally and
impressively, the danger of all accumulations of
State power, and may serve so far to inspire dis-
trust of the State itself. When its rough voice
strikes up the way-cry " as much State as possible,"
## p. 345 (#501) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 345
the shout at first becomes louder than ever,—but
soon the opposition cry also breaks forth, with so
much greater force: "as little State as possible. "
474-
The Development of the Mind Feared
BY THE STATE. —The Greek polls was, like every
organising political power, exclusive and distrust-
ful of the growth of culture; its powerful funda-
mental impulse seemed almost solely to have a
paralysing and obstructive effect thereon. It did
not want to let any history or any becoming have
a place in culture; the education laid down in the
State laws was meant to be obligatory on all
generations to keep them at one stage of develop-
ment. Plato also, later on, did not desire it to be
otherwise in his ideal State. In spite of the polis
culture developed itself in this manner; indirectly
to be sure, and against its will, the polis furnished
assistance because the ambition of individuals
therein was stimulated to the utmost, so that,
having once found the path of intellectual develop-
ment, they followed it to its farthest extremity.
On the other hand, appeal should not be made to
the panegyric of Pericles, for it is only a great
optimistic dream about the alleged necessary con-
nection between the Polis and Athenian culture;
immediately before the night fell over Athens (the
plague and the breakdown of tradition), Thucy-
dides makes this culture flash up once more like
a transfiguring afterglow, to efface the remem-
brance of the evil day that had preceded.
## p. 346 (#502) ############################################
346 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
475-
European Man and the Destruction of
Nationalities. —Commerce and industry, inter-
change of books and letters, the universality of all
higher culture, the rapid changing of locality and
landscape, and the present nomadic life of all who
are not landowners,—these circumstances neces-
^sarily bring with them a weakening, and finally a
i destruction of nationalities, at least of European
nationalities; so that, in consequence of perpetual
crossings, there must arise out of them all a
mixed race, that of the European man. At
i—present the isolation of nations, through the rise
of national enmities, consciously or unconsciously
counteracts this tendency; but nevertheless the
f process of fusing advances slowly, in spite of
those occasional counter-currents. This artificial
x nationalism is, however, as dangerous as was
artificial Catholicism, for it is essentially an un-
natural condition of extremity and martial law,
*—' which has been proclaimed by the few over the
many, and requires artifice, lying, and force to
maintain its reputation. It is not the interest! ; of
the many (of the peoples), as they probably say,
but it is first of all the interests of certain
princely dynasties, and then of certain commercial
and social classes, which impel to this nationalism;
once we have recognised this fact, we should just
fearlessly style ourselves good Europeans and labour
actively for the amalgamation of nations; in which
efforts Germans may assist by virtue of their
hereditary position as interpreters and intermediaries
## p. 347 (#503) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 347
between nations. By the way, the great problem
of the Jews only exists within the national States,
inasmuch as their energy and higher intelligence,
their intellectual and volitional capital, accumulated
from generation to generation in tedious schools
of suffering, must necessarily attain to universal
supremacy here to an extent provocative of envy
and hatred; so that the literary misconduct is
becoming prevalent in almost all modern nations
—and all the more so as they again set up to be
national—of sacrificing the Jews as the scape-
goats of all possible public and private abuses.
So soon as it is no longer a question of the
preservation or establishment of nations, but of
the production and training of a European mixed-
race of the greatest possible strength, the Jew is
just as useful and desirable an ingredient as any
other national remnant. Every nation, every
individual, has unpleasant and even dangerous
qualities,—it is cruel to require that the Jew
should be an exception. Those qualities may even
be dangerous and frightful in a special degree in
his case; and perhaps the young Stock-Exchange
Jew is in general the most repulsive invention of
the human species. Nevertheless, in a general
summing up, I should like to know how much
must be excused in a nation which, not without
blame on the part of all of us, has had the most
mournful history of all nations, and to which we
owe the most loving of men (Christ), the most
upright of sages (Spinoza), the mightiest book,
and the most effective moral law in the world?
Moreover, in the darkest times of the Middle
## p. 348 (#504) ############################################
348 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
Ages, when Asiatic clouds had gathered darkly
over Europe, it was Jewish free-thinkers, scholars,
and physicians who upheld the banner of en-
lightenment and of intellectual independence under
the severest personal sufferings, and defended
Europe against Asia; we owe it not least to their
efforts that a more natural, more reasonable, at all
events un-mythical, explanation of the world was
finally able to get the upper hand once more, and
that the link of culture which now unites us with
the enlightenment of Greco-Roman antiquity has
remained unbroken. If Christianity has done
everything to orientalise the Occident, Judaism
has assisted essentially in occidentalising it anew;
which, in a certain sense, is equivalent to making
Europe's mission and history a continuation of
that of Greece.
476.
Apparent Superiority of the Middle
Ages. —The Middle Ages present in the Church
an institution with an absolutely universal aim,
involving the whole of humanity,—an aim,
moreover, which—presumedly—concerned man's
highest interests ; in comparison therewith the aims
of the States and nations which modern history
exhibits make a painful impression; they seem
petty, base, material, and restricted in extent.
But this different impression on our imagination
should certainly not determine our judgment; for
that universal institution corresponded to feigned
and fictitiously fostered needs, such as the need of
salvation, which, wherever they did not already
## p. 349 (#505) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 349
exist, it had first of all to create: the new
institutions, however, relieve actual distresses; and
the time is coming when institutions will arise to
minister to the common, genuine needs of all
men, and to cast that fantastic prototype, the
Catholic Church, into shade and oblivion.
477-
War Indispensable. —It is nothing but
fanaticism and beautiful soul ism to expect very
much (or even, much only) from humanity when
it has forgotten how to wage war. For the
present we know of no other means whereby the
rough energy of the camp, the deep impersonal
hatred, the cold-bloodedness of murder with a good
conscience, the general ardour of the system in the
destruction of the enemy, the proud indifference
to great losses, to one's own existence and that
of one's friends, the hollow, earthquake-like con-
vulsion of the soul, can be as forcibly and certainly
communicated to enervated nations as is done by
every great war: owing to the brooks and streams
that here break forth, which, certainly, sweep stones
and rubbish of all sorts along with them and
destroy the meadows of delicate cultures, the
mechanism in the workshops of the mind is
afterwards, in favourable circumstances, rotated by
new power. Culture can by no means dispense
with passions, vices, and malignities. When the
Romans, after having become Imperial, had grown
rather tired of war, they attempted to gain new
strength by beast-baitings, gladiatoral combats,
## p. 350 (#506) ############################################
3SO HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
and Christian persecutions. The English of to-
day, who appear on the whole to have also
renounced war, adopt other means in order to
generate anew those vanishing forces; namely, the
dangerous exploring expeditions, sea voyages
and mountaineerings, nominally undertaken for
scientific purposes, but in reality to bring home
surplus strength from adventures and dangers of
all kinds. Many other such substitutes for war
will be discovered, but perhaps precisely thereby
it will become more and more obvious that such
a highly cultivated and therefore necessarily
enfeebled humanity as that of modern Europe
not only needs wars, but the greatest and most
terrible wars,—consequently occasional relapses
into barbarism,—lest, by the means of culture, it
should lose its culture and its very existence.
478.
Industry in the South and the North.
—Industry arises in two entirely different ways.
The artisans of the South are not industrious
because of acquisitiveness but because of the
constant needs of others. The smith is in-
dustrious because some one is always coming
who wants a horse shod or a carriage mended.
If nobody came he would loiter about in the
market-place. In a fruitful land he has little
trouble in supporting himself, for that purpose
he requires only a very small amount of work,
certainly no industry; eventually he would beg
and be contented. The industry of English
## p. 351 (#507) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 351
workmen, on the contrary, has acquisitiveness
behind it; it is conscious of itself and its aims;
with property it wants power, and with power the
greatest possible liberty and individual distinction.
479-
Wealth as the Origin of a Nobility of
Race. —Wealth necessarily creates an aristocracy
of race, for it permits the choice of the most
beautiful women and the engagement of the
best teachers; it allows a man cleanliness, time
for physical exercises, and, above all, immunity
from dulling physical labour. So far it provides
all the conditions for making man, after a few
generations, move and even act nobly and
handsomely: greater freedom of character and
absence of niggardliness, of wretchedly petty
matters, and of abasement before bread-givers.
It is precisely these negative qualities which are
the most profitable birthday gift, that of happiness,
for the young man; a person who is quite poor
usually comes to grief through nobility of dis-
position, he does not get on, and acquires nothing,
his race is not capable of living. In this con-
nection, however, it must be remembered that
wealth produces almost the same effects whether
one have three hundred or thirty thousand thalers
a year; there is no further essential progression
of the favourable conditions afterwards. But to
have less, to beg in boyhood and to abase one's
self is terrible, although it may be the proper
starting-point for such as seek their happiness
## p. 352 (#508) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#509) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
VOL. 1. z
## p. 353 (#510) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#511) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. z
## p. 353 (#512) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#513) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. z
## p. 353 (#514) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#515) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. z
## p. 353 (#516) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#517) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. z
## p. 353 (#518) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#519) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. Z
## p. 353 (#520) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#521) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. z
## p. 354 (#522) ############################################
TT1
I
354 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
swayed by this covetousness, and no lei tfoger
belongs entirely to himself alone as he fisl did
formerly; the new daily questions and can t;S of
the public welfare devour a daily tribute ogef the
intellectual and emotional capital of every cit izen;
the sum of all these sacrifices and losse ;s of
individual energy and labour is so enon: nous,
that the political growth of a nation allEfoost
necessarily entails an intellectual impoverishnWnt
and lassitude, a diminished capacity for Kthe
performance of works that require great concen-
tration and specialisation.
The question m&y
finally be asked: "Does it then pay, all trhis
bloom and magnificence of the total (which
indeed only manifests itself as the fear of the
new Colossus in other nations, and as the com-
pulsory favouring by them of national trade and
commerce) when all the nobler, finer, and more
intellectual plants and products, in which its soil
was hitherto so rich, must be sacrificed to this
coarse and opalescent flower of the nation ? *
482.
Repeated Once More. —Public opinion—
private laziness.
* This is once more an allusion to modern Germany.
-J. M. K.
## p. 355 (#523) ############################################
NINTH DIVISION.
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF.
483.
The Enemies of Truth. —Convictions are more
dangerous enemies of truth than lies.
484.
A Topsy-Turvy World. — We criticise a
thinker more severely when he puts an unpleasant
statement before us; and yet it would be more
reasonable to do so when we find his statement
pleasant.
485.
Decided Character. —A man far oftener ap-
pears to have a decided character from persistently
following his temperament than from persistently
following his principles.
486.
The One Thing Needful. —One thing a
man must have: either a naturally light disposition
or a disposition lightened by art and knowledge.
## p. 356 (#524) ############################################
356 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
487.
The Passion for Things. —Whoever sets his
passion on things (sciences, arts, the common weal,
the interests of culture) withdraws much fervour
from his passion for persons (even when they
are the representatives of those things; as states-
men, philosophers, and artists are the representa-
tives of their creations).
488.
Calmness in Action. —As a cascade in its
descent becomes more deliberate and suspended,
so the great man of action usually acts with more
calmness than his strong passions previous to
action would lead one to expect.
489.
NOT TOO Deep. —Persons who grasp a matter
in all its depth seldom remain permanently true
to it. They have just brought the depth up into
the light, and there is always much evil to be seen
there.
490.
The Illusion of Idealists. —All idealists
imagine that the cause which they serve is
essentially better than all other causes, and will
not believe that if their cause is really to flourish
it requires precisely the same evil-smelling manure
which all other human undertakings have need of.
## p. 357 (#525) ############################################
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF. 357
491.
Self-Observation. — Man is exceedingly
well protected from himself and guarded against
his self-exploring and self-besieging; as a rule he
can perceive nothing of himself but his outworks.
The actual fortress is inaccessible, and even in-
visible, to him, unless friends and enemies become
* traitors and lead him inside by secret paths.
492.
The Right Calling. —Men can seldom hold
on to a calling unless they believe or persuade
themselves that it is really more important than any
other. Women are the same with their lovers.
493-
Nobility of Disposition. —Nobility of dis-
position consists largely in good-nature and
absence of distrust, and therefore contains precisely
that upon which money-grabbing and successful
men take a pleasure in walking with superiority
and scorn.
494-
Goal and Path. —Many are obstinate with
regard to the once-chosen path, few with regard
to the goal.
495-
The Offensiveness in an Individual Way
OF Life. —All specially individual lines of con-
duct excite irritation against him who adopts
them; people feel themselves reduced to the
## p. 358 (#526) ############################################
358 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
level of commonplace creatures by the extra-
ordinary treatment he bestows on himself.
496.
The Privilege of Greatness. —It is the
privilege of greatness to confer intense happiness
with insignificant gifts.
497-
Unintentionally Noble. —A person behaves
with unintentional nobleness when he has accus-
tomed himself to seek naught from others and
always to give to them.
498.
A Condition of Heroism. —When a person
wishes to become a hero, the serpent must previ-
ously have become a dragon, otherwise he lacks
his proper enemy.
499.
FRIEndS. —Fellowship in joy, and not sym-
pathy in sorrow, makes people friends.
500.
Making Use of Ebb and Flow. —For the
purpose of knowledge we must know how to
make use of the inward current which draws us
towards a thing, and also of the current which
after a time draws us away from it.
## p. 359 (#527) ############################################
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF. 359
Soi.
Joy in Itself. —" Joy in the Thing " people
say; but in reality it is joy in itself by means of
the thing.
502.
The Unassuming Man. —He who is unas-
suming towards persons manifests his presumption
all the more with regard to things (town, State,
society, time, humanity). That is his revenge.
503.
Envy and Jealousy. —Envy and jealousy
are the pudenda of the human soul. The com-
parison may perhaps be carried further.
504.
The Noblest Hypocrite. —It is a very noble
hypocrisy not to talk of one's self at all.
505.
Vexation. —Vexation is a physical disease,
which is not by any means cured when its cause
is subsequently removed.
506.
The Champions of Truth. —Truth does not
find fewest champions when it is dangerous to
speak it, but when it is dull.
## p. 359 (#528) ############################################
358 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
level of commonplace creatures by the extra-
ordinary treatment he bestows on himself.
496.
The Privilege of Greatness. —It is the
privilege of greatness to confer intense happiness
with insignificant gifts.
497-
Unintentionally Noble. —A person behaves
with unintentional nobleness when he has accus-
tomed himself to seek naught from others and
always to give to them.
498.
A Condition of Heroism. —When a person
wishes to become a hero, the serpent must previ-
ously have become a dragon, otherwise he lacks
his proper enemy.
499-
Friends. —Fellowship in joy, and not sym-
pathy in sorrow, makes people friends.
500.
Making Use of Ebb and Flow. —For the
purpose of knowledge we must know how to
make use of the inward current which draws us
towards a thing, and also of the current which
after a time draws us away from it.
## p. 359 (#529) ############################################
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF. 359
50I.
JOY IN Itself. —" Joy in the Thing " people
say; but in reality it is joy in itself by means of
the thing.
502.
The Unassuming Man. —He who is unas-
suming towards persons manifests his presumption
all the more with regard to things (town, State,
society, time, humanity). That is his revenge.
503.
Envy and Jealousy. —Envy and jealousy
are the pudenda of the human soul. The com-
parison may perhaps be carried further.
504.
The Noblest Hypocrite. —It is a very noble
hypocrisy not to talk of one's self at all.
505.
VEXATION. —Vexation is a physical disease,
which is not by any means cured when its cause
is subsequently removed.
506.
The Champions of Truth. —Truth does not
find fewest champions when it is dangerous to
speak it, but when it is dull.
## p. 360 (#530) ############################################
36c HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
507.
More Troublesome even than Enemies.
—Persons of whose sympathetic attitude we are
not, in all circumstances, convinced, while for some
reason or other (gratitude, for instance) we are
obliged to maintain the appearance of unqualified
sympathy with them, trouble our imagination
far more than our enemies do.
508.
Free Nature. —We are so fond of being
out among Nature, because it has no opinions
about us.
509.
Each Superior in one Thing. —In civil-
ised intercourse every one feels himself superior to
all others in at least one thing; kindly feelings
generally are based thereon, inasmuch as every one
can, in certain circumstances, render help, and is
therefore entitled to accept help without shame.
510.
Consolatory Arguments. —In the case of
a death we mostly use consolatory arguments not
so much to alleviate the grief as to make excuses
for feeling so easily consoled.
511.
Persons Loyal to their Convictions. —
Whoever is very busy retains his general views
and opinions almost unchanged. So also does
## p. 361 (#531) ############################################
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF. 361
every one who labours in the service of an idea;
he will nevermore examine the idea itself, he no
longer has any time to do so; indeed, it is
against his interests to consider it as still admit-
ting of discussion.
512.
Morality and Quantity. — The higher
morality of one man as compared with that of
another, often lies merely in the fact that his
aims are quantitively greater. The other, living
in a circumscribed sphere, is dragged down by
petty occupations.
5 13.
"The Life" as the Proceeds of Life. —
A man may stretch himself out ever so far with
his knowledge; he may seem to himself ever so
objective, but eventually he realises nothing there-
from but his own biography.
514-
Iron Necessity. —Iron necessity is a thing
which has been found, in the course of history, to
be neither iron nor necessary.
515-
From Experience. — The unreasonableness
of a thing is no argument against its existence,
but rather a condition thereof.
516.
TRUTH. — Nobody dies nowadays of fatal
truths, there are too many antidotes to them.
## p. 362 (#532) ############################################
362 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
'
■J*
517.
A Fundamental Insight. — There is no
pre-established harmony between the promotion
of truth and the welfare of mankind.
518.
Man's Lot. —He who thinks most deeply
knows that he is always in the wrong, however
he may act and decide.
O
519-
TRUTH AS ClRCE. —Error has made animals
into men; is truth perhaps capable of making man
into an animal again?
520.
The Danger of Our Culture. — We
belong to a period of which the culture is in
danger of being destroyed by the appliances of
culture.
521.
Greatness Means Leading the Way. —
No stream is large and copious of itself, but
becomes great by receiving and leading on so
many tributary streams. It is so, also, with all
intellectual greatnesses. It is only a question of
some one indicating the direction to be followed
by so many affluents; not whether he was richly
or poorly gifted originally.
## p. 363 (#533) ############################################
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF. 363
522.
A Feeble Conscience. —People who talk
about their importance to mankind have a feeble
conscience for common bourgeois rectitude, keep-
ing of contracts, promises, etc.
, 523.
Desiring to be Loved. —The demand to be
loved is the greatest of presumptions.
524.
Contempt for Men. —The most unequivocal
sign of contempt for man is to regard everybody
merely as a means to one's own ends, or of no
account whatever.
525.
Partisans through Contradiction. —
Whoever has driven men to fury against himself
has also gained a party in his favour.
526.
Forgetting Experiences. —Whoever thinks
much and to good purpose easily forgets his own
experiences, but not the thoughts which these
experiences have called forth.
527.
Sticking to an Opinion.
474-
The Development of the Mind Feared
by the State. —The Greek polls was, like every
organising political power, exclusive and distrust-
ful of the growth of culture; its powerful funda-
mental impulse seemed almost solely to have a
paralysing and obstructive effect thereon. It did
not want to let any history or any becoming have
a place in culture; the education laid down in the
State laws was meant to be obligatory on all
generations to keep them at one stage of develop-
ment. Plato also, later on, did not desire it to be
otherwise in his ideal State. In spite of the polis
culture developed itself in this manner; indirectly
to be sure, and against its will, the polis furnished
assistance because the ambition of individuals
therein was stimulated to the utmost, so that,
having once found the path of intellectual develop-
ment, they followed it to its farthest extremity.
On the other hand, appeal should not be made to
the panegyric of Pericles, for it is only a great
optimistic dream about the alleged necessary con-
nection between the Polis and Athenian culture;
immediately before the night fell over Athens (the
plague and the breakdown of tradition), Thucy-
dides makes this culture flash up once more like
a transfiguring afterglow, to efface the remem-
brance of the evil day that had preceded.
## p. 345 (#500) ############################################
344 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
aims at the complete annihilation of the indi-
vidual, whom it deems an unauthorised luxury
of nature, which is to be improved by it into an
appropriate organ of the general community. Owing
to its relationship, it always appears in proximity
to excessive developments of power, like the old
typical socialist, Plato, at the court of the Sicilian
tyrant; it desires (and under certain circumstances
furthers) the Caesarian despotism of this century,
because, as has been said, it would like to become
its heir. But even this inheritance would not
suffice for its objects, it requires the most sub-
missive prostration of all citizens before the
absolute State, such as has never yet been realised;
and as it can no longer even count upon the old
religious piety towards the State, but must rather
strive involuntarily and continuously for the
abolition thereof,—because it strives for the aboli-
tion of all existing States,—it can only hope for
existence occasionally, here and there for short
periods, by means of the extremest terrorism. It
is therefore silently preparing itself for reigns of
terror, and drives the word "justice" like a nail
into the heads of the half-cultured masses in order
to deprive them completely of their understanding
(after they had already suffered seriously from the
half-culture), and to provide them with a good
conscience for the bad game they are to play.
Socialism may serve to teach, very brutally and
impressively, the danger of all accumulations of
State power, and may serve so far to inspire dis-
trust of the State itself. When its rough voice
strikes up the way-cry " as much State as possible,"
## p. 345 (#501) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 345
the shout at first becomes louder than ever,—but
soon the opposition cry also breaks forth, with so
much greater force: "as little State as possible. "
474-
The Development of the Mind Feared
BY THE STATE. —The Greek polls was, like every
organising political power, exclusive and distrust-
ful of the growth of culture; its powerful funda-
mental impulse seemed almost solely to have a
paralysing and obstructive effect thereon. It did
not want to let any history or any becoming have
a place in culture; the education laid down in the
State laws was meant to be obligatory on all
generations to keep them at one stage of develop-
ment. Plato also, later on, did not desire it to be
otherwise in his ideal State. In spite of the polis
culture developed itself in this manner; indirectly
to be sure, and against its will, the polis furnished
assistance because the ambition of individuals
therein was stimulated to the utmost, so that,
having once found the path of intellectual develop-
ment, they followed it to its farthest extremity.
On the other hand, appeal should not be made to
the panegyric of Pericles, for it is only a great
optimistic dream about the alleged necessary con-
nection between the Polis and Athenian culture;
immediately before the night fell over Athens (the
plague and the breakdown of tradition), Thucy-
dides makes this culture flash up once more like
a transfiguring afterglow, to efface the remem-
brance of the evil day that had preceded.
## p. 346 (#502) ############################################
346 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
475-
European Man and the Destruction of
Nationalities. —Commerce and industry, inter-
change of books and letters, the universality of all
higher culture, the rapid changing of locality and
landscape, and the present nomadic life of all who
are not landowners,—these circumstances neces-
^sarily bring with them a weakening, and finally a
i destruction of nationalities, at least of European
nationalities; so that, in consequence of perpetual
crossings, there must arise out of them all a
mixed race, that of the European man. At
i—present the isolation of nations, through the rise
of national enmities, consciously or unconsciously
counteracts this tendency; but nevertheless the
f process of fusing advances slowly, in spite of
those occasional counter-currents. This artificial
x nationalism is, however, as dangerous as was
artificial Catholicism, for it is essentially an un-
natural condition of extremity and martial law,
*—' which has been proclaimed by the few over the
many, and requires artifice, lying, and force to
maintain its reputation. It is not the interest! ; of
the many (of the peoples), as they probably say,
but it is first of all the interests of certain
princely dynasties, and then of certain commercial
and social classes, which impel to this nationalism;
once we have recognised this fact, we should just
fearlessly style ourselves good Europeans and labour
actively for the amalgamation of nations; in which
efforts Germans may assist by virtue of their
hereditary position as interpreters and intermediaries
## p. 347 (#503) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 347
between nations. By the way, the great problem
of the Jews only exists within the national States,
inasmuch as their energy and higher intelligence,
their intellectual and volitional capital, accumulated
from generation to generation in tedious schools
of suffering, must necessarily attain to universal
supremacy here to an extent provocative of envy
and hatred; so that the literary misconduct is
becoming prevalent in almost all modern nations
—and all the more so as they again set up to be
national—of sacrificing the Jews as the scape-
goats of all possible public and private abuses.
So soon as it is no longer a question of the
preservation or establishment of nations, but of
the production and training of a European mixed-
race of the greatest possible strength, the Jew is
just as useful and desirable an ingredient as any
other national remnant. Every nation, every
individual, has unpleasant and even dangerous
qualities,—it is cruel to require that the Jew
should be an exception. Those qualities may even
be dangerous and frightful in a special degree in
his case; and perhaps the young Stock-Exchange
Jew is in general the most repulsive invention of
the human species. Nevertheless, in a general
summing up, I should like to know how much
must be excused in a nation which, not without
blame on the part of all of us, has had the most
mournful history of all nations, and to which we
owe the most loving of men (Christ), the most
upright of sages (Spinoza), the mightiest book,
and the most effective moral law in the world?
Moreover, in the darkest times of the Middle
## p. 348 (#504) ############################################
348 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
Ages, when Asiatic clouds had gathered darkly
over Europe, it was Jewish free-thinkers, scholars,
and physicians who upheld the banner of en-
lightenment and of intellectual independence under
the severest personal sufferings, and defended
Europe against Asia; we owe it not least to their
efforts that a more natural, more reasonable, at all
events un-mythical, explanation of the world was
finally able to get the upper hand once more, and
that the link of culture which now unites us with
the enlightenment of Greco-Roman antiquity has
remained unbroken. If Christianity has done
everything to orientalise the Occident, Judaism
has assisted essentially in occidentalising it anew;
which, in a certain sense, is equivalent to making
Europe's mission and history a continuation of
that of Greece.
476.
Apparent Superiority of the Middle
Ages. —The Middle Ages present in the Church
an institution with an absolutely universal aim,
involving the whole of humanity,—an aim,
moreover, which—presumedly—concerned man's
highest interests ; in comparison therewith the aims
of the States and nations which modern history
exhibits make a painful impression; they seem
petty, base, material, and restricted in extent.
But this different impression on our imagination
should certainly not determine our judgment; for
that universal institution corresponded to feigned
and fictitiously fostered needs, such as the need of
salvation, which, wherever they did not already
## p. 349 (#505) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 349
exist, it had first of all to create: the new
institutions, however, relieve actual distresses; and
the time is coming when institutions will arise to
minister to the common, genuine needs of all
men, and to cast that fantastic prototype, the
Catholic Church, into shade and oblivion.
477-
War Indispensable. —It is nothing but
fanaticism and beautiful soul ism to expect very
much (or even, much only) from humanity when
it has forgotten how to wage war. For the
present we know of no other means whereby the
rough energy of the camp, the deep impersonal
hatred, the cold-bloodedness of murder with a good
conscience, the general ardour of the system in the
destruction of the enemy, the proud indifference
to great losses, to one's own existence and that
of one's friends, the hollow, earthquake-like con-
vulsion of the soul, can be as forcibly and certainly
communicated to enervated nations as is done by
every great war: owing to the brooks and streams
that here break forth, which, certainly, sweep stones
and rubbish of all sorts along with them and
destroy the meadows of delicate cultures, the
mechanism in the workshops of the mind is
afterwards, in favourable circumstances, rotated by
new power. Culture can by no means dispense
with passions, vices, and malignities. When the
Romans, after having become Imperial, had grown
rather tired of war, they attempted to gain new
strength by beast-baitings, gladiatoral combats,
## p. 350 (#506) ############################################
3SO HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
and Christian persecutions. The English of to-
day, who appear on the whole to have also
renounced war, adopt other means in order to
generate anew those vanishing forces; namely, the
dangerous exploring expeditions, sea voyages
and mountaineerings, nominally undertaken for
scientific purposes, but in reality to bring home
surplus strength from adventures and dangers of
all kinds. Many other such substitutes for war
will be discovered, but perhaps precisely thereby
it will become more and more obvious that such
a highly cultivated and therefore necessarily
enfeebled humanity as that of modern Europe
not only needs wars, but the greatest and most
terrible wars,—consequently occasional relapses
into barbarism,—lest, by the means of culture, it
should lose its culture and its very existence.
478.
Industry in the South and the North.
—Industry arises in two entirely different ways.
The artisans of the South are not industrious
because of acquisitiveness but because of the
constant needs of others. The smith is in-
dustrious because some one is always coming
who wants a horse shod or a carriage mended.
If nobody came he would loiter about in the
market-place. In a fruitful land he has little
trouble in supporting himself, for that purpose
he requires only a very small amount of work,
certainly no industry; eventually he would beg
and be contented. The industry of English
## p. 351 (#507) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 351
workmen, on the contrary, has acquisitiveness
behind it; it is conscious of itself and its aims;
with property it wants power, and with power the
greatest possible liberty and individual distinction.
479-
Wealth as the Origin of a Nobility of
Race. —Wealth necessarily creates an aristocracy
of race, for it permits the choice of the most
beautiful women and the engagement of the
best teachers; it allows a man cleanliness, time
for physical exercises, and, above all, immunity
from dulling physical labour. So far it provides
all the conditions for making man, after a few
generations, move and even act nobly and
handsomely: greater freedom of character and
absence of niggardliness, of wretchedly petty
matters, and of abasement before bread-givers.
It is precisely these negative qualities which are
the most profitable birthday gift, that of happiness,
for the young man; a person who is quite poor
usually comes to grief through nobility of dis-
position, he does not get on, and acquires nothing,
his race is not capable of living. In this con-
nection, however, it must be remembered that
wealth produces almost the same effects whether
one have three hundred or thirty thousand thalers
a year; there is no further essential progression
of the favourable conditions afterwards. But to
have less, to beg in boyhood and to abase one's
self is terrible, although it may be the proper
starting-point for such as seek their happiness
## p. 352 (#508) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#509) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
VOL. 1. z
## p. 353 (#510) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#511) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. z
## p. 353 (#512) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#513) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. z
## p. 353 (#514) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#515) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. z
## p. 353 (#516) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#517) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. z
## p. 353 (#518) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#519) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. Z
## p. 353 (#520) ############################################
352 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
in the splendour of courts, in subordination to
the mighty and influential, or for such as wish
to be heads of the Church. (It teaches how to
slink crouching into the underground passages
to favour. )
480.
Envy and Inertia in Different Courses.
—The two opposing parties, the socialist and the
national,—or whatever they may be called in the
different countries of Europe,—are worthy of each
other; envy and laziness are the motive powers in
each of them. In the one camp they desire to
work as little as possible with their hands, in the
other as little as possible with their heads; in
the latter they hate and envy prominent, self-
evolving individuals, who do not willingly allow
themselves to be drawn up in rank and file for
the purpose of a collective effect; in the former
they hate and envy the better social caste, which
is more favourably circumstanced outwardly,
whose peculiar mission, the production of the
highest blessings of culture, makes life inwardly
all the harder and more painful. Certainly, if
it be possible to make the spirit of the collective
effect the spirit of the higher classes of society,
the socialist crowds are quite right, when they
also seek outward equalisation between them-
selves and these classes, since they are certainly
internally equalised with one another already in
head and heart. Live as higher men, and always
do the deeds of higher culture,—thus everything
that lives will acknowledge your right, and the
## p. 353 (#521) ############################################
A GLANCE AT THE STATE. 353
order of society, whose summit ye are, will be
safe from every evil glance and attack!
481.
High Politics and their Detriments. —
Just as a nation does not suffer the greatest
losses that war and readiness for war involve
through the expenses of the war, or the stoppage
of trade and traffic, or through the maintenance
of a standing army,—however great these losses
may now be, when eight European States expend
yearly the sum of five milliards of marks thereon,
—but owing to the fact that year after year its
ablest, strongest, and most industrious men are
withdrawn in extraordinary numbers from their
proper occupations and callings to be turned into
soldiers: in the same way, a nation that sets
about practising high politics and securing a
decisive voice among the great Powers does not
suffer its greatest losses where they are usually
supposed to be. In fact, from this time onward
it constantly sacrifices a number of its most
conspicuous talents upon the "Altar of the
Fatherland" or of national ambition, whilst
formerly other spheres of activity were open to
those talents which are now swallowed up by
politics. But apart from these public hecatombs,
and in reality much more horrible, there is a
drama which is constantly being performed
simultaneously in a hundred thousand acts; every
able, industrious, intellectually striving man of
a nation that thus covets political laurels, is
vol. 1. z
## p. 354 (#522) ############################################
TT1
I
354 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
swayed by this covetousness, and no lei tfoger
belongs entirely to himself alone as he fisl did
formerly; the new daily questions and can t;S of
the public welfare devour a daily tribute ogef the
intellectual and emotional capital of every cit izen;
the sum of all these sacrifices and losse ;s of
individual energy and labour is so enon: nous,
that the political growth of a nation allEfoost
necessarily entails an intellectual impoverishnWnt
and lassitude, a diminished capacity for Kthe
performance of works that require great concen-
tration and specialisation.
The question m&y
finally be asked: "Does it then pay, all trhis
bloom and magnificence of the total (which
indeed only manifests itself as the fear of the
new Colossus in other nations, and as the com-
pulsory favouring by them of national trade and
commerce) when all the nobler, finer, and more
intellectual plants and products, in which its soil
was hitherto so rich, must be sacrificed to this
coarse and opalescent flower of the nation ? *
482.
Repeated Once More. —Public opinion—
private laziness.
* This is once more an allusion to modern Germany.
-J. M. K.
## p. 355 (#523) ############################################
NINTH DIVISION.
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF.
483.
The Enemies of Truth. —Convictions are more
dangerous enemies of truth than lies.
484.
A Topsy-Turvy World. — We criticise a
thinker more severely when he puts an unpleasant
statement before us; and yet it would be more
reasonable to do so when we find his statement
pleasant.
485.
Decided Character. —A man far oftener ap-
pears to have a decided character from persistently
following his temperament than from persistently
following his principles.
486.
The One Thing Needful. —One thing a
man must have: either a naturally light disposition
or a disposition lightened by art and knowledge.
## p. 356 (#524) ############################################
356 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
487.
The Passion for Things. —Whoever sets his
passion on things (sciences, arts, the common weal,
the interests of culture) withdraws much fervour
from his passion for persons (even when they
are the representatives of those things; as states-
men, philosophers, and artists are the representa-
tives of their creations).
488.
Calmness in Action. —As a cascade in its
descent becomes more deliberate and suspended,
so the great man of action usually acts with more
calmness than his strong passions previous to
action would lead one to expect.
489.
NOT TOO Deep. —Persons who grasp a matter
in all its depth seldom remain permanently true
to it. They have just brought the depth up into
the light, and there is always much evil to be seen
there.
490.
The Illusion of Idealists. —All idealists
imagine that the cause which they serve is
essentially better than all other causes, and will
not believe that if their cause is really to flourish
it requires precisely the same evil-smelling manure
which all other human undertakings have need of.
## p. 357 (#525) ############################################
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF. 357
491.
Self-Observation. — Man is exceedingly
well protected from himself and guarded against
his self-exploring and self-besieging; as a rule he
can perceive nothing of himself but his outworks.
The actual fortress is inaccessible, and even in-
visible, to him, unless friends and enemies become
* traitors and lead him inside by secret paths.
492.
The Right Calling. —Men can seldom hold
on to a calling unless they believe or persuade
themselves that it is really more important than any
other. Women are the same with their lovers.
493-
Nobility of Disposition. —Nobility of dis-
position consists largely in good-nature and
absence of distrust, and therefore contains precisely
that upon which money-grabbing and successful
men take a pleasure in walking with superiority
and scorn.
494-
Goal and Path. —Many are obstinate with
regard to the once-chosen path, few with regard
to the goal.
495-
The Offensiveness in an Individual Way
OF Life. —All specially individual lines of con-
duct excite irritation against him who adopts
them; people feel themselves reduced to the
## p. 358 (#526) ############################################
358 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
level of commonplace creatures by the extra-
ordinary treatment he bestows on himself.
496.
The Privilege of Greatness. —It is the
privilege of greatness to confer intense happiness
with insignificant gifts.
497-
Unintentionally Noble. —A person behaves
with unintentional nobleness when he has accus-
tomed himself to seek naught from others and
always to give to them.
498.
A Condition of Heroism. —When a person
wishes to become a hero, the serpent must previ-
ously have become a dragon, otherwise he lacks
his proper enemy.
499.
FRIEndS. —Fellowship in joy, and not sym-
pathy in sorrow, makes people friends.
500.
Making Use of Ebb and Flow. —For the
purpose of knowledge we must know how to
make use of the inward current which draws us
towards a thing, and also of the current which
after a time draws us away from it.
## p. 359 (#527) ############################################
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF. 359
Soi.
Joy in Itself. —" Joy in the Thing " people
say; but in reality it is joy in itself by means of
the thing.
502.
The Unassuming Man. —He who is unas-
suming towards persons manifests his presumption
all the more with regard to things (town, State,
society, time, humanity). That is his revenge.
503.
Envy and Jealousy. —Envy and jealousy
are the pudenda of the human soul. The com-
parison may perhaps be carried further.
504.
The Noblest Hypocrite. —It is a very noble
hypocrisy not to talk of one's self at all.
505.
Vexation. —Vexation is a physical disease,
which is not by any means cured when its cause
is subsequently removed.
506.
The Champions of Truth. —Truth does not
find fewest champions when it is dangerous to
speak it, but when it is dull.
## p. 359 (#528) ############################################
358 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
level of commonplace creatures by the extra-
ordinary treatment he bestows on himself.
496.
The Privilege of Greatness. —It is the
privilege of greatness to confer intense happiness
with insignificant gifts.
497-
Unintentionally Noble. —A person behaves
with unintentional nobleness when he has accus-
tomed himself to seek naught from others and
always to give to them.
498.
A Condition of Heroism. —When a person
wishes to become a hero, the serpent must previ-
ously have become a dragon, otherwise he lacks
his proper enemy.
499-
Friends. —Fellowship in joy, and not sym-
pathy in sorrow, makes people friends.
500.
Making Use of Ebb and Flow. —For the
purpose of knowledge we must know how to
make use of the inward current which draws us
towards a thing, and also of the current which
after a time draws us away from it.
## p. 359 (#529) ############################################
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF. 359
50I.
JOY IN Itself. —" Joy in the Thing " people
say; but in reality it is joy in itself by means of
the thing.
502.
The Unassuming Man. —He who is unas-
suming towards persons manifests his presumption
all the more with regard to things (town, State,
society, time, humanity). That is his revenge.
503.
Envy and Jealousy. —Envy and jealousy
are the pudenda of the human soul. The com-
parison may perhaps be carried further.
504.
The Noblest Hypocrite. —It is a very noble
hypocrisy not to talk of one's self at all.
505.
VEXATION. —Vexation is a physical disease,
which is not by any means cured when its cause
is subsequently removed.
506.
The Champions of Truth. —Truth does not
find fewest champions when it is dangerous to
speak it, but when it is dull.
## p. 360 (#530) ############################################
36c HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
507.
More Troublesome even than Enemies.
—Persons of whose sympathetic attitude we are
not, in all circumstances, convinced, while for some
reason or other (gratitude, for instance) we are
obliged to maintain the appearance of unqualified
sympathy with them, trouble our imagination
far more than our enemies do.
508.
Free Nature. —We are so fond of being
out among Nature, because it has no opinions
about us.
509.
Each Superior in one Thing. —In civil-
ised intercourse every one feels himself superior to
all others in at least one thing; kindly feelings
generally are based thereon, inasmuch as every one
can, in certain circumstances, render help, and is
therefore entitled to accept help without shame.
510.
Consolatory Arguments. —In the case of
a death we mostly use consolatory arguments not
so much to alleviate the grief as to make excuses
for feeling so easily consoled.
511.
Persons Loyal to their Convictions. —
Whoever is very busy retains his general views
and opinions almost unchanged. So also does
## p. 361 (#531) ############################################
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF. 361
every one who labours in the service of an idea;
he will nevermore examine the idea itself, he no
longer has any time to do so; indeed, it is
against his interests to consider it as still admit-
ting of discussion.
512.
Morality and Quantity. — The higher
morality of one man as compared with that of
another, often lies merely in the fact that his
aims are quantitively greater. The other, living
in a circumscribed sphere, is dragged down by
petty occupations.
5 13.
"The Life" as the Proceeds of Life. —
A man may stretch himself out ever so far with
his knowledge; he may seem to himself ever so
objective, but eventually he realises nothing there-
from but his own biography.
514-
Iron Necessity. —Iron necessity is a thing
which has been found, in the course of history, to
be neither iron nor necessary.
515-
From Experience. — The unreasonableness
of a thing is no argument against its existence,
but rather a condition thereof.
516.
TRUTH. — Nobody dies nowadays of fatal
truths, there are too many antidotes to them.
## p. 362 (#532) ############################################
362 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
'
■J*
517.
A Fundamental Insight. — There is no
pre-established harmony between the promotion
of truth and the welfare of mankind.
518.
Man's Lot. —He who thinks most deeply
knows that he is always in the wrong, however
he may act and decide.
O
519-
TRUTH AS ClRCE. —Error has made animals
into men; is truth perhaps capable of making man
into an animal again?
520.
The Danger of Our Culture. — We
belong to a period of which the culture is in
danger of being destroyed by the appliances of
culture.
521.
Greatness Means Leading the Way. —
No stream is large and copious of itself, but
becomes great by receiving and leading on so
many tributary streams. It is so, also, with all
intellectual greatnesses. It is only a question of
some one indicating the direction to be followed
by so many affluents; not whether he was richly
or poorly gifted originally.
## p. 363 (#533) ############################################
MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF. 363
522.
A Feeble Conscience. —People who talk
about their importance to mankind have a feeble
conscience for common bourgeois rectitude, keep-
ing of contracts, promises, etc.
, 523.
Desiring to be Loved. —The demand to be
loved is the greatest of presumptions.
524.
Contempt for Men. —The most unequivocal
sign of contempt for man is to regard everybody
merely as a means to one's own ends, or of no
account whatever.
525.
Partisans through Contradiction. —
Whoever has driven men to fury against himself
has also gained a party in his favour.
526.
Forgetting Experiences. —Whoever thinks
much and to good purpose easily forgets his own
experiences, but not the thoughts which these
experiences have called forth.
527.
Sticking to an Opinion.
