Ye
creating
ones, ye higher men!
Nietzsche - v11 - Thus Spake Zarathustra
349
not. But man doth not live by bread alone, but
also by the flesh of good lambs, of which I have
two:
— These shall we slaughter quickly, and cook
spicily with sage: it is so that I like them. And
there is also no lack of roots and fruits, good
enough even for the fastidious and dainty,—nor of
nuts and other riddles for cracking.
Thus will we have a good repast in a little while.
But whoever wish to eat with us must also give a
hand to the work, even the kings. For with Zara-
thustra even a king may be a cook. "
This proposal appealed to the hearts of all of
them, save that the voluntary beggar objected to
the flesh and wine and spices.
"Just hear this glutton Zarathustra! " said he
jokingly: "doth one go into caves and high
mountains to make such repasts?
Now indeed do I understand what he once taught
us: 'Blessed be moderate poverty! ' And why he
wisheth to do away with beggars. "
"Be of good cheer," replied Zarathustra, " as I am.
Abide by thy customs, thou excellent one: grind
thy corn, drink thy water, praise thy cooking,—if
only it maketh thee glad!
I am a law only for mine own; I am not a law
for all. He, however, who belongeth unto me
must be strong of bone and light of foot,—
—Joyous in fight and feast, no sulker, no John o'
Dreams, ready for the hardest task as for the feast,
healthy and hale.
The best belongeth unto mine and me; and if
it be not given us, then do we take it:—the best
## p. 350 (#536) ############################################
350
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
food, the purest sky, the strongest thoughts, the
fairest women ! ”-
Thus spake Zarathustra; the king on the right
however answered and said: “Strange! Did one
ever hear such sensible things out of the mouth
of a wise man?
And verily, it is the strangest thing in a wise
man, if over and above, he be still sensible, and not
an ass. "
Thus spake the king on the right and wondered ;
the ass however, with ill-will, said YE-A to his
remark. This however was the beginning of that
long repast which is called “The Supper” in the
history-books. At this there was nothing else
spoken of but the higher man.
LXXIII. -THE HIGHER MAN.
1.
the market-ple folly, the great me, then
When I came unto men for the first time, then
did I commit the anchorite folly, the great folly : I
appeared on the market-place.
And when I spake unto all, I spake unto none.
In the evening, however, rope-dancers were my
companions, and corpses; and I myself almost a
corpse.
With the new morning, however, there came unto
me a new truth: then did I learn to say: "Of what
account to me are market-place and populace and
populace-noise and long populace-cars! ”
Ye higher men, learn this from me: On the
## p. 351 (#537) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 351
market-place no one believeth in higher men. But
if ye will speak there, very well! The populace,
however, blinketh: "We are all equal. "
"Ye higher men,"—so blinketh the populace—
"there are no higher men, we are all equal; man
is man, before God—we are all equal! "
Before God! —Now, however, this God hath
died. Before the populace, however, we will not
be equal. Ye higher men, away from the market-
place!
2.
Before God ! —Now however this God hath died!
Ye higher men, this God was your greatest danger.
Only since he lay in the grave have ye again
arisen. Now only cometh the great noontide, now
only doth the higher man become—master!
Have ye understood this word, O my brethren?
Ye are frightened: do your hearts turn giddy?
Doth the abyss here yawn for you? Doth the
hell-hound here yelp at you?
Well! Take heart! ye higher men! Now
only travaileth the mountain of the human future.
God hath died: now do we desire—the Superman
to live.
3.
The most careful ask to-day: "How is man to
be maintained? " Zarathustra however asketh, as the
first and only one: "How is man to be surpassed? "
The Superman, I have at heart; that is the first
and only thing to me—and not man: not the
neighbour, not the poorest, not the sorriest, not the
best—
## p. 352 (#538) ############################################
352 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
O my brethren, what I can love in man is that
he is an over-going and a down-going. And also in
you there is much that maketh me love and hope.
In that ye have despised, ye higher men, that
maketh me hope. For the great despisers are the
great reverers.
In that ye have despaired, there is much
to honour. For ye have not learned to submit
yourselves, ye have not learned petty policy.
For to-day have the petty people become master:
they all preach submission and humility and policy
and diligence and consideration and the long et
cetera of petty virtues.
Whatever is of the effeminate type, whatever
originateth from the servile type, and especially
the populace-mishmash:—that wisheth now to be
master of all human destiny—O disgust! Disgust!
Disgust!
That asketh and asketh and never tireth: "How
is man to maintain himself best, longest, most
pleasantly? " Thereby—are they the masters of
to-day.
These masters of to-day—surpass them, O my
brethren—these petty people: they are the Super-
man's greatest danger!
Surpass, ye higher men, the petty virtues, the
petty policy, the sand-grain considerateness, the
ant-hill trumpery, the pitiable comfortableness, the
"happiness of the greatest number "—!
And rather despair than submit yourselves.
And verily, 1 love you, because ye know not
to-day how to live, ye higher men! For thus do
ye live—best!
## p. 353 (#539) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 353
4-
Have ye courage, O my brethren? Are ye stout-
hearted? Not the courage before witnesses, but
anchorite and eagle courage, which not even a God
any longer beholdeth?
Cold souls, mules, the blind and the drunken, I
do not call stout-hearted. He hath heart who
knoweth fear, but vanquisheth it; who seeth the
abyss, but with pride.
He who seeth the abyss, but with eagle's eyes,—
he who with eagle's talons graspeth the abyss: he
hath courage.
5-
"Man is evil"—so said to me for consolation, all
the wisest ones. Ah, if only it be still true to-day!
For the evil is man's best force.
"Man must become better and eviler "—so do /
teach. The evilest is necessary for the Superman's
best.
It may have been well for the preacher of the
petty people to suffer and be burdened by men's
sin. I, however, rejoice in great sin as my great
consolation. —
Such things, however, are not said for long ears.
Every word, also, is not suited for every mouth.
These are fine, far-away things: at them sheep's
claws shall not grasp!
G.
Ye higher men, think ye that I am here to put
right what ye have put wrong?
Or that I wished henceforth to make snugger
Z
## p. 353 (#540) ############################################
352
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originateth fro
the populace-n i
master of all hui
Disgust!
T/ial asketh an
is man to main
pleasantly? " Th
to-day.
These masters o
brethren—these pet
man's greatest dangi
Surpass, ye highe;
petty policy, the sari
ant-hill trumpery, the
"happiness of the great'
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And verily, I love yoi.
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## p. 353 (#541) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 355
ccially when they will great things! For
>ivaken distrust in great things, these subtle
coiners and stage-players :—
ntil at last they are false towards themselves,
-eyed, whited cankers, glossed over with
words, parade virtues and brilliant false
, good care there, ye higher men! For
is more precious to me, and rarer, than
is to-day not that of the populace? The
2 however knoweth not what is great or
mall, what is straight or what is honest:
cently crooked, it ever lieth.
9.
good distrust to-day, ye higher men, ye
d ones! Ye open-hearted ones! And
reasons secret! For this to-day is that
lace.
e populace once learned to believe
ons, who could—refute it to them
easons?
e market-place one convinceth with
reasons make the populace dis-
uth hath once triumphed there, then
vith good distrust: "What strong
t for it? "
;uard also against the learned!
because they are unproductive!
ithered eyes before which every
## p. 354 (#542) ############################################
354 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
couches for you sufferers? Or show you restless,
miswandering, misclimbing ones, new and easier
footpaths?
Nay! Nay! Three times Nay! Always more,
always better ones of your type shall succumb,—
for ye shall always have it worse and harder. Thus
only—
—Thus only groweth man aloft to the height
where the lightning striketh and shattereth him:
high enough for the lightning!
Towards the few, the long, the remote go forth
my soul and my seeking: of what account to me
are your many little, short miseries!
Ye do not yet suffer enough for me! For ye
suffer from yourselves, ye have not yet suffered
from man. Ye would lie if ye spake otherwise!
None of you suffereth from what / have
suffered.
7-
It is not enough for me that the lightning no
longer doeth harm. I do not wish to conduct it
away: it shall learn—to work for me. —
My wisdom hath accumulated long like a cloud,
it becometh stiller and darker. So doeth all wisdom
which shall one day bear lightnings. —
Unto these men of to-day will I not be light, nor
be called light. Them—will I blind: lightning of
my wisdom! put out their eyes!
8.
Do not will anything beyond your power: there
is a bad falseness in those who will beyond their
power.
## p. 355 (#543) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 355
Especially when they will great things! For
they awaken distrust in great things, these subtle
false-coiners and stage-players :—
—Until at last they are false towards themselves,
squint-eyed, whited cankers, glossed over with
strong words, parade virtues and brilliant false
deeds.
Take good care there, ye higher men! For
nothing is more precious to me, and rarer, than
honesty.
Is this to-day not that of the populace? The
populace however knoweth not what is great or
what is small, what is straight or what is honest:
it is innocently crooked, it ever lieth.
9.
Have a good distrust to-day, ye higher men, ye
enheartened ones! Ye open-hearted ones! And
keep your reasons secret! For this to-day is that
of the populace.
What the populace once learned to believe
without reasons, who could—refute it to them
by means of reasons?
And on the market-place one convinceth with
gestures. But reasons make the populace dis-
trustful.
And when truth hath once triumphed there, then
ask yourselves with good distrust: "What strong
error hath fought for it? "
Be on your guard also against the learned!
They hate you, because they are unproductive!
They have cold, withered eyes before which every
bird is unplumed.
## p. 356 (#544) ############################################
356 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Such persons vaunt about not lying: but in-
ability to lie is still far from being love to truth-
Be on your guard!
Freedom from fever is still far from being know-
ledge! Refrigerated spirits I do not believe in.
He who cannot lie, doth not know what truth is.
10.
If ye would go up high, then use your own legs!
Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat
yourselves on other people's backs and heads!
Thou hast mounted, however, on horseback?
Thou now ridest briskly up to thy goal? Well,
my friend! But thy lame foot is also with thee on
horseback 1
When thou reachest thy goal, when thou
alightest from thy horse: precisely on thy height,
thou higher man,—then wilt thou stumble!
11.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! One is only
pregnant with one's own child.
Do not let yourselves be imposed upon or put
upon! Who then is your neighbour? Even if
ye act " for your neighbour "—ye still do not create
for him!
Unlearn, I pray you, this " for," ye creating ones:
your very virtue wisheth you to have naught to do
with "for" and "on account of" and "because. "
Against these false little words shall ye stop your
ears.
"For one's neighbour," is the virtue only of the
## p. 357 (#545) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 357
petty people: there it is said "like and like," and
"hand washeth hand" :—they have neither the
right nor the power for your self-seeking!
In your self-seeking, ye creating ones, there is the
foresight and foreseeing of the pregnant! What
no one's eyes hath yet seen, namely, the fruit—this,
sheltereth and saveth and nourisheth your entire
love.
Where your entire love is, namely, with your
child, there is also your entire virtue! Your work,
your will is your " neighbour": let no false values
impose upon you!
12.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! Whoever
hath to give birth is sick; whoever hath given
birth, however, is unclean.
Ask women: one giveth birth, not because it
giveth pleasure. The pain maketh hens and poets
cackle.
Ye creating ones, in you there is much unclean-
ness. That is because ye have had to be mothers.
A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also
come into the world! Go apart! He who hath
given birth shall wash his soul!
13-
Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek
nothing from yourselves opposed to probability!
Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers'
virtue hath already walked! How would ye rise
high, if your fathers' will should not rise with you?
He, however, who would be a firstling, let him
## p. 357 (#546) ############################################
356 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Such persons vaunt about not lying: but in-
ability to lie is still far from being love to truth.
Be on your guard!
Freedom from fever is still far from being know-
ledge! Refrigerated spirits I do not believe in.
He who cannot lie, doth not know what truth is.
10.
If ye would go up high, then use your own legs!
Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat
yourselves on other people's backs and heads!
Thou hast mounted, however, on horseback?
Thou now ridest briskly up to thy goal? Well,
my friend! But thy lame foot is also with thee on
horseback!
When thou reachest thy goal, when thou
alightest from thy horse: precisely on thy height,
thou higher man,—then wilt thou stumble!
11.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! One is only
pregnant with one's own child.
Do not let yourselves be imposed upon or put
upon! Who then is your neighbour? Even if
ye act " for your neighbour "—ye still do not create
for him!
Unlearn, I pray you, this " for," ye creating ones:
your very virtue wisheth you to have naught to do
with "for" and "on account of" and "because. "
Against these false little words shall ye stop your
ears.
"For one's neighbour," is the virtue only of the
## p. 357 (#547) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 357
petty people: there it is said "like and like," and
"hand washeth hand" :—they have neither the
right nor the power for your self-seeking!
In your self-seeking, ye creating ones, there is the
foresight and foreseeing of the pregnant! What
no one's eyes hath yet seen, namely, the fruit—this,
sheltereth and saveth and nourisheth your entire
love.
Where your entire love is, namely, with your
child, there is also your entire virtue! Your work,
your will is your "neighbour": let no false values
impose upon you!
12.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! Whoever
hath to give birth is sick; whoever hath given
birth, however, is unclean.
Ask women: one giveth birth, not because it
giveth pleasure. The pain maketh hens and poets
cackle.
Ye creating ones, in you there is much unclean-
ness. That is because ye have had to be mothers.
A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also
come into the world! Go apart! He who hath
given birth shall wash his soul!
13-
Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek
nothing from yourselves opposed to probability!
Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers'
virtue hath already walked! How would ye rise
high, if your fathers' will should not rise with you?
He, however, who would be a firstling, let him
## p. 358 (#548) ############################################
358 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
take care lest he also become a lastling! And
where the vices of your fathers are, there should ye
not set up as saints!
He whose fathers were inclined for women, and
for strong wine and flesh of wildboar swine; what
would it be if he demanded chastity of himself?
A folly would it be! Much, verily, doth it seem
to me for such a one, if he should be the husband
of one or of two or of three women.
And if he founded monasteries, and inscribed
over their portals: "The way to holiness,"—I
should still say: What good is it! it is a new
folly!
He hath founded for himself a penance-house
and refuge-house: much good may it do! But I
do not believe in it.
In solitude there groweth what any one bringeth
into it—also the brute in one's nature. Thus is
solitude inadvisable unto many.
Hath there ever been anything filthier on earth
than the saints of the wilderness? Around them.
was not only the devil loose—but also the swine.
14.
Shy, ashamed, awkward, like the tiger whose
spring hath failed—thus, ye higher men, have I
often seen you slink aside. A cast which ye made
had failed.
But what doth it matter, ye dice-players! Ye
had not learned to play and mock, as one must
play and mock! Do we not ever sit at a great
table of mocking and playing?
And if great things have been a failure with you.
## p. 359 (#549) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 359
have ye yourselves therefore—been a failure?
And if ye yourselves have been a failure, hath man
therefore—been a failure? If man, however, hath
been a failure: well then! never mind!
IS-
The higher its type, always the seldomer doth a
thing succeed. Ye higher men here, have ye not
all—been failures?
Be of good cheer; what doth it matter? How
much is still possible! Learn to laugh at your-
selves, as ye ought to laugh!
What wonder even that ye have failed and only
half-succeeded, ye half-shattered ones! Doth not
—man's future strive and struggle in you?
Man's furthest, profoundest, star-highest issues,
his prodigious powers—do not all these foam
through one another in your vessel?
What wonder that many a vessel shattereth!
Learn to laugh at yourselves, as ye ought to laugh!
Ye higher men, Oh, how much is still possible!
And verily, how much hath already succeeded!
How rich is this earth in small, good, perfect things,
in well-constituted things!
Set around you small, good, perfect things, ye
higher men. Their golden maturity healeth the
heart. The perfect teacheth one to hope.
16.
What hath hitherto been the greatest sin here on
earth? Was it not the word of him who said:
"Woe unto them that laugh now! "
\
## p. 360 (#550) ############################################
360 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Did he himself find no cause for laughter on the
earth? Then he sought badly. A child even
findeth cause for it.
He—did not love sufficiently: otherwise would
he also have loved us, the laughing ones! But he
hated and hooted us; wailing and teeth-gnashing
did he promise us.
Must one then curse immediately, when one doth
not love? That—seemeth to me bad taste. Thus
did he, however, this absolute one. He sprang
from the populace.
And he himself just did not love sufficiently;
otherwise would he have raged less because people
did not love him. All great love doth not seek
love :—it seeketh more.
Go out of the way of all such absolute ones!
They are a poor sickly type, a populace-type: they
look at this life with ill-will, they have an evil eye
for this earth.
Go out of the way of all such absolute ones!
They have heavy feet and sultry hearts :—they do
not know how to dance. How could the earth be
light to such ones!
17.
Tortuously do all good things come nigh to
their goal. Like cats they curve their backs, they
purr inwardly with their approaching happiness,—
all good things laugh.
His step betrayeth whether a person already
walketh on his own path: just see me walk! He,
however, who cometh nigh to his goal, danceth.
And verily, a statue have I not become, not yet
## p. 361 (#551) ############################################
LXXHI—THE HIGHER MAN. 361
do I stand there stiff, stupid and stony, like a
pillar; I love fast racing.
And though there be on earth fens and dense
afflictions, he who hath light feet runneth even
across the mud, and danceth, as upon well-
swept ice.
Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher!
And do not forget your legs! Lift up also your
legs, ye good dancers, and better still, if ye stand
upon your heads!
18.
This crown of the laugher, this rose-garland
crown: I myself have put on this crown, I myself
have consecrated my laughter. No one else have
I found to-day potent enough for this.
Zarathustra the dancer, Zarathustra the light one,
who beckoneth with his pinions, one ready for
flight, beckoning unto all birds, ready and prepared,
a blissfully light-spirited one :—
Zarathustra the soothsayer, Zarathustra the
sooth-laugher, no impatient one, no absolute one,
one who loveth leaps and side-leaps; I myself
have put on this crown!
19.
Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher!
And do not forget your legs! Lift up also your
legs, ye good dancers, and better still if ye stand
upon your heads!
There are also heavy animals in a state of happi-
ness, there are club-footed ones from the beginning.
## p. 362 (#552) ############################################
362
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Curiously do they exert themselves, like an elephant
which endeavoureth to stand upon its head.
Better, however, to be foolish with happiness than
foolish with misfortune, better to dance awkwardly
than walk lamely. So learn, I pray you, my
wisdom, ye higher men : even the worst thing hath
two good reverse sides,-
-Even the worst thing hath good dancing-legs :
so learn, I pray you, ye higher men, to put your-
selves on your proper legs !
So unlearn, I pray you, the sorrow-sighing, and
all the populace-sadness! Oh, how sad the buffoons
of the populace seem to me to-day! This to-day,
however, is that of the populace.
20.
Do like unto the wind when it rusheth forth from
its mountain-caves : unto its own piping will it
dance; the seas tremble and leap under its footsteps.
That which giveth wings to asses, that which
milketh the lionesses :-praised be that good, unruly
spirit, which cometh like a hurricane unto all the
present and unto all the populace,
-Which is hostile to thistle-heads and puzzle-
heads, and to all withered leaves and weeds :-
praised be this wild, good, free spirit of the storm,
which danceth upon fens and afflictions, as upon
meadows !
Which hateth the consumptive populace-dogs,
and all the ill-constituted, sullen brood :-praised
be this spirit of all free spirits, the laughing storm,
which bloweth dust into the eyes of all the melan-
opic and melancholic!
## p. 363 (#553) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 363
Ye higher men, the worst thing in you is that
ye have none of you learned to dance as ye ought
to dance—to dance beyond yourselves! What doth
it matter that ye have failed!
How many things are still possible! So learn to
laugh beyond yourselves! Lift up your hearts, ye
good dancers, high! higher! And do not forget the
good laughter!
This crown of the laugher, this rose-garland
crown: to you my brethren do I cast this crown!
Laughing have I consecrated; ye higher men, learn,
I pray you—to laugh!
LXXIV. —THE SONG OF MELANCHOLY.
When Zarathustra spake these sayings, he stood
nigh to the entrance of his cave; with the last
words, however, he slipped away from his guests,
and fled for a little while into the open air.
"O pure odours around me," cried he, "O
blessed stillness around me! But where are mine
animals? Hither, hither, mine eagle and my
serpent!
Tell me, mine animals: these higher men, all of
them—do they perhaps not smell well? O pure
odours around me! Now only do I know and feel
how I love you, mine animals. "
—And Zarathustra said once more: "I love you,
mine animals! " The eagle, however, and the
serpent pressed close to him when he spake these
words, and looked up to him. In this attitude were
they all three silent together, and sniffed and sipped
## p. 364 (#554) ############################################
364
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
the good air with one another. For the air here
outside was better than with the higher men.
2.
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra left the cave
when the old magician got up, looked cunningly
about him, and said: “He is gone!
And already, ye higher men—let me tickle you
with this complimentary and flattering name, as he
himself doeth—already doth mine evil spirit of
deceit and magic attack me, my melancholy devil,
-Which is an adversary to this Zarathustra from
the very heart : forgive it for this ! Now doth it
wish to conjure before you, it hath just its hour;
in vain do I struggle with this evil spirit.
Unto all of you, whatever honours ye like to
assume in your names, whether ye call yourselves
'the free spirits' or 'the conscientious,' or “the
penitents of the spirit,' or 'the unfettered,' or 'the
great longers,'—
-Unto all of you, who like me suffer from the
great loathing, to whom the old God hath died, and
as yet no new God lieth in cradles and swaddling
clothes—unto all of you is mine evil spirit and
magic-devil favourable.
I know you, ye higher men, I know him,-1
know also this fiend whom I love in spite of me,
this Zarathustra: he himself often seemeth to me
like the beautiful mask of a saint,
-Like a new strange mummery in which mine
evil spirit, the melancholy devil, delighteth :- I love
Zarathustra, so doth it often seem to me, for the
sake of mine evil spirit. -
## p. 365 (#555) ############################################
LXXIV. —THE SONG OF MELANCHOLY. 365
But already doth it attack me and constrain me,
this spirit of melancholy, this evening-twilight devil:
and verily, ye higher men, it hath a longing-
-Open your eyes ! —it hath a longing to come
naked, whether male or female, I do not yet know :
but it cometh, it constraineth me, alas! open your
wits!
The day dieth out, unto all things cometh now
the evening, also unto the best things; hear now,
and see, ye higher men, what devil--man or woman
—this spirit of evening-melancholy is ! ”
Thus spake the old magician, looked cunningly
about him, and then seized his harp.
3.
In evening's limpid air,
What time the dew's soothings
Unto the earth downpour,
Invisibly and unheard-
For tender shoe-gear wear
The soothing dews, like all that's kind-
gentle-
Bethinkst thou then, bethinkst thou, burning
heart,
How once thou thirstedest
For heaven's kindly teardrops and dew's down-
droppings,
All singed and weary thirstedest,
What time on yellow grass-pathways
Wicked, occidental sunny glances
Through sombre trees about thee sported,
Blindingly sunny glow-glançes, gladly-hurting ?
not. But man doth not live by bread alone, but
also by the flesh of good lambs, of which I have
two:
— These shall we slaughter quickly, and cook
spicily with sage: it is so that I like them. And
there is also no lack of roots and fruits, good
enough even for the fastidious and dainty,—nor of
nuts and other riddles for cracking.
Thus will we have a good repast in a little while.
But whoever wish to eat with us must also give a
hand to the work, even the kings. For with Zara-
thustra even a king may be a cook. "
This proposal appealed to the hearts of all of
them, save that the voluntary beggar objected to
the flesh and wine and spices.
"Just hear this glutton Zarathustra! " said he
jokingly: "doth one go into caves and high
mountains to make such repasts?
Now indeed do I understand what he once taught
us: 'Blessed be moderate poverty! ' And why he
wisheth to do away with beggars. "
"Be of good cheer," replied Zarathustra, " as I am.
Abide by thy customs, thou excellent one: grind
thy corn, drink thy water, praise thy cooking,—if
only it maketh thee glad!
I am a law only for mine own; I am not a law
for all. He, however, who belongeth unto me
must be strong of bone and light of foot,—
—Joyous in fight and feast, no sulker, no John o'
Dreams, ready for the hardest task as for the feast,
healthy and hale.
The best belongeth unto mine and me; and if
it be not given us, then do we take it:—the best
## p. 350 (#536) ############################################
350
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
food, the purest sky, the strongest thoughts, the
fairest women ! ”-
Thus spake Zarathustra; the king on the right
however answered and said: “Strange! Did one
ever hear such sensible things out of the mouth
of a wise man?
And verily, it is the strangest thing in a wise
man, if over and above, he be still sensible, and not
an ass. "
Thus spake the king on the right and wondered ;
the ass however, with ill-will, said YE-A to his
remark. This however was the beginning of that
long repast which is called “The Supper” in the
history-books. At this there was nothing else
spoken of but the higher man.
LXXIII. -THE HIGHER MAN.
1.
the market-ple folly, the great me, then
When I came unto men for the first time, then
did I commit the anchorite folly, the great folly : I
appeared on the market-place.
And when I spake unto all, I spake unto none.
In the evening, however, rope-dancers were my
companions, and corpses; and I myself almost a
corpse.
With the new morning, however, there came unto
me a new truth: then did I learn to say: "Of what
account to me are market-place and populace and
populace-noise and long populace-cars! ”
Ye higher men, learn this from me: On the
## p. 351 (#537) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 351
market-place no one believeth in higher men. But
if ye will speak there, very well! The populace,
however, blinketh: "We are all equal. "
"Ye higher men,"—so blinketh the populace—
"there are no higher men, we are all equal; man
is man, before God—we are all equal! "
Before God! —Now, however, this God hath
died. Before the populace, however, we will not
be equal. Ye higher men, away from the market-
place!
2.
Before God ! —Now however this God hath died!
Ye higher men, this God was your greatest danger.
Only since he lay in the grave have ye again
arisen. Now only cometh the great noontide, now
only doth the higher man become—master!
Have ye understood this word, O my brethren?
Ye are frightened: do your hearts turn giddy?
Doth the abyss here yawn for you? Doth the
hell-hound here yelp at you?
Well! Take heart! ye higher men! Now
only travaileth the mountain of the human future.
God hath died: now do we desire—the Superman
to live.
3.
The most careful ask to-day: "How is man to
be maintained? " Zarathustra however asketh, as the
first and only one: "How is man to be surpassed? "
The Superman, I have at heart; that is the first
and only thing to me—and not man: not the
neighbour, not the poorest, not the sorriest, not the
best—
## p. 352 (#538) ############################################
352 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
O my brethren, what I can love in man is that
he is an over-going and a down-going. And also in
you there is much that maketh me love and hope.
In that ye have despised, ye higher men, that
maketh me hope. For the great despisers are the
great reverers.
In that ye have despaired, there is much
to honour. For ye have not learned to submit
yourselves, ye have not learned petty policy.
For to-day have the petty people become master:
they all preach submission and humility and policy
and diligence and consideration and the long et
cetera of petty virtues.
Whatever is of the effeminate type, whatever
originateth from the servile type, and especially
the populace-mishmash:—that wisheth now to be
master of all human destiny—O disgust! Disgust!
Disgust!
That asketh and asketh and never tireth: "How
is man to maintain himself best, longest, most
pleasantly? " Thereby—are they the masters of
to-day.
These masters of to-day—surpass them, O my
brethren—these petty people: they are the Super-
man's greatest danger!
Surpass, ye higher men, the petty virtues, the
petty policy, the sand-grain considerateness, the
ant-hill trumpery, the pitiable comfortableness, the
"happiness of the greatest number "—!
And rather despair than submit yourselves.
And verily, 1 love you, because ye know not
to-day how to live, ye higher men! For thus do
ye live—best!
## p. 353 (#539) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 353
4-
Have ye courage, O my brethren? Are ye stout-
hearted? Not the courage before witnesses, but
anchorite and eagle courage, which not even a God
any longer beholdeth?
Cold souls, mules, the blind and the drunken, I
do not call stout-hearted. He hath heart who
knoweth fear, but vanquisheth it; who seeth the
abyss, but with pride.
He who seeth the abyss, but with eagle's eyes,—
he who with eagle's talons graspeth the abyss: he
hath courage.
5-
"Man is evil"—so said to me for consolation, all
the wisest ones. Ah, if only it be still true to-day!
For the evil is man's best force.
"Man must become better and eviler "—so do /
teach. The evilest is necessary for the Superman's
best.
It may have been well for the preacher of the
petty people to suffer and be burdened by men's
sin. I, however, rejoice in great sin as my great
consolation. —
Such things, however, are not said for long ears.
Every word, also, is not suited for every mouth.
These are fine, far-away things: at them sheep's
claws shall not grasp!
G.
Ye higher men, think ye that I am here to put
right what ye have put wrong?
Or that I wished henceforth to make snugger
Z
## p. 353 (#540) ############################################
352
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master of all hui
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T/ial asketh an
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pleasantly? " Th
to-day.
These masters o
brethren—these pet
man's greatest dangi
Surpass, ye highe;
petty policy, the sari
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## p. 353 (#541) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 355
ccially when they will great things! For
>ivaken distrust in great things, these subtle
coiners and stage-players :—
ntil at last they are false towards themselves,
-eyed, whited cankers, glossed over with
words, parade virtues and brilliant false
, good care there, ye higher men! For
is more precious to me, and rarer, than
is to-day not that of the populace? The
2 however knoweth not what is great or
mall, what is straight or what is honest:
cently crooked, it ever lieth.
9.
good distrust to-day, ye higher men, ye
d ones! Ye open-hearted ones! And
reasons secret! For this to-day is that
lace.
e populace once learned to believe
ons, who could—refute it to them
easons?
e market-place one convinceth with
reasons make the populace dis-
uth hath once triumphed there, then
vith good distrust: "What strong
t for it? "
;uard also against the learned!
because they are unproductive!
ithered eyes before which every
## p. 354 (#542) ############################################
354 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
couches for you sufferers? Or show you restless,
miswandering, misclimbing ones, new and easier
footpaths?
Nay! Nay! Three times Nay! Always more,
always better ones of your type shall succumb,—
for ye shall always have it worse and harder. Thus
only—
—Thus only groweth man aloft to the height
where the lightning striketh and shattereth him:
high enough for the lightning!
Towards the few, the long, the remote go forth
my soul and my seeking: of what account to me
are your many little, short miseries!
Ye do not yet suffer enough for me! For ye
suffer from yourselves, ye have not yet suffered
from man. Ye would lie if ye spake otherwise!
None of you suffereth from what / have
suffered.
7-
It is not enough for me that the lightning no
longer doeth harm. I do not wish to conduct it
away: it shall learn—to work for me. —
My wisdom hath accumulated long like a cloud,
it becometh stiller and darker. So doeth all wisdom
which shall one day bear lightnings. —
Unto these men of to-day will I not be light, nor
be called light. Them—will I blind: lightning of
my wisdom! put out their eyes!
8.
Do not will anything beyond your power: there
is a bad falseness in those who will beyond their
power.
## p. 355 (#543) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 355
Especially when they will great things! For
they awaken distrust in great things, these subtle
false-coiners and stage-players :—
—Until at last they are false towards themselves,
squint-eyed, whited cankers, glossed over with
strong words, parade virtues and brilliant false
deeds.
Take good care there, ye higher men! For
nothing is more precious to me, and rarer, than
honesty.
Is this to-day not that of the populace? The
populace however knoweth not what is great or
what is small, what is straight or what is honest:
it is innocently crooked, it ever lieth.
9.
Have a good distrust to-day, ye higher men, ye
enheartened ones! Ye open-hearted ones! And
keep your reasons secret! For this to-day is that
of the populace.
What the populace once learned to believe
without reasons, who could—refute it to them
by means of reasons?
And on the market-place one convinceth with
gestures. But reasons make the populace dis-
trustful.
And when truth hath once triumphed there, then
ask yourselves with good distrust: "What strong
error hath fought for it? "
Be on your guard also against the learned!
They hate you, because they are unproductive!
They have cold, withered eyes before which every
bird is unplumed.
## p. 356 (#544) ############################################
356 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Such persons vaunt about not lying: but in-
ability to lie is still far from being love to truth-
Be on your guard!
Freedom from fever is still far from being know-
ledge! Refrigerated spirits I do not believe in.
He who cannot lie, doth not know what truth is.
10.
If ye would go up high, then use your own legs!
Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat
yourselves on other people's backs and heads!
Thou hast mounted, however, on horseback?
Thou now ridest briskly up to thy goal? Well,
my friend! But thy lame foot is also with thee on
horseback 1
When thou reachest thy goal, when thou
alightest from thy horse: precisely on thy height,
thou higher man,—then wilt thou stumble!
11.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! One is only
pregnant with one's own child.
Do not let yourselves be imposed upon or put
upon! Who then is your neighbour? Even if
ye act " for your neighbour "—ye still do not create
for him!
Unlearn, I pray you, this " for," ye creating ones:
your very virtue wisheth you to have naught to do
with "for" and "on account of" and "because. "
Against these false little words shall ye stop your
ears.
"For one's neighbour," is the virtue only of the
## p. 357 (#545) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 357
petty people: there it is said "like and like," and
"hand washeth hand" :—they have neither the
right nor the power for your self-seeking!
In your self-seeking, ye creating ones, there is the
foresight and foreseeing of the pregnant! What
no one's eyes hath yet seen, namely, the fruit—this,
sheltereth and saveth and nourisheth your entire
love.
Where your entire love is, namely, with your
child, there is also your entire virtue! Your work,
your will is your " neighbour": let no false values
impose upon you!
12.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! Whoever
hath to give birth is sick; whoever hath given
birth, however, is unclean.
Ask women: one giveth birth, not because it
giveth pleasure. The pain maketh hens and poets
cackle.
Ye creating ones, in you there is much unclean-
ness. That is because ye have had to be mothers.
A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also
come into the world! Go apart! He who hath
given birth shall wash his soul!
13-
Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek
nothing from yourselves opposed to probability!
Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers'
virtue hath already walked! How would ye rise
high, if your fathers' will should not rise with you?
He, however, who would be a firstling, let him
## p. 357 (#546) ############################################
356 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Such persons vaunt about not lying: but in-
ability to lie is still far from being love to truth.
Be on your guard!
Freedom from fever is still far from being know-
ledge! Refrigerated spirits I do not believe in.
He who cannot lie, doth not know what truth is.
10.
If ye would go up high, then use your own legs!
Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat
yourselves on other people's backs and heads!
Thou hast mounted, however, on horseback?
Thou now ridest briskly up to thy goal? Well,
my friend! But thy lame foot is also with thee on
horseback!
When thou reachest thy goal, when thou
alightest from thy horse: precisely on thy height,
thou higher man,—then wilt thou stumble!
11.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! One is only
pregnant with one's own child.
Do not let yourselves be imposed upon or put
upon! Who then is your neighbour? Even if
ye act " for your neighbour "—ye still do not create
for him!
Unlearn, I pray you, this " for," ye creating ones:
your very virtue wisheth you to have naught to do
with "for" and "on account of" and "because. "
Against these false little words shall ye stop your
ears.
"For one's neighbour," is the virtue only of the
## p. 357 (#547) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 357
petty people: there it is said "like and like," and
"hand washeth hand" :—they have neither the
right nor the power for your self-seeking!
In your self-seeking, ye creating ones, there is the
foresight and foreseeing of the pregnant! What
no one's eyes hath yet seen, namely, the fruit—this,
sheltereth and saveth and nourisheth your entire
love.
Where your entire love is, namely, with your
child, there is also your entire virtue! Your work,
your will is your "neighbour": let no false values
impose upon you!
12.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! Whoever
hath to give birth is sick; whoever hath given
birth, however, is unclean.
Ask women: one giveth birth, not because it
giveth pleasure. The pain maketh hens and poets
cackle.
Ye creating ones, in you there is much unclean-
ness. That is because ye have had to be mothers.
A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also
come into the world! Go apart! He who hath
given birth shall wash his soul!
13-
Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek
nothing from yourselves opposed to probability!
Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers'
virtue hath already walked! How would ye rise
high, if your fathers' will should not rise with you?
He, however, who would be a firstling, let him
## p. 358 (#548) ############################################
358 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
take care lest he also become a lastling! And
where the vices of your fathers are, there should ye
not set up as saints!
He whose fathers were inclined for women, and
for strong wine and flesh of wildboar swine; what
would it be if he demanded chastity of himself?
A folly would it be! Much, verily, doth it seem
to me for such a one, if he should be the husband
of one or of two or of three women.
And if he founded monasteries, and inscribed
over their portals: "The way to holiness,"—I
should still say: What good is it! it is a new
folly!
He hath founded for himself a penance-house
and refuge-house: much good may it do! But I
do not believe in it.
In solitude there groweth what any one bringeth
into it—also the brute in one's nature. Thus is
solitude inadvisable unto many.
Hath there ever been anything filthier on earth
than the saints of the wilderness? Around them.
was not only the devil loose—but also the swine.
14.
Shy, ashamed, awkward, like the tiger whose
spring hath failed—thus, ye higher men, have I
often seen you slink aside. A cast which ye made
had failed.
But what doth it matter, ye dice-players! Ye
had not learned to play and mock, as one must
play and mock! Do we not ever sit at a great
table of mocking and playing?
And if great things have been a failure with you.
## p. 359 (#549) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 359
have ye yourselves therefore—been a failure?
And if ye yourselves have been a failure, hath man
therefore—been a failure? If man, however, hath
been a failure: well then! never mind!
IS-
The higher its type, always the seldomer doth a
thing succeed. Ye higher men here, have ye not
all—been failures?
Be of good cheer; what doth it matter? How
much is still possible! Learn to laugh at your-
selves, as ye ought to laugh!
What wonder even that ye have failed and only
half-succeeded, ye half-shattered ones! Doth not
—man's future strive and struggle in you?
Man's furthest, profoundest, star-highest issues,
his prodigious powers—do not all these foam
through one another in your vessel?
What wonder that many a vessel shattereth!
Learn to laugh at yourselves, as ye ought to laugh!
Ye higher men, Oh, how much is still possible!
And verily, how much hath already succeeded!
How rich is this earth in small, good, perfect things,
in well-constituted things!
Set around you small, good, perfect things, ye
higher men. Their golden maturity healeth the
heart. The perfect teacheth one to hope.
16.
What hath hitherto been the greatest sin here on
earth? Was it not the word of him who said:
"Woe unto them that laugh now! "
\
## p. 360 (#550) ############################################
360 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Did he himself find no cause for laughter on the
earth? Then he sought badly. A child even
findeth cause for it.
He—did not love sufficiently: otherwise would
he also have loved us, the laughing ones! But he
hated and hooted us; wailing and teeth-gnashing
did he promise us.
Must one then curse immediately, when one doth
not love? That—seemeth to me bad taste. Thus
did he, however, this absolute one. He sprang
from the populace.
And he himself just did not love sufficiently;
otherwise would he have raged less because people
did not love him. All great love doth not seek
love :—it seeketh more.
Go out of the way of all such absolute ones!
They are a poor sickly type, a populace-type: they
look at this life with ill-will, they have an evil eye
for this earth.
Go out of the way of all such absolute ones!
They have heavy feet and sultry hearts :—they do
not know how to dance. How could the earth be
light to such ones!
17.
Tortuously do all good things come nigh to
their goal. Like cats they curve their backs, they
purr inwardly with their approaching happiness,—
all good things laugh.
His step betrayeth whether a person already
walketh on his own path: just see me walk! He,
however, who cometh nigh to his goal, danceth.
And verily, a statue have I not become, not yet
## p. 361 (#551) ############################################
LXXHI—THE HIGHER MAN. 361
do I stand there stiff, stupid and stony, like a
pillar; I love fast racing.
And though there be on earth fens and dense
afflictions, he who hath light feet runneth even
across the mud, and danceth, as upon well-
swept ice.
Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher!
And do not forget your legs! Lift up also your
legs, ye good dancers, and better still, if ye stand
upon your heads!
18.
This crown of the laugher, this rose-garland
crown: I myself have put on this crown, I myself
have consecrated my laughter. No one else have
I found to-day potent enough for this.
Zarathustra the dancer, Zarathustra the light one,
who beckoneth with his pinions, one ready for
flight, beckoning unto all birds, ready and prepared,
a blissfully light-spirited one :—
Zarathustra the soothsayer, Zarathustra the
sooth-laugher, no impatient one, no absolute one,
one who loveth leaps and side-leaps; I myself
have put on this crown!
19.
Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher!
And do not forget your legs! Lift up also your
legs, ye good dancers, and better still if ye stand
upon your heads!
There are also heavy animals in a state of happi-
ness, there are club-footed ones from the beginning.
## p. 362 (#552) ############################################
362
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Curiously do they exert themselves, like an elephant
which endeavoureth to stand upon its head.
Better, however, to be foolish with happiness than
foolish with misfortune, better to dance awkwardly
than walk lamely. So learn, I pray you, my
wisdom, ye higher men : even the worst thing hath
two good reverse sides,-
-Even the worst thing hath good dancing-legs :
so learn, I pray you, ye higher men, to put your-
selves on your proper legs !
So unlearn, I pray you, the sorrow-sighing, and
all the populace-sadness! Oh, how sad the buffoons
of the populace seem to me to-day! This to-day,
however, is that of the populace.
20.
Do like unto the wind when it rusheth forth from
its mountain-caves : unto its own piping will it
dance; the seas tremble and leap under its footsteps.
That which giveth wings to asses, that which
milketh the lionesses :-praised be that good, unruly
spirit, which cometh like a hurricane unto all the
present and unto all the populace,
-Which is hostile to thistle-heads and puzzle-
heads, and to all withered leaves and weeds :-
praised be this wild, good, free spirit of the storm,
which danceth upon fens and afflictions, as upon
meadows !
Which hateth the consumptive populace-dogs,
and all the ill-constituted, sullen brood :-praised
be this spirit of all free spirits, the laughing storm,
which bloweth dust into the eyes of all the melan-
opic and melancholic!
## p. 363 (#553) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 363
Ye higher men, the worst thing in you is that
ye have none of you learned to dance as ye ought
to dance—to dance beyond yourselves! What doth
it matter that ye have failed!
How many things are still possible! So learn to
laugh beyond yourselves! Lift up your hearts, ye
good dancers, high! higher! And do not forget the
good laughter!
This crown of the laugher, this rose-garland
crown: to you my brethren do I cast this crown!
Laughing have I consecrated; ye higher men, learn,
I pray you—to laugh!
LXXIV. —THE SONG OF MELANCHOLY.
When Zarathustra spake these sayings, he stood
nigh to the entrance of his cave; with the last
words, however, he slipped away from his guests,
and fled for a little while into the open air.
"O pure odours around me," cried he, "O
blessed stillness around me! But where are mine
animals? Hither, hither, mine eagle and my
serpent!
Tell me, mine animals: these higher men, all of
them—do they perhaps not smell well? O pure
odours around me! Now only do I know and feel
how I love you, mine animals. "
—And Zarathustra said once more: "I love you,
mine animals! " The eagle, however, and the
serpent pressed close to him when he spake these
words, and looked up to him. In this attitude were
they all three silent together, and sniffed and sipped
## p. 364 (#554) ############################################
364
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
the good air with one another. For the air here
outside was better than with the higher men.
2.
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra left the cave
when the old magician got up, looked cunningly
about him, and said: “He is gone!
And already, ye higher men—let me tickle you
with this complimentary and flattering name, as he
himself doeth—already doth mine evil spirit of
deceit and magic attack me, my melancholy devil,
-Which is an adversary to this Zarathustra from
the very heart : forgive it for this ! Now doth it
wish to conjure before you, it hath just its hour;
in vain do I struggle with this evil spirit.
Unto all of you, whatever honours ye like to
assume in your names, whether ye call yourselves
'the free spirits' or 'the conscientious,' or “the
penitents of the spirit,' or 'the unfettered,' or 'the
great longers,'—
-Unto all of you, who like me suffer from the
great loathing, to whom the old God hath died, and
as yet no new God lieth in cradles and swaddling
clothes—unto all of you is mine evil spirit and
magic-devil favourable.
I know you, ye higher men, I know him,-1
know also this fiend whom I love in spite of me,
this Zarathustra: he himself often seemeth to me
like the beautiful mask of a saint,
-Like a new strange mummery in which mine
evil spirit, the melancholy devil, delighteth :- I love
Zarathustra, so doth it often seem to me, for the
sake of mine evil spirit. -
## p. 365 (#555) ############################################
LXXIV. —THE SONG OF MELANCHOLY. 365
But already doth it attack me and constrain me,
this spirit of melancholy, this evening-twilight devil:
and verily, ye higher men, it hath a longing-
-Open your eyes ! —it hath a longing to come
naked, whether male or female, I do not yet know :
but it cometh, it constraineth me, alas! open your
wits!
The day dieth out, unto all things cometh now
the evening, also unto the best things; hear now,
and see, ye higher men, what devil--man or woman
—this spirit of evening-melancholy is ! ”
Thus spake the old magician, looked cunningly
about him, and then seized his harp.
3.
In evening's limpid air,
What time the dew's soothings
Unto the earth downpour,
Invisibly and unheard-
For tender shoe-gear wear
The soothing dews, like all that's kind-
gentle-
Bethinkst thou then, bethinkst thou, burning
heart,
How once thou thirstedest
For heaven's kindly teardrops and dew's down-
droppings,
All singed and weary thirstedest,
What time on yellow grass-pathways
Wicked, occidental sunny glances
Through sombre trees about thee sported,
Blindingly sunny glow-glançes, gladly-hurting ?
