--We take pleasure in princes and in priests, because in big things, as in small, they
actually
up hold the belief in the difference of human values, even in the estimation of the past, and at least symbolically.
Nietzsche - Works - v15 - Will to Power - b
?
equivalent
remunerated).
THE ORDER OF RANK.
345
here is ignoble to the last degree: it is taken for granted that there is some sort of equivalence in value between my actions and thine; the most per sonal value Of an action is simply cancelled in this manner (that part of an action which has no
and which cannot be
"Reciprocity" is a piece of egregious vulgarity; the mere fact that what I do cannot and may not be done by another, that there is no such thing as equivalence (except in those very select circles where one actually has one's equal, inter pares), that in a really profound sense a man never re quites because he is something unique in himself and can only do unique things,--this fundamental conviction contains the cause of aristocratic aloof
' ness from the mob, because the latter believes in equality,and consequently in the feasibility of equiva lence and " reciprocity. "
927.
The suburban Philistinism of moral valuations and of its concepts " useful" and " harmful" is well founded; it is the necessary point of view of a community which is only able to see and survey immediate and proximate consequences.
The State and the political man are already in
need of a more super-moral attitude of because they have to calculate concerning a much more complicated tissue of consequences. An eco nomic policy for the whole world should be possible which could look at things in such broad perspec tive that all its isolated demands would seem for
the moment not only unjust, but arbitrary.
? mind:
? ? ? 346
THE WILL TO POWER.
928.
" Should one follow one's feelings? "--To set one's life at stake on the impulse of the moment, and actuated by a generous feeling, has little worth, and does not even distinguish one. Everybody is alike in being capable of this--and in behaving in this way with determination, the criminal, the bandit, and the Corsican certainly outstrip the
honest man.
A higher degree of excellence would be to over
come this impulse, and to refrain from performing an heroic deed at its bidding--and to remain cold, raisonnable, free from the tempestuous surging of concomitant sensations of delight. . . . The same holds good of pity: it must first be sifted through reason; without this it becomes just as dangerous
'
generosity, pity, or hostility, is the cause of the greatest evil. Greatness of character does not consist in not possessing these passions--on the contrary, a man should possess them to a terrible
'degree: but he should lead them by the bridle . . and even this he should not do out of love of con trol, but merely because. . . .
929
" To give up one's life for a cause "--very effec tive. But there are many things for which one gives up one's life: the passions, one and all, will be gratified. Whether one's life be pledged to pity, to anger, or to revenge--it matters not from
? as any other passion.
The blindyielding to a passion, whether it be
? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
347
the point of view of value. How many have not sacrificed their lives for pretty girls--and even what worse, their health! When one has temperament, one instinctively chooses the most dangerous things: one philosopher, for in stance, one chooses the adventures Of speculation;
one virtuous, one chooses immorality. One
kind of man will risk nothing, another kind will
risk everything. Are we despisers of life? On the contrary, what we seek life raised to higher power, life in danger. . But, let me re peat, we do not, on that account, wish to be more virtuous than Others. Pascal, for instance, wished to risk nothing, and remained Christian. That perhaps was virtuous--A man always sacrifices something.
? '
93?
How many advantages does not man sacrifice To how small an extent does he seek his own
All his emotions and passions wish to assert their rights, and how remote passion from that cautious utility which consists in personal profit "
profit!
A man does not strive after
must be an Englishman to be able to believe that
man always seeking his own advantage. Our desires long to violate things with passion-- their overflowing strength seeks obstacles.
931
All passions are generally useful, some directly, others indirectly; in regard to utility abso
happiness one
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lutely impossible to fix upon any gradation of values,--however certainly the forces of nature in general may be regarded as good (i. e. useful), from an economic point of view, they are still the sources of much that is terrible and much
that is fatally irrevocable. The most one might say would be, that the mightiest passions are the most valuable: seeing that no stronger sources of power exist.
932.
All well-meaning, helpful, good-natured attitudes of mind have not come to be honoured on account of their usefulness: but because they are the conditions peculiar to rifh souls who are able to
' bestow and whose value consists in their vital exuberance. Look into the eyes of the benevolent man! In them you will see the exact reverse of self-denial, of hatred of self, of " Pascalism. "
933
In short, what we require is to dominate the passions and not to weaken or to extirpate them l--The greater the dominating power of the will, the greater the freedom that may be given to the passions. "
magnificent monsters into its service.
The " good man " in every stage of civilisation
is at one and the same time the least dangerous
348
? The "great man
is so, owing to the free scope which he gives _to his desires, and to the still greater power which knows how to enlist these
? ? ? ally
THE ORDER or RANK
349
and the most useful: a sort of medium ; the idea formed of such a man by the common mind is that he is some one whom one has no reason tofear, but whom one must not therefore despise.
Education : essentially a means of mining ex ceptions in favour of the rule. Culture: essenti
the means of directing taste against the exceptions in favour of the mediocre.
Only when a culture can dispose of an overflow of force, is it capable of being a hothouse for the luxurious culture of the exception, of the experi ment, of the danger, of the nuance: this is the tendency of every aristocratic culture.
934-
All questions of strength: to what extent ought one to try and prevail against the preservative measures of society and the latter's prejudices ? -- to what extent ought one to unfetter one's terrihk qualities, through which so many go to the dogs ? -- to what extent ought one to run counter to truth, and take up sides with its most questionable aspects ? --to what extent ought one to oppose suiTering, self-contempt, pity, disease, vice, when it is always open to question whether one can ever master them (what does not kill us makes us stronger . . . ) ? ---and, finally, to what extent ought one to acknowledge the rights of the rule,
of the common-place, of the petty, of the good, of the upright, in fact of the average man, without thereby allowing one's self to become vulgar? . . . The strongest test of character is to resist being
? ? ? ? THE WILL To POWER.
ruined by the seductiveness of goodness. Good ness must be regarded as a luxury, as a refine
350
ment, as a vice.
-
3. THE NOBLE MAN.
935
Type: real goodness, nobility, greatness of soul, as the result of vital wealth: which does not give in order to receive--and which has no desire to elevate itself by being good ;--squandering is typical of genuine goodness ; vita! personal wealth is its prerequisite.
936.
Aristocracy. ----Gregarious ideals--at present culminating in the highest standard of value for society. It has been attempted to give them a cosmic, yea, and even a metaphysical, value--I defend aristocracy against them.
Any society which would of itself preserve a feeling of respect and de'licatesse in regard to freedom, must consider itself as an exception, and
have a force against it from which it distinguishes itself, and upon which it looks down with hostility. The more rights I surrender and the more I level myself down to others, the more deeply do I sink into the average and ultimately into the greatest number. The first condition which an aristocratic society must have in order to maintain a high degree of freedom among its members, is
that extreme tension which arises from the pres
? ? ? ? THE ORDER or RANK.
ence of the most antagonistic instincts in all its units: from their will to dominate. . . .
If ye would fain do away with strong contrasts and differences of rank, ye will also abolish strong love, lofty attitudes of mind, and the feeling of individuality.
Concerning the actual psychology of societies based upon freedom and equality. ---What that tends to diminish in such society?
The will to be responsible for one's self (the loss of this sign of the decline of autonomy); the ability to defend and to attack, even in spiritual matters; the power Of command; the sense of reverence, of subservience, the ability to be silent;
great passion, great achievements, tragedy and cheerfulness.
93
In 1814 Augustin Thierry read what Mont losier had said in his work, De la Monarchiefran guise: he answered with cry of indignation, and set himself to his task. That emigrant had said: "Race d'afi'ranchis, race d'esclaves arrache's de nos mains, peuple tributaire, peuple nouveau, licence vous
fut octroye? e d'e? tre libres, et non pas nous d'e'tre nobles pour nous tout est de droit, pour vous tout est de grdce, nous ne sommes point de votre com munaute'; nous sommes un tout par nous memes. "
938.
How constantly the aristocratic world shears and weakens itself ever more and more! By
351
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? 352
THE WILL TO POWER.
means of its noble instincts it abandons its privileges, and owing to its refined and excessive culture, it takes an interest in the people, the weak, the poor, and the poetry of the lowly, etc.
939
There is such a thing as a noble and dangerous form of carelessness, which allows of profound conclusions and insight: the carelessness of the self-reliant and over-rich soul, which has never troubled itself about friends, but which knows only hospitality and knows how to practise it; whose heart and house are open to all who will enter-- beggar, cripple, or king. This is genuine sociability: he who is capable of it has hundreds of " friends," but probably not one friend.
94?
";The teaching p. 118e? v dryau applies to men with overflowing strength,--not to the mediocre. xpe? -reia and damn: are only steps to higher things. Above them stands "golden N ature. "
" Thou shalt "----unconditional obedience in Stoics, in Christian and Arabian Orders, in Kant's philosophy immaterial whether this obedience
? shown to superior or to
Higher than " Thou shalt" stands "I will"
(the heroes)
higher than " will" stands "I am "
(the gods of the Greeks).
Barbarian gods express nothing of the pleasure
of restraint,---they are neither simple, nor light hearted, nor moderate.
concept).
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? THE ORDER OF RANK.
353
94!
The essence of our gardens and palaces (and to the same extent the essence of all yearning after riches) is the desire to rid the eye of disorder ana vulgarity, and to build a home for our soul's nobility.
The majority of people certainly believe that they will develop higher natures when those beautiful and peaceful things have operated upon them : hence the exodus to Italy, hence all travel ling, etc. , and all reading and visits to theatres. People want to be formed--that is the kernel of their labours for culture ! But the strong, the mighty, would themselves have a hand in the form ing, and wouldfain have nothing strange about them I
It is for this reason, too, that men go to open Nature, not to find themselves, but to lose them selves and to forget themselves. The desire " to get away from one's self" is proper to all weaklings, and to all those who are discontented with themselVes.
942
The only nobility is that of birth and blood. (I do not refer here to the prefix "Lord" and L'almanac de Gotha: this is a parenthesis for donkeys. ) Wherever people speak of the" aristo cracy of intellect," reasons are generally not lacking for concealing something; it is known to be a password among ambitious Jews. Intellect alone does not ennoble; on the contrary, some thing is always needed to ennoble intellect--What
then is needed ? ---Blood.
vOL. 11. Z
? .
? ? ? 354
THE WILL 'ro POWER.
943
What is noble?
--Extemal punctiliousness; because this punc
tiliousness hedges a man about, keeps him at a distance, saves him from being confounded with somebody else.
--A frivolous appearance in word, clothing, and bearing, with which stoical hardness and self control protect themselves from all prying inquisi tiveness or curiosity.
---A slow step and a slow glance. There are not too many valuable things on earth: and these come and wish to come of themselves to him who has value. We are not quick to admire.
--We know how to bear poverty, want, and even illness.
---We avoid small honours owing to our mis trust of all who are over-ready to praise: for the man who praises believes he understands what he praises: but to understand--Balzac, that typical man of ambition, betrayed the fact--comprendre
e'est ejgaler.
--Our doubt concerning the communicativeness
of our hearts goes very deep; to us, loneliness is not a matter of choice, it is imposed upon us.
---We are convinced that we only have duties to our equals, to others we do as we think best: we know that justice is only to be expected among equals (alas! -this will not be realised for some
time to come).
--We are ironical towards the "gifted"; we
hold the belief that no morality is possible with out good birth.
? ? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
355
--We always feel as if we were those who had to dispense honours: while he is not found too frequently who would be worthy of honouring us.
---We are always disguised: the higher a man's nature the more is he in need of remaining incog nito. If there be a God, then out of sheer decency He ought only to show Himself on earth in the form of a man.
--We are capable of otiurn, of the uncondi tional conviction that although a handicraft does not shame one in any sense, it certainly reduces one's rank. However much we may respect " in dustry," and know how to give it its due, we do not appreciate it in a bourgeois sense, or after the manner of those insatiable and cackling artists who, like hens, cackle and lay eggs, and cackle again.
--We protect artists and poets and any one who happens to be a master in something; but as creatures of a higher order than those, who only know how to do something, who are only "pro ductive men," we do not confound ourselves with them.
'--We find joy in all forms and ceremonies; we would fain foster everything formal, and we are convinced that courtesy is one of the greatest virtues; we feel suspicious of every kind of laisser alter, including the freedom of the press and of thought; because, under such conditions, the intel lect grows easy-going and coarse, and stretches its limbs.
--We take pleasure in women as in a perhaps daintier, more delicate, and more ethereal kind of creature. What a treat it is to meet creatures
? ? ? ? 356
THE WILL To POWER.
who have only dancing and nonsense and finery in their minds! They have always been the de light of every tense and profound male soul, whose life is burdened with heavy responsibilities.
--We take pleasure in princes and in priests, because in big things, as in small, they actually up hold the belief in the difference of human values, even in the estimation of the past, and at least symbolically.
--We are able to keep silence: but we do not breathe a word of this in the presence of listeners.
--We are able to endure long enmities: we lack the power of easy reconciliations.
--We have a loathing of demagogism, of en lightenment, of amiability, and plebeian familiarity.
--We collect precious things, the needs of
? and fastidious souls; we wish to possess nothing in common. We want to have our own books, our own landscapes.
higher
--We protest against evil and fine experiences, and take care not to generalise too quickly. The individual case: how ironically we regard it when it has the bad taste to put on the airs of a rule!
-We love that which is naif, and naif people, but as spectators and higher creatures; we think Faust is just as simple as his Margaret.
---We have a low estimation of good people, because they are gregarious animals: we know how often an invaluable golden drop of goodness lies concealed beneath the most evil, the most malicious, and the hardest exterior, and that this single grain outweighs all the mere goody-goodi ness of milk-and-watery souls.
? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
357
---We don't regard a man of our kind as refuted by his vices, nor by his tomfooleries. We are well aware that we are not recognised with ease, and that we have every reason to make our foreground very prominent.
944
What is noble ? --The fact that one is constantly forced to be playing a part. That one is constantly searching for situations in which one is forced to put on airs. That one leaves happiness to the
greatest number: the happiness which consists of inner peacefulness, of virtue, of comfort, and of
I
? la Spencer. That one instinctively seeks for heavy responsi
Anglo-angelic-back-parlour-smugness,d
bilities. That one knows how to create enemies everywhere, at a pinch even in one's self. That one contradicts the greatest number, not in words at all, but by continually behaving diflerently from them.
945
Virtue (for instance, truthfulness) is our most noble and most dangerous luxury. We must not decline the disadvantages which it brings in its
train.
946
We refuse to be praised : we do what serves our purpose, what gives us pleasure, or what we are obliged to do.
947 -
What is chastity in a man? It means that his taste in sex has remained noble; that in eroticis
? ? ? THE WILL TO POWER
he likes neither the brutal, the morbid, nor the clever.
948
The concept of honour is founded upon the belief in select society, in knightly excellences, in the Obligation of having continually to play a part. In essentials it means that one does not take one's life too seriously, that one adheres unconditionally to the most dignified manners in one's dealings with everybody (at least in so far as they do not belong to " us "); that one is neither familiar, nor
good-natured, nor hearty, nor modest, except inter pares; that one is always playing a part.
949
The fact that one sets one's life, one's health, and one's honour at stake, is the result of high spirits and of an overflowing and spendthrift will : it is not the result of philanthropy, but of the fact that every danger kindles our curiosity concern ing the measure Of our strength, and provokes our courage.
950.
" Eagles swoop down straight "--nobility of soul is best revealed by the magnificent and proud foolishness with which it makes its attacks.
95! .
War should be made against all namby-pamby ideas of nobility ! ---A certain modicum of brutality
358
'
? ? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
359
cannot be dispensed with: no more than we can do without a 'certain approximation to criminality. "Self-satisfaction" must not be allowed; a man should look upon himself with an adventurous spirit; he should experiment with himself and run risks with himself--no beautiful soul-quackery should be tolerated. I want to give a more robust
ideal a chance of prevailing.
952
" Paradise is under the shadow of a swordsman " _--this is also a symbol and a test-word by which souls with noble and warrior-like origin betray and discover themselves.
953
The two paths. ---There comes a period when man has a surplus amount of power at his dis \
posal. Science aims at establishing the slavery/of nature.
Then man acquires the leisure in which to develop himself into something new and more lofty. A new aristocracy. It is then that a large number of virtues which are now conditions existence are superseded--Qualities which are no longer needed are on that account lost. We no longer need virtues: consequently we are losing them (likewise the morality of " one thing is needful," of the salvation of the soul, and of im mortality: these were means wherewith to make man capable of enormous self-tyranny, through the emotion of great fear! !
The different kinds of needs by means of whose
? '
of
? ? l).
? 360
THE WILL TO POWER.
discipline man is formed: need teaches work, thought, and self-control.
*
Physiological purification and strengthening. The new aristocracy is in need of an opposing body which it may combat: it must be driven to ex tremities in order to maintain itself.
The two futures of mankind: (I) the conse
quence of a levelling-down to mediocrity; conscious aloofness and self-development.
A doctrine which would cleave a gulf: it main
tains the highest and the lowest species destroys
the intermediate).
The aristocracies, both spiritual and temporal,
which have existed hitherto prove nothing against the necessity of new aristocracy.
4. THE LORDs OF THE EARTH.
954
A certain question constantly recurs to us; perhaps seductive and evil question; may be whispered into the ears of those who have right to such doubtful problems--those strong souls of to-day whose dominion over themselves un swerving: not high time, now that the type " gregarious animal " developing ever more and more in Europe, to set about rearing, thoroughly, artificially, and consciously, an opposite type, and to attempt to establish the latter's virtues And would not the democratic movement itself find for
(2)
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? THE ORDER OF RANK.
the first time a sort of goal, salvation, and justifi cation, if some one appeared who availed himself of it--so that at last, beside its new and sublime product, slavery (for this must be the end of European demOcracy), that higher species of ruling and Casarian spirits might also be produced, which would stand upon hold to and would
elevate themselves through it? This new race would climb aloft to new and hitherto impossible things, to broader vision, and to its task on earth.
955
The aspect of the European of to-day makes me very hopeful. A daring and ruling race here building itself up upon the foundation of an extremely intelligent, gregarious mass. It obvious that the educational movements for the latter are not alone prominent nowadays.
956
The same conditions which go to develop the
animal also force the development of the leaders.
957
The question, and at the same time the task, approaching with hesitation, terrible as Fate, but nevertheless inevitable: how shall the earth as whole be ruled? And to what end shall man as
whole--no longer as a people or as race--be reared and trained
Legislative moralities are the principal means
gregarious
36!
? ? ? ?
a
a
it,
a is
is is
a
it,
? 362
THE WILL To POWER.
by which one can form mankind, according to the fancy ot a creative and profound will: provided, of course, that such an artistic will of the first order gets the power into its own hands, and can make its creative will/prevail over long periods in the form of legislation, religions, and morals. At present, and probably for some time to come, one
will seek such colossally creative men, such really great men, as I understand them, in vain: they will be lacking, until, after many disappointments, we are forced to begin to understand why it is
they are lacking, and that nothing bars with greater hostility their rise and development, at present and for some time to come, than that which is now called the morality in Europe.
? Just as if there were no other kind of morality, and
could be no other kind, than the one we have already characterised as herd-morality. It is this morality which is now striving with all its power to attain to that green-meadow happiness on earth, which consists in security, absence of danger, ease, facilities for livelihood, and, last but not least, "if
all goes well," even hopes to dispense with all kinds of shepherds and bell-wethers. The two doctrines which it preaches most universally are "equality of rights " and "pity for all sufferers "
and it even regards suffering itself as something which must be got rid of absolutely. That such ideas may be modern leads one to think very poorly Of modernity. He, however, who has re
flected deeply concerning the question, how and where the plant man has hitherto grown most
vigorously,
is forced to believe that this has
? ? ? dissembling powers
THE ORDER OF RANK.
363
always taken place under the opposite conditions; that to this end the danger of the situation has to increase enormously, his inventive faculty and
have to fight their way up under long oppression and compulsion, and his
will to life has to be increased to the uncon ditioned will to power, to over-power: he believes that danger, severity, violence, peril in the street and in the heart, inequality of rights, secrecy, stoicism, seductive art, and devilry of every kind-- in short, the opposite of all gregarious desiderata-- are necessary for the elevation of man. Such a morality with opposite designs, which would rear man upwards instead of to comfort and mediocrity ; , such a morality, with the intention of producing a ruling caste--the future lords of the earth--must,
in order to be taught at all, introduce itself as if it were in some way correlated to the prevailing moral law, and must come forward under the cover of the latter's words and forms. But seeing that, to this end, a host of transitionary and de ceptive measures must be discovered, and that the life of a single individual stands for almost nothing in view of the accomplishment of such lengthy tasks and aims, the first thing that must be done is to rear a new kind of man in whom the duration of the necessary will and the necessary instincts is guaranteed for many generations. This must be a new kind of ruling species and caste--this ought to be quite as clear as the somewhat lengthy and not easily expressed consequences of this thought. The aim should be to prepare a trans valuation of values for a particularly strong kind of
? ? ? ? 364
THE WILL TO POWER.
man, most highly gifted in intellect and will, and,
to this end, slowly and cautiously to liberate in rhim a whole host of slandered instincts hitherto held in check: whoever meditates about this
problem belongs to us, the free spirits--certainly not to that kind of " free spirit " which has existed hitherto: for these desired practically the reverse. To this order, it seems to me, belong, above all, the pessimists of Europe, the poets and thinkers of a revolted idealism, in so far as their discontent with existence in general must consistently at least have led them to be dissatisfied with the man of the present; the same applies to certain insati ably ambitious artists who courageously and un conditionally fight against the gregarious animal for the special rights of higher men, and subdue all herd-instincts and precautions of more ceptional minds by their seductive art. Thirdly and lastly, we should include in this group all those critics and historians by whom the dis covery of the Old World, which has begun so happily--this was the work of the new Columbus, of German intellect--will be courageously con tinued (for we still stand in the very first stages of this conquest). For in the Old World, as a matter of fact, a different and more lordly morality ruled than that of to-day ; and the man of antiquity, under the educational ban of his morality, was a stronger and deeper man than the man of to-day--up to the present he has been the only well-constituted man. The temptation, however, which from antiquity to the present day has always exercised its power on such lucky
? _ex
? ? ? _
From now henceforward there will be such favourable first conditions for greater ruling powers as have never yet been found on earth. And, this by no means the most important point. The establishment has been made possible of in ternational race unions which will set themselves the task of rearing ruling race, the future "lords of the earth "--a new, vast aristocracy based upon the most severe self-discipline, in which the will of philosophical men of power and artist-tyrants will
THE ORDER OF RANK.
365
strokes of Nature, i. e. on strong and enterprising souls, is, even at the present day, the most subtle and most effective of anti-democratic and anti Christian powers, just as was in the time of the Renaissance.
958.
am writing for race of men which does not yet exist: for " the lords of the earth. "
In Plato's heages the following passage will be found: "Every one of us would like possible to be master of mankind possible, a God. " This attitude of mind must be reinstated in our midst.
Englishmen, Americans, and Russians.
959
That primeval forest-plant " Man " always
? where the struggle for power has been waged longest. Great men.
appears
Primeval forest creatures, the Romans.
960.
? ? . . ~. "\ . c>> -. ~. . _----'-. --. ~ 3>>.
a
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? 366
THE WILL To POWER.
be stamped upon thousands of years: a higher species of men which, thanks to their preponder ance of will, knowledge, riches, and influence, will avail themselves of democratic Europe as the most suitable and supple instrument they can
have for taking the fate of the earth into their own hands, and working as artists upon man him self. Enough! The time is coming for us to transform all our views on politics.
5. THE GREAT MAN.
961.
I will endeavour to see at which periods in history great men arise. The significance of despotic moralities that have lasted a long time: they strain the bow, provided they do not break it.
962.
A great man,--a man whom Nature has built up and invented in a grand style,--What. is such a' man? First, in his general course of action his consistency is so broad that owing to its very breadth it can be surveyed only with difficulty,
and consequently misleads; he possesses the capacity of extending his will over great stretches of his life, and 0f despising and rejecting all small things, whatever most beautiful and " divine" things of the world there may be among them. Second! , he is colder, harder, less cautious and more free from the fear of "public opinion " ; he does not
? ? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
367
possess the virtues which are compatible with respectability and with being respected, nor any of those things which are counted among the " virtues of the herd. " If he unable to lead, he walks alone; he may then perchance grunt at many things which he meets on his way. Thirdly,
he asks for no "compassionate" heart, but servants, instruments; in his dealings with men his one aim to make something out of them. He knows that he cannot reveal himself to anybody: he
bad taste to become familiar; and as not familiar when people think he is.
thinks
rule he
When he
mask. He would rather lie than tell the truth, because lying requires more spirit and will. There
not talking to his soul, he wears
? a loneliness within his heart which neither praise nor blame can reach, because he his own judge from whom no appeal.
963
The great man necessarily sceptic do not mean to say by this that he must appear to be one), provided that greatness consists in this:
4v to will something great, together with the means thereto. Freedom from any kind of conviction factor in his strength of will. And thus
in keeping with that "enlightened form of des potism" which every great passion exercises. Such passion enlists intellect in its service; even has the courage for unholy means; creates without hesitation; allows itself con victions, even uses them, but never
submits
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is
it it
is
it
a
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? 368 ~
to them. The need of faith and of anything un conditionally negative or affirmative is a proof of weakness ; all weakness is weakness of will. The man of faith, the believer, is necessarily an inferior
species
THE WILL T0 POWER.
of man. From this it follows that " all freedom of spirit," i. e. instinctive scepticism, is the prerequisite of greatness.
964.
The great man is conscious of his power over a people, and of the fact that he coincides temporarily with a people or with a century--this magnifying of his self-consciousness as causa and voluntas is
' misunderstood as " altruism ": he feels driven to means Of communication: all great men are in ventive in such means. They want to form great communities in their own image; they would fain give multiformity and disorder definite shape; it stimulates them to behold chaos.
The misunderstanding of love. There is a * slavish love which subordinates itself and gives itself away--which idealises and deceives itself; there
is a divine species of love which despises and loves at the same time, and which remodels and elevates the thing it loves.
The object is to attain that enormous energy of greatness which can model the man of the future by means of discipline and also by means of the
annihilation of millions of the bungled and botched, and which can yet avoid going to ruin at the sight of the suffering created thereby, the like of which has never been seen before.
? ?
remunerated).
THE ORDER OF RANK.
345
here is ignoble to the last degree: it is taken for granted that there is some sort of equivalence in value between my actions and thine; the most per sonal value Of an action is simply cancelled in this manner (that part of an action which has no
and which cannot be
"Reciprocity" is a piece of egregious vulgarity; the mere fact that what I do cannot and may not be done by another, that there is no such thing as equivalence (except in those very select circles where one actually has one's equal, inter pares), that in a really profound sense a man never re quites because he is something unique in himself and can only do unique things,--this fundamental conviction contains the cause of aristocratic aloof
' ness from the mob, because the latter believes in equality,and consequently in the feasibility of equiva lence and " reciprocity. "
927.
The suburban Philistinism of moral valuations and of its concepts " useful" and " harmful" is well founded; it is the necessary point of view of a community which is only able to see and survey immediate and proximate consequences.
The State and the political man are already in
need of a more super-moral attitude of because they have to calculate concerning a much more complicated tissue of consequences. An eco nomic policy for the whole world should be possible which could look at things in such broad perspec tive that all its isolated demands would seem for
the moment not only unjust, but arbitrary.
? mind:
? ? ? 346
THE WILL TO POWER.
928.
" Should one follow one's feelings? "--To set one's life at stake on the impulse of the moment, and actuated by a generous feeling, has little worth, and does not even distinguish one. Everybody is alike in being capable of this--and in behaving in this way with determination, the criminal, the bandit, and the Corsican certainly outstrip the
honest man.
A higher degree of excellence would be to over
come this impulse, and to refrain from performing an heroic deed at its bidding--and to remain cold, raisonnable, free from the tempestuous surging of concomitant sensations of delight. . . . The same holds good of pity: it must first be sifted through reason; without this it becomes just as dangerous
'
generosity, pity, or hostility, is the cause of the greatest evil. Greatness of character does not consist in not possessing these passions--on the contrary, a man should possess them to a terrible
'degree: but he should lead them by the bridle . . and even this he should not do out of love of con trol, but merely because. . . .
929
" To give up one's life for a cause "--very effec tive. But there are many things for which one gives up one's life: the passions, one and all, will be gratified. Whether one's life be pledged to pity, to anger, or to revenge--it matters not from
? as any other passion.
The blindyielding to a passion, whether it be
? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
347
the point of view of value. How many have not sacrificed their lives for pretty girls--and even what worse, their health! When one has temperament, one instinctively chooses the most dangerous things: one philosopher, for in stance, one chooses the adventures Of speculation;
one virtuous, one chooses immorality. One
kind of man will risk nothing, another kind will
risk everything. Are we despisers of life? On the contrary, what we seek life raised to higher power, life in danger. . But, let me re peat, we do not, on that account, wish to be more virtuous than Others. Pascal, for instance, wished to risk nothing, and remained Christian. That perhaps was virtuous--A man always sacrifices something.
? '
93?
How many advantages does not man sacrifice To how small an extent does he seek his own
All his emotions and passions wish to assert their rights, and how remote passion from that cautious utility which consists in personal profit "
profit!
A man does not strive after
must be an Englishman to be able to believe that
man always seeking his own advantage. Our desires long to violate things with passion-- their overflowing strength seeks obstacles.
931
All passions are generally useful, some directly, others indirectly; in regard to utility abso
happiness one
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lutely impossible to fix upon any gradation of values,--however certainly the forces of nature in general may be regarded as good (i. e. useful), from an economic point of view, they are still the sources of much that is terrible and much
that is fatally irrevocable. The most one might say would be, that the mightiest passions are the most valuable: seeing that no stronger sources of power exist.
932.
All well-meaning, helpful, good-natured attitudes of mind have not come to be honoured on account of their usefulness: but because they are the conditions peculiar to rifh souls who are able to
' bestow and whose value consists in their vital exuberance. Look into the eyes of the benevolent man! In them you will see the exact reverse of self-denial, of hatred of self, of " Pascalism. "
933
In short, what we require is to dominate the passions and not to weaken or to extirpate them l--The greater the dominating power of the will, the greater the freedom that may be given to the passions. "
magnificent monsters into its service.
The " good man " in every stage of civilisation
is at one and the same time the least dangerous
348
? The "great man
is so, owing to the free scope which he gives _to his desires, and to the still greater power which knows how to enlist these
? ? ? ally
THE ORDER or RANK
349
and the most useful: a sort of medium ; the idea formed of such a man by the common mind is that he is some one whom one has no reason tofear, but whom one must not therefore despise.
Education : essentially a means of mining ex ceptions in favour of the rule. Culture: essenti
the means of directing taste against the exceptions in favour of the mediocre.
Only when a culture can dispose of an overflow of force, is it capable of being a hothouse for the luxurious culture of the exception, of the experi ment, of the danger, of the nuance: this is the tendency of every aristocratic culture.
934-
All questions of strength: to what extent ought one to try and prevail against the preservative measures of society and the latter's prejudices ? -- to what extent ought one to unfetter one's terrihk qualities, through which so many go to the dogs ? -- to what extent ought one to run counter to truth, and take up sides with its most questionable aspects ? --to what extent ought one to oppose suiTering, self-contempt, pity, disease, vice, when it is always open to question whether one can ever master them (what does not kill us makes us stronger . . . ) ? ---and, finally, to what extent ought one to acknowledge the rights of the rule,
of the common-place, of the petty, of the good, of the upright, in fact of the average man, without thereby allowing one's self to become vulgar? . . . The strongest test of character is to resist being
? ? ? ? THE WILL To POWER.
ruined by the seductiveness of goodness. Good ness must be regarded as a luxury, as a refine
350
ment, as a vice.
-
3. THE NOBLE MAN.
935
Type: real goodness, nobility, greatness of soul, as the result of vital wealth: which does not give in order to receive--and which has no desire to elevate itself by being good ;--squandering is typical of genuine goodness ; vita! personal wealth is its prerequisite.
936.
Aristocracy. ----Gregarious ideals--at present culminating in the highest standard of value for society. It has been attempted to give them a cosmic, yea, and even a metaphysical, value--I defend aristocracy against them.
Any society which would of itself preserve a feeling of respect and de'licatesse in regard to freedom, must consider itself as an exception, and
have a force against it from which it distinguishes itself, and upon which it looks down with hostility. The more rights I surrender and the more I level myself down to others, the more deeply do I sink into the average and ultimately into the greatest number. The first condition which an aristocratic society must have in order to maintain a high degree of freedom among its members, is
that extreme tension which arises from the pres
? ? ? ? THE ORDER or RANK.
ence of the most antagonistic instincts in all its units: from their will to dominate. . . .
If ye would fain do away with strong contrasts and differences of rank, ye will also abolish strong love, lofty attitudes of mind, and the feeling of individuality.
Concerning the actual psychology of societies based upon freedom and equality. ---What that tends to diminish in such society?
The will to be responsible for one's self (the loss of this sign of the decline of autonomy); the ability to defend and to attack, even in spiritual matters; the power Of command; the sense of reverence, of subservience, the ability to be silent;
great passion, great achievements, tragedy and cheerfulness.
93
In 1814 Augustin Thierry read what Mont losier had said in his work, De la Monarchiefran guise: he answered with cry of indignation, and set himself to his task. That emigrant had said: "Race d'afi'ranchis, race d'esclaves arrache's de nos mains, peuple tributaire, peuple nouveau, licence vous
fut octroye? e d'e? tre libres, et non pas nous d'e'tre nobles pour nous tout est de droit, pour vous tout est de grdce, nous ne sommes point de votre com munaute'; nous sommes un tout par nous memes. "
938.
How constantly the aristocratic world shears and weakens itself ever more and more! By
351
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? 352
THE WILL TO POWER.
means of its noble instincts it abandons its privileges, and owing to its refined and excessive culture, it takes an interest in the people, the weak, the poor, and the poetry of the lowly, etc.
939
There is such a thing as a noble and dangerous form of carelessness, which allows of profound conclusions and insight: the carelessness of the self-reliant and over-rich soul, which has never troubled itself about friends, but which knows only hospitality and knows how to practise it; whose heart and house are open to all who will enter-- beggar, cripple, or king. This is genuine sociability: he who is capable of it has hundreds of " friends," but probably not one friend.
94?
";The teaching p. 118e? v dryau applies to men with overflowing strength,--not to the mediocre. xpe? -reia and damn: are only steps to higher things. Above them stands "golden N ature. "
" Thou shalt "----unconditional obedience in Stoics, in Christian and Arabian Orders, in Kant's philosophy immaterial whether this obedience
? shown to superior or to
Higher than " Thou shalt" stands "I will"
(the heroes)
higher than " will" stands "I am "
(the gods of the Greeks).
Barbarian gods express nothing of the pleasure
of restraint,---they are neither simple, nor light hearted, nor moderate.
concept).
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? THE ORDER OF RANK.
353
94!
The essence of our gardens and palaces (and to the same extent the essence of all yearning after riches) is the desire to rid the eye of disorder ana vulgarity, and to build a home for our soul's nobility.
The majority of people certainly believe that they will develop higher natures when those beautiful and peaceful things have operated upon them : hence the exodus to Italy, hence all travel ling, etc. , and all reading and visits to theatres. People want to be formed--that is the kernel of their labours for culture ! But the strong, the mighty, would themselves have a hand in the form ing, and wouldfain have nothing strange about them I
It is for this reason, too, that men go to open Nature, not to find themselves, but to lose them selves and to forget themselves. The desire " to get away from one's self" is proper to all weaklings, and to all those who are discontented with themselVes.
942
The only nobility is that of birth and blood. (I do not refer here to the prefix "Lord" and L'almanac de Gotha: this is a parenthesis for donkeys. ) Wherever people speak of the" aristo cracy of intellect," reasons are generally not lacking for concealing something; it is known to be a password among ambitious Jews. Intellect alone does not ennoble; on the contrary, some thing is always needed to ennoble intellect--What
then is needed ? ---Blood.
vOL. 11. Z
? .
? ? ? 354
THE WILL 'ro POWER.
943
What is noble?
--Extemal punctiliousness; because this punc
tiliousness hedges a man about, keeps him at a distance, saves him from being confounded with somebody else.
--A frivolous appearance in word, clothing, and bearing, with which stoical hardness and self control protect themselves from all prying inquisi tiveness or curiosity.
---A slow step and a slow glance. There are not too many valuable things on earth: and these come and wish to come of themselves to him who has value. We are not quick to admire.
--We know how to bear poverty, want, and even illness.
---We avoid small honours owing to our mis trust of all who are over-ready to praise: for the man who praises believes he understands what he praises: but to understand--Balzac, that typical man of ambition, betrayed the fact--comprendre
e'est ejgaler.
--Our doubt concerning the communicativeness
of our hearts goes very deep; to us, loneliness is not a matter of choice, it is imposed upon us.
---We are convinced that we only have duties to our equals, to others we do as we think best: we know that justice is only to be expected among equals (alas! -this will not be realised for some
time to come).
--We are ironical towards the "gifted"; we
hold the belief that no morality is possible with out good birth.
? ? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
355
--We always feel as if we were those who had to dispense honours: while he is not found too frequently who would be worthy of honouring us.
---We are always disguised: the higher a man's nature the more is he in need of remaining incog nito. If there be a God, then out of sheer decency He ought only to show Himself on earth in the form of a man.
--We are capable of otiurn, of the uncondi tional conviction that although a handicraft does not shame one in any sense, it certainly reduces one's rank. However much we may respect " in dustry," and know how to give it its due, we do not appreciate it in a bourgeois sense, or after the manner of those insatiable and cackling artists who, like hens, cackle and lay eggs, and cackle again.
--We protect artists and poets and any one who happens to be a master in something; but as creatures of a higher order than those, who only know how to do something, who are only "pro ductive men," we do not confound ourselves with them.
'--We find joy in all forms and ceremonies; we would fain foster everything formal, and we are convinced that courtesy is one of the greatest virtues; we feel suspicious of every kind of laisser alter, including the freedom of the press and of thought; because, under such conditions, the intel lect grows easy-going and coarse, and stretches its limbs.
--We take pleasure in women as in a perhaps daintier, more delicate, and more ethereal kind of creature. What a treat it is to meet creatures
? ? ? ? 356
THE WILL To POWER.
who have only dancing and nonsense and finery in their minds! They have always been the de light of every tense and profound male soul, whose life is burdened with heavy responsibilities.
--We take pleasure in princes and in priests, because in big things, as in small, they actually up hold the belief in the difference of human values, even in the estimation of the past, and at least symbolically.
--We are able to keep silence: but we do not breathe a word of this in the presence of listeners.
--We are able to endure long enmities: we lack the power of easy reconciliations.
--We have a loathing of demagogism, of en lightenment, of amiability, and plebeian familiarity.
--We collect precious things, the needs of
? and fastidious souls; we wish to possess nothing in common. We want to have our own books, our own landscapes.
higher
--We protest against evil and fine experiences, and take care not to generalise too quickly. The individual case: how ironically we regard it when it has the bad taste to put on the airs of a rule!
-We love that which is naif, and naif people, but as spectators and higher creatures; we think Faust is just as simple as his Margaret.
---We have a low estimation of good people, because they are gregarious animals: we know how often an invaluable golden drop of goodness lies concealed beneath the most evil, the most malicious, and the hardest exterior, and that this single grain outweighs all the mere goody-goodi ness of milk-and-watery souls.
? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
357
---We don't regard a man of our kind as refuted by his vices, nor by his tomfooleries. We are well aware that we are not recognised with ease, and that we have every reason to make our foreground very prominent.
944
What is noble ? --The fact that one is constantly forced to be playing a part. That one is constantly searching for situations in which one is forced to put on airs. That one leaves happiness to the
greatest number: the happiness which consists of inner peacefulness, of virtue, of comfort, and of
I
? la Spencer. That one instinctively seeks for heavy responsi
Anglo-angelic-back-parlour-smugness,d
bilities. That one knows how to create enemies everywhere, at a pinch even in one's self. That one contradicts the greatest number, not in words at all, but by continually behaving diflerently from them.
945
Virtue (for instance, truthfulness) is our most noble and most dangerous luxury. We must not decline the disadvantages which it brings in its
train.
946
We refuse to be praised : we do what serves our purpose, what gives us pleasure, or what we are obliged to do.
947 -
What is chastity in a man? It means that his taste in sex has remained noble; that in eroticis
? ? ? THE WILL TO POWER
he likes neither the brutal, the morbid, nor the clever.
948
The concept of honour is founded upon the belief in select society, in knightly excellences, in the Obligation of having continually to play a part. In essentials it means that one does not take one's life too seriously, that one adheres unconditionally to the most dignified manners in one's dealings with everybody (at least in so far as they do not belong to " us "); that one is neither familiar, nor
good-natured, nor hearty, nor modest, except inter pares; that one is always playing a part.
949
The fact that one sets one's life, one's health, and one's honour at stake, is the result of high spirits and of an overflowing and spendthrift will : it is not the result of philanthropy, but of the fact that every danger kindles our curiosity concern ing the measure Of our strength, and provokes our courage.
950.
" Eagles swoop down straight "--nobility of soul is best revealed by the magnificent and proud foolishness with which it makes its attacks.
95! .
War should be made against all namby-pamby ideas of nobility ! ---A certain modicum of brutality
358
'
? ? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
359
cannot be dispensed with: no more than we can do without a 'certain approximation to criminality. "Self-satisfaction" must not be allowed; a man should look upon himself with an adventurous spirit; he should experiment with himself and run risks with himself--no beautiful soul-quackery should be tolerated. I want to give a more robust
ideal a chance of prevailing.
952
" Paradise is under the shadow of a swordsman " _--this is also a symbol and a test-word by which souls with noble and warrior-like origin betray and discover themselves.
953
The two paths. ---There comes a period when man has a surplus amount of power at his dis \
posal. Science aims at establishing the slavery/of nature.
Then man acquires the leisure in which to develop himself into something new and more lofty. A new aristocracy. It is then that a large number of virtues which are now conditions existence are superseded--Qualities which are no longer needed are on that account lost. We no longer need virtues: consequently we are losing them (likewise the morality of " one thing is needful," of the salvation of the soul, and of im mortality: these were means wherewith to make man capable of enormous self-tyranny, through the emotion of great fear! !
The different kinds of needs by means of whose
? '
of
? ? l).
? 360
THE WILL TO POWER.
discipline man is formed: need teaches work, thought, and self-control.
*
Physiological purification and strengthening. The new aristocracy is in need of an opposing body which it may combat: it must be driven to ex tremities in order to maintain itself.
The two futures of mankind: (I) the conse
quence of a levelling-down to mediocrity; conscious aloofness and self-development.
A doctrine which would cleave a gulf: it main
tains the highest and the lowest species destroys
the intermediate).
The aristocracies, both spiritual and temporal,
which have existed hitherto prove nothing against the necessity of new aristocracy.
4. THE LORDs OF THE EARTH.
954
A certain question constantly recurs to us; perhaps seductive and evil question; may be whispered into the ears of those who have right to such doubtful problems--those strong souls of to-day whose dominion over themselves un swerving: not high time, now that the type " gregarious animal " developing ever more and more in Europe, to set about rearing, thoroughly, artificially, and consciously, an opposite type, and to attempt to establish the latter's virtues And would not the democratic movement itself find for
(2)
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? THE ORDER OF RANK.
the first time a sort of goal, salvation, and justifi cation, if some one appeared who availed himself of it--so that at last, beside its new and sublime product, slavery (for this must be the end of European demOcracy), that higher species of ruling and Casarian spirits might also be produced, which would stand upon hold to and would
elevate themselves through it? This new race would climb aloft to new and hitherto impossible things, to broader vision, and to its task on earth.
955
The aspect of the European of to-day makes me very hopeful. A daring and ruling race here building itself up upon the foundation of an extremely intelligent, gregarious mass. It obvious that the educational movements for the latter are not alone prominent nowadays.
956
The same conditions which go to develop the
animal also force the development of the leaders.
957
The question, and at the same time the task, approaching with hesitation, terrible as Fate, but nevertheless inevitable: how shall the earth as whole be ruled? And to what end shall man as
whole--no longer as a people or as race--be reared and trained
Legislative moralities are the principal means
gregarious
36!
? ? ? ?
a
a
it,
a is
is is
a
it,
? 362
THE WILL To POWER.
by which one can form mankind, according to the fancy ot a creative and profound will: provided, of course, that such an artistic will of the first order gets the power into its own hands, and can make its creative will/prevail over long periods in the form of legislation, religions, and morals. At present, and probably for some time to come, one
will seek such colossally creative men, such really great men, as I understand them, in vain: they will be lacking, until, after many disappointments, we are forced to begin to understand why it is
they are lacking, and that nothing bars with greater hostility their rise and development, at present and for some time to come, than that which is now called the morality in Europe.
? Just as if there were no other kind of morality, and
could be no other kind, than the one we have already characterised as herd-morality. It is this morality which is now striving with all its power to attain to that green-meadow happiness on earth, which consists in security, absence of danger, ease, facilities for livelihood, and, last but not least, "if
all goes well," even hopes to dispense with all kinds of shepherds and bell-wethers. The two doctrines which it preaches most universally are "equality of rights " and "pity for all sufferers "
and it even regards suffering itself as something which must be got rid of absolutely. That such ideas may be modern leads one to think very poorly Of modernity. He, however, who has re
flected deeply concerning the question, how and where the plant man has hitherto grown most
vigorously,
is forced to believe that this has
? ? ? dissembling powers
THE ORDER OF RANK.
363
always taken place under the opposite conditions; that to this end the danger of the situation has to increase enormously, his inventive faculty and
have to fight their way up under long oppression and compulsion, and his
will to life has to be increased to the uncon ditioned will to power, to over-power: he believes that danger, severity, violence, peril in the street and in the heart, inequality of rights, secrecy, stoicism, seductive art, and devilry of every kind-- in short, the opposite of all gregarious desiderata-- are necessary for the elevation of man. Such a morality with opposite designs, which would rear man upwards instead of to comfort and mediocrity ; , such a morality, with the intention of producing a ruling caste--the future lords of the earth--must,
in order to be taught at all, introduce itself as if it were in some way correlated to the prevailing moral law, and must come forward under the cover of the latter's words and forms. But seeing that, to this end, a host of transitionary and de ceptive measures must be discovered, and that the life of a single individual stands for almost nothing in view of the accomplishment of such lengthy tasks and aims, the first thing that must be done is to rear a new kind of man in whom the duration of the necessary will and the necessary instincts is guaranteed for many generations. This must be a new kind of ruling species and caste--this ought to be quite as clear as the somewhat lengthy and not easily expressed consequences of this thought. The aim should be to prepare a trans valuation of values for a particularly strong kind of
? ? ? ? 364
THE WILL TO POWER.
man, most highly gifted in intellect and will, and,
to this end, slowly and cautiously to liberate in rhim a whole host of slandered instincts hitherto held in check: whoever meditates about this
problem belongs to us, the free spirits--certainly not to that kind of " free spirit " which has existed hitherto: for these desired practically the reverse. To this order, it seems to me, belong, above all, the pessimists of Europe, the poets and thinkers of a revolted idealism, in so far as their discontent with existence in general must consistently at least have led them to be dissatisfied with the man of the present; the same applies to certain insati ably ambitious artists who courageously and un conditionally fight against the gregarious animal for the special rights of higher men, and subdue all herd-instincts and precautions of more ceptional minds by their seductive art. Thirdly and lastly, we should include in this group all those critics and historians by whom the dis covery of the Old World, which has begun so happily--this was the work of the new Columbus, of German intellect--will be courageously con tinued (for we still stand in the very first stages of this conquest). For in the Old World, as a matter of fact, a different and more lordly morality ruled than that of to-day ; and the man of antiquity, under the educational ban of his morality, was a stronger and deeper man than the man of to-day--up to the present he has been the only well-constituted man. The temptation, however, which from antiquity to the present day has always exercised its power on such lucky
? _ex
? ? ? _
From now henceforward there will be such favourable first conditions for greater ruling powers as have never yet been found on earth. And, this by no means the most important point. The establishment has been made possible of in ternational race unions which will set themselves the task of rearing ruling race, the future "lords of the earth "--a new, vast aristocracy based upon the most severe self-discipline, in which the will of philosophical men of power and artist-tyrants will
THE ORDER OF RANK.
365
strokes of Nature, i. e. on strong and enterprising souls, is, even at the present day, the most subtle and most effective of anti-democratic and anti Christian powers, just as was in the time of the Renaissance.
958.
am writing for race of men which does not yet exist: for " the lords of the earth. "
In Plato's heages the following passage will be found: "Every one of us would like possible to be master of mankind possible, a God. " This attitude of mind must be reinstated in our midst.
Englishmen, Americans, and Russians.
959
That primeval forest-plant " Man " always
? where the struggle for power has been waged longest. Great men.
appears
Primeval forest creatures, the Romans.
960.
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a
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? 366
THE WILL To POWER.
be stamped upon thousands of years: a higher species of men which, thanks to their preponder ance of will, knowledge, riches, and influence, will avail themselves of democratic Europe as the most suitable and supple instrument they can
have for taking the fate of the earth into their own hands, and working as artists upon man him self. Enough! The time is coming for us to transform all our views on politics.
5. THE GREAT MAN.
961.
I will endeavour to see at which periods in history great men arise. The significance of despotic moralities that have lasted a long time: they strain the bow, provided they do not break it.
962.
A great man,--a man whom Nature has built up and invented in a grand style,--What. is such a' man? First, in his general course of action his consistency is so broad that owing to its very breadth it can be surveyed only with difficulty,
and consequently misleads; he possesses the capacity of extending his will over great stretches of his life, and 0f despising and rejecting all small things, whatever most beautiful and " divine" things of the world there may be among them. Second! , he is colder, harder, less cautious and more free from the fear of "public opinion " ; he does not
? ? ? ? THE ORDER OF RANK.
367
possess the virtues which are compatible with respectability and with being respected, nor any of those things which are counted among the " virtues of the herd. " If he unable to lead, he walks alone; he may then perchance grunt at many things which he meets on his way. Thirdly,
he asks for no "compassionate" heart, but servants, instruments; in his dealings with men his one aim to make something out of them. He knows that he cannot reveal himself to anybody: he
bad taste to become familiar; and as not familiar when people think he is.
thinks
rule he
When he
mask. He would rather lie than tell the truth, because lying requires more spirit and will. There
not talking to his soul, he wears
? a loneliness within his heart which neither praise nor blame can reach, because he his own judge from whom no appeal.
963
The great man necessarily sceptic do not mean to say by this that he must appear to be one), provided that greatness consists in this:
4v to will something great, together with the means thereto. Freedom from any kind of conviction factor in his strength of will. And thus
in keeping with that "enlightened form of des potism" which every great passion exercises. Such passion enlists intellect in its service; even has the courage for unholy means; creates without hesitation; allows itself con victions, even uses them, but never
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to them. The need of faith and of anything un conditionally negative or affirmative is a proof of weakness ; all weakness is weakness of will. The man of faith, the believer, is necessarily an inferior
species
THE WILL T0 POWER.
of man. From this it follows that " all freedom of spirit," i. e. instinctive scepticism, is the prerequisite of greatness.
964.
The great man is conscious of his power over a people, and of the fact that he coincides temporarily with a people or with a century--this magnifying of his self-consciousness as causa and voluntas is
' misunderstood as " altruism ": he feels driven to means Of communication: all great men are in ventive in such means. They want to form great communities in their own image; they would fain give multiformity and disorder definite shape; it stimulates them to behold chaos.
The misunderstanding of love. There is a * slavish love which subordinates itself and gives itself away--which idealises and deceives itself; there
is a divine species of love which despises and loves at the same time, and which remodels and elevates the thing it loves.
The object is to attain that enormous energy of greatness which can model the man of the future by means of discipline and also by means of the
annihilation of millions of the bungled and botched, and which can yet avoid going to ruin at the sight of the suffering created thereby, the like of which has never been seen before.
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