All
isolation
is wrong ": so say the herd.
Nietzsche - v11 - Thus Spake Zarathustra
Verily, there are chaste ones from their very
nature; they are gentler of heart, and laugh better
and oftener than you.
They laugh also at chastity, and ask: “What is
chastity?
Is chastity not folly? But the folly came unto
us, and not we unto it.
We offered that guest harbour and heart: now it
dwelleth with us-let it stay as long as it will! ”-
Thus spake Zarathustra.
## p. 63 (#137) #############################################
XIV. —THE FRIEND. 63
XIV. —THE FRIEND.
"One, is always too many about me "—thinketh
the anchorite. "Always once one—that maketh
two in the long run! "
I and me are always too earnestly in conversa-
tion: how could it be endured, if there were not a
friend?
The friend of the anchorite is always the third
one: the third one is the cork which preventeth
the conversation of the two sinking into the depth.
Ah! there are too many depths for all anchorites.
Therefore, do they long so much for a friend, and
for his elevation.
Our faith in others betrayeth wherein we would
fain have faith in ourselves. Our longing for a
friend is our betrayer.
And often with our love we want merely to
overleap envy. And often we attack and make
ourselves enemies, to conceal that we are vulnerable.
"Be at least mine enemy ! "—thus speaketh the
true reverence, which doth not venture to solicit
friendship.
If one would have a friend, then must one also
be willing to wage war for him: and in order to
wage war, one must be capable of being an enemy.
One ought still to honour the enemy in one's
friend. Canst thou go nigh unto thy friend, and
not go over to him?
In one's friend one shall have one's best enemy.
Thou shalt be closest unto him with thy heart
when thou withstandest him.
S
## p. 64 (#138) #############################################
64
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, I.
Thou wouldst wear no raiment before thy friend ?
It is in honour of thy friend that thou showest
thyself to him as thou art ? But he wisheth thee
to the devil on that account !
He who maketh no secret of himself shocketh :
so much reason have ye to fear nakedness! Aye,
if ye were Gods, ye could then be ashamed of
clothing !
Thou canst not adorn thyself fine enough for thy
friend ; for thou shalt be unto him an arrow and a
longing for the Superman.
Sawest thou ever thy friend asleep-to know
how he looketh? What is usually the countenance
of thy friend ? It is thine own countenance, in a
coarse and imperfect mirror.
Sawest thou ever thy friend asleep? Wert thou
not dismayed at thy friend looking so? O my
friend, man is something that hath to be surpassed.
In divining and keeping silence shall the friend
be a master : not everything must thou wish to
see. Thy dream shall disclose unto thee what thy
friend doeth when awake.
Let thy pity be a divining: to know first if thy
friend wanteth pity. Perhaps he loveth in thee the
unmoved eye, and the look of eternity.
Let thy pity for thy friend be hid under a hard
shell; thou shalt bite out a tooth upon it. Thus
will it have delicacy and sweetness.
Art thou pure air and solitude and bread and
medicine to thy friend ? Many a one cannot loosen
his own fetters, but is nevertheless his friend's
emancipator.
Art thou a slave? Then thou canst not be a
## p. 65 (#139) #############################################
XIV. —THE FRIEND. 65
friend. Art thou a tyrant? Then thou canst not
have friends.
Far too long hath there been a slave and a tyrant
concealed in woman. On that account woman is not
yet capable of friendship: she knoweth only love.
In woman's love there is injustice and blindness
to all she doth not love. And even in woman's
conscious love, there is still always surprise and
lightning and night, along with the light.
As yet woman is not capable of friendship:
women are still cats, and birds. Or at the best,
cows.
As yet woman is not capable of friendship.
But tell me, ye men, who of you are capable of
friendship?
Oh! your poverty, ye men, and your sordidness
of soul! As much as ye give to your friend, will
I give even to my foe, and will not have become
poorer thereby.
There is comradeship: may there be friendship!
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XV—THE THOUSAND AND ONE GOALS.
Many lands saw Zarathustra, and many peoples:
thus he discovered the good and bad of many
peoples. No greater power did Zarathustra find
on earth than good and bad.
No people could live without first valuing; if
a people will maintain itself, however, it must not
value as its neighbour valueth.
Much that passed for good with one people was
E
## p. 66 (#140) #############################################
66 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, I.
regarded with scorn and contempt by another:
thus I found it. Much found I here called bad.
which was there decked with purple honours.
Never did the one neighbour understand the
other: ever did his soul marvel at his neighbour's
delusion and wickedness.
A table of excellencies hangeth over every
people. Lo! it is the table of their triumphs; lo!
it is the voice of their Will to Power.
It is laudable, what they think hard; what is
indispensable and hard they call good; and what
relieveth in the direst distress, the unique and
hardest of all,—they extol as holy.
Whatever maketh them rule and conquer and
shine, to the dismay and envy of their neighbours,
they regard as the high and foremost thing, the
test and the meaning of all else.
Verily, my brother, if thou knewest but a people's
need, its land, its sky, and its neighbour, then
wouldst thou divine the law of its surmountings,
and why it climbeth up that ladder to its hope.
"Always shalt thou be the foremost and pro-
minent above others: no one shall thy jealous soul
love, except a friend "—that made the soul of a
Greek thrill: thereby went he his way to greatness.
"To speak truth, and be skilful with bow and
arrow"—so seemed it alike pleasing and hard
to the people from whom cometh my name—the
name which is alike pleasing and hard to me.
"To honour father and mother, and from the
root of the soul to do their will"—this table of
surmounting hung another people over them, and
became powerful and permanent thereby.
## p. 67 (#141) #############################################
XV. —THE THOUSAND AND ONE GOALS. 67
"To have fidelity, and for the sake of fidelity
to risk honour and blood, even in evil and
dangerous courses"—teaching itself so, another
people mastered itself, and thus mastering itself,
became pregnant and heavy with great hopes.
Verily, men have given unto themselves all
their good and bad. Verily, they took it not, they
found it not, it came not unto them as a voice from
heaven.
Values did man only assign to things in order
to maintain himself—he created only the signifi-
cance of things, a human significance! Therefore,
calleth he himself " man," that is, the valuator.
Valuing is creating: hear it, ye creating ones!
Valuation itself is the treasure and jewel of the
valued things.
Through valuation only is there value; and
without valuation the nut of existence would be
hollow. Hear it, ye creating ones!
Change of values—that is, change of the creating
ones. Always doth he destroy who hath to be a
creator.
Creating ones were first of all peoples, and only
in late times individuals; verily, the individual
himself is still the latest creation.
Peoples once hung over them tables of the good.
Love which would rule and love which would obey,
created for themselves such tables.
Older is the pleasure in the herd than the
pleasure in the ego: and as long as the good
conscience is for the herd, the bad conscience only
saith: ego.
Verily, the crafty ego, the loveless one, that
## p. 68 (#142) #############################################
66 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, I.
regarded with scorn and contempt by another:
thus I found it. Much found I here called bad,
which was there decked with purple honours.
Never did the one neighbour understand the
other: ever did his soul marvel at his neighbour's
delusion and wickedness.
A table of excellencies hangeth over every
people. Lo! it is the table of their triumphs; lo!
it is the voice of their Will to Power.
It is laudable, what they think hard; what is
indispensable and hard they call good; and what
relieveth in the direst distress, the unique and
hardest of all,—they extol as holy.
Whatever maketh them rule and conquer and
shine, to the dismay and envy of their neighbours,
they regard as the high and foremost thing, the
test and the meaning of all else.
Verily, my brother, if thou knewest but a people's
need, its land, its sky, and its neighbour, then
wouldst thou divine the law of its surmountings,
and why it climbeth up that ladder to its hope.
"Always shalt thou be the foremost and pro-
minent above others: no one shall thy jealous soul
love, except a friend "—that made the soul of a
Greek thrill: thereby went he his way to greatness.
"To speak truth, and be skilful with bow and
arrow"—so seemed it alike pleasing and hard
to the' people from whom cometh my name—the
name which is alike pleasing and hard to me.
"To honour father and mother, and from the
root of the soul to do their will"—this table of
surmounting hung another people over them, and
became powerful and permanent thereby.
*
## p. 69 (#143) #############################################
XV. -1HE THOOSABD AHi OK COA^. fr
ve
ot
DU
Ot
ad
ir-
69
an
«To have fideUty, and for the sac a iasiq
to risk honour and blood, evo z. en. at do
dangerous courses "-teaching rats iz. ssoaer d
people mastered itself, and thus maSCTg aer to
became pregnant and heavy with greaz acoes
Verily, men have given unto taenserres al
their good and bad. Verily, they look it«. Sty ^
found it not, it came not unto them as a voej rai
heaven.
Values did man only assign to tings - aoer
to maintain himself—be created only *je sagisaV
cance of things, a human significance! ThereER.
calleth he himself" man," that is. the viator.
Valuing is creating: hear it, ye creacmg as! d
Valuation itself is the treasure and jewel of
valued things.
Through valuation only is there njot
without valuation the nut of existence woti: l* ,e\\
hollow. Hear it, ye creating ones! to
Change of values—that is, change of the creatz^ . s.
ones. Always doth he destroy rho hath to fe J to
creator. 3th
Creating ones were first of all peoples, and cclt of
in late times individuals; verily, the iadnxal our
himself is still the latest creation.
Peoples once hung over them tables of the raoH oil.
Love which would rule and love which would cx» e-"
created for themselves such tables. ' he
ye
ng
Older is the pleasure in the herd than th* fain
pleasure in the ego: and as bug M the JZ eth
conscience is for the herd, the had conscience^v
saith: ego. —«-"«* wuy
Verily, the crafty ego, the loveless one, fa,
## p. 69 (#144) #############################################
68 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, T.
seeketh its advantage in the advantage of many—
it is not the origin of the herd, but its ruin.
Loving ones, was it always, and creating ones,
that created good and bad. Fire of love gloweth
in the names of all the virtues, and fire of wrath.
Many lands saw Zarathustra, and many peoples:
no greater power did Zarathustra find on earth
than the creations of the loving ones—" good" and
"bad " are they called.
Verily, a prodigy is this power of praising and
blaming. Tell me, ye brethren, who will master it
for me? Who will put a fetter upon the thousand
necks of this animal?
A thousand goals have there been hitherto, for
a thousand peoples have there been. Only the
fetter for the thousand necks is still lacking; there
is lacking the one goal. As yet humanity hath
not a goal.
But pray tell me, my brethren, if the goal of
humanity be still lacking, is there not also still
lacking—humanity itself? —
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XVI. —NEIGHBOUR-LOVE.
Ye crowd around your neighbour, and have fine
words for it. But I say unto you: your neighbour-
love is your bad love of yourselves.
Ye flee unto your neighbour from yourselves, and
would fain make a virtue thereof: but I fathom
your " unselfishness. "
The Thou is older than the // the Thou hath
## p. 69 (#145) #############################################
XVI. —NEIGHBOUR-LOVE. 69
been consecrated, but not yet the /. . so man
presseth nigh unto his neighbour.
Do I advise you to neighbour-love? Rather do
I advise you to neighbour-flight and to furthest love!
Higher than love to your neighbour is love to
the furthest and future ones; higher still than love
to men, is love to things and phantoms.
The phantom that runneth on before thee, my
brother, is fairer than thou; why dost thou not
give unto it thy flesh and thy bones? But thou
fearest, and runnest unto thy neighbour.
Ye cannot endure it with yourselves, and do not
love yourselves sufficiently: so ye seek to mislead
your neighbour into love, and would fain gild your-
selves with his error.
Would that ye could not endure it with any kind
of near ones, or their neighbours; then would ye
have to create your friend and his overflowing
heart out of yourselves.
Ye call in a witness when ye want to speak well
of yourselves; and when ye have misled him to
think well of you, ye also think well of yourselves.
Not only doth he lie, who speaketh contrary to
his knowledge, but more so, he who speaketh
contrary to his ignorance. And thus speak ye of
yourselves in your intercourse, and belie your
neighbour with yourselves.
Thus saith the fool: "Association with men spoil-
eth the character, especially when one hath none. "
The one goeth to his neighbour because he
seeketh himself, and the other because he would fain
lose himself. Your bad love to yourselves makcth
solitude a prison to you.
## p. 69 (#146) #############################################
-. i
il. -. -u . -c ,
7TNG
'"',', -o tto iaianun. mr
f . 4 .
## p. 69 (#147) #############################################
XVII. —THE WAY OF THE CREATING ONE. ? I
™ He who seeketh may easily get lost himself.
All isolation is wrong ": so say the herd. And
long didst thou belong to the herd.
The voice of the herd will still echo in thee.
And when thou sayest, " I have no longer a con-
science in common with you," then will it be a
plaint and a pain.
Lo, that pain itself did the same conscience
produce; and the last gleam of that conscience still
gloweth on thine affliction.
But thou wouldst go the way of thine affliction,
which is the way unto thyself? Then show me
thine authority and thy strength to do so!
Art thou a new strength and a new authority?
A first motion? A self-rolling wheel? Canst thou
also compel stars to revolve around thee?
Alas! there is so much lusting for loftiness!
There are so many convulsions of the ambitions!
Show me that thou art not a lusting and ambitious
one!
Alas! there are so many great thoughts that do
nothing more than the bellows: they inflate, and
make emptier than ever.
Free, dost thou call thyself? Thy ruling thought
would I hear of, and not that thou hast escaped
from a yoke.
Art thou one entitled to escape from a yoke?
Many a one hath cast away his final worth when
he hath cast away his servitude.
Free from what? What doth that matter to
Zarathustra! Clearly, however, shall thine eye
show unto me: free for what?
Canst thou give unto thyself thy bad and thy
## p. 70 (#148) #############################################
70 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, I.
The furthest ones are they who pay for your love
to the near ones; and when there are but five of
you together, a sixth must always die.
I love not your festivals either: too many actors
found I there, and even the spectators often
behaved like actors.
Not the neighbour do I teach you, but the friend.
Let the friend be the festival of the earth to you,
and a foretaste of the Superman.
I teach you the friend and his overflowing heart.
But one must know how to be a sponge, if one
would be loved by overflowing hearts.
I teach you the friend in whom the world standeth
complete, a capsule of the good,—the creating friend,
who hath always a complete world to bestow.
And as the world unrolled itself for him, so
rolleth it together again for him in rings, as the
growth of good through evil, as the growth of
purpose out of chance.
Let the future and the furthest be the motive of
thy to-day; in thy friend shalt thou love the Super-
man as thy motive.
My brethren, I advise you not to neighbour-love
—I advise you to furthest love! —
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XVII. —THE WAY OF THE CREATING
ONE.
Wouldst thou go into isolation, my brother?
Wouldst thou seek the way unto thyself? Tarry
yet a little and hearken unto me.
## p. 71 (#149) #############################################
XVII. —THE WAY OF THE CREATING ONE. 71
"He who seeketh may easily get lost himself.
All isolation is wrong ": so say the herd. And
long didst thou belong to the herd.
The voice of the herd will still echo in thee.
And when thou sayest, " I have no longer a con-
science in common with you," then will it be a
plaint and a pain.
Lo, that pain itself did the same conscience
produce; and the last gleam of that conscience still
gloweth on thine affliction.
But thou wouldst go the way of thine affliction,
which is the way unto thyself? Then show me
thine authority and thy strength to do so!
Art thou a new strength and a new authority?
A first motion? A self-rolling wheel? Canst thou
also compel stars to revolve around thee?
Alas! there is so much lusting for loftiness!
There are so many convulsions of the ambitions!
Show me that thou art not a lusting and ambitious
one!
Alas! there are so many great thoughts that do
nothing more than the bellows: they inflate, and
make emptier than ever.
Free, dost thou call thyself? Thy ruling thought
would I hear of, and not that thou hast escaped
from a yoke.
Art thou one entitled to escape from a yoke?
Many a one hath cast away his final worth when
he hath cast away his servitude.
Free from what? What doth that matter to
Zarathustra! Clearly, however, shall thine eye
show unto me: free for what?
Canst thou give unto thyself thy bad and thy
V
## p. 72 (#150) #############################################
72 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, I.
good, and set up thy will as a law over thee?
Canst thou be judge for thyself, and avenger of thy
law? ,
Terrible is aloneness with the judge and avenger
of one's own law. Thus is a star projected into
desert space, and into the icy breath of aloneness.
To-day sufferest thou still from the multitude,
thou individual; to-day hast thou still thy courage
unabated, and thy hopes.
But one day will the solitude weary thee; one
day will thy pride yield, and thy courage quail.
Thou wilt one day cry: "I am alone! "
One day wilt thou see no longer thy loftiness,
and see too closely thy lowliness; thy sublimity
itself will frighten thee as a phantom. Thou wilt
one day cry: "All is false! "
There are feelings which seek to slay the lonesome
one; if they do not succeed, then must they them-
selves die! But art thou capable of it—to be a
murderer?
Hast thou ever known, my brother, the word
"disdain "? And the anguish of thy justice in
being just to those that disdain thee?
Thou forcest many to think differently about
thee; that, charge they heavily to thine account.
Thou eamest nigh unto them, and yet wentest
past: for that they never forgive thee.
Thou goest beyond them: but the higher thou
risest, the smaller doth the eye of envy see thee.
Most of all, however, is the flying one hated.
"How could ye be just unto me! "—must thou
say—" 1 choose your injustice as my allotted
portion. "
## p. 73 (#151) #############################################
XVII. -THE WAY OF THE CREATING ONE. 73
Injustice and filth cast they at the lonesome
one : but, my brother, if thou wouldst be a star,
thou must shine for them none the less on that
account!
And be on thy guard against the good and just!
They would fain crucify those who devise their
own virtue—they hate the lonesome ones.
Be on thy guard, also, against holy simplicity!
All is unholy to it that is not simple; fain, likewise,
would it play with the fire-of the fagot and stake.
And be on thy guard, also, against the assaults
of thy love! Too readily doth the recluse reach
his hand to any one who meeteth him.
To many a one mayest thou not give thy
hand, but only thy paw; and I wish thy paw also
to have claws.
But the worst enemy thou canst meet, wilt thou
thyself always be; thou waylayest thyself in
caverns and forests.
Thou lonesome one, thou goest the way to thy-
self! And past thyself and thy seven devils lead-
eth thy way!
A heretic wilt thou be to thyself, and a wizard
and a sooth-sayer, and a fool, and a doubter, and
a reprobate, and a villain.
Ready must thou be to burn thyself in thine own
flame ; how couldst thou become new if thou have
not first become ashes !
Thou lonesome one, thou goest the way of the
creating one: a God wilt thou create for thyself
out of thy seven devils !
Thou lonesome one, thou goest the way of the
loving one: thou lovest thyself, and on that account
## p. 74 (#152) #############################################
74
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, I.
despisest thou thyself, as only the loving ones
despise.
To create, desireth the loving one, because he
despiseth! What knoweth he of love who hath
not been obliged to despise just what he loved !
With thy love, go into thine isolation, my brother,
and with thy creating; and late only will justice
limp after thee.
With my tears, go into thine isolation, my brother.
I love him who seeketh to create beyond himself,
and thus succumbeth. -
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XVIII. —OLD AND YOUNG WOMEN.
“Why stealest thou along so furtively in the twi-
light, Zarathustra ? And what hidest thou so care-
fully under thy mantle ?
Is it a treasure that hath been given thee? Or a
child that hath been born thee? Or goest thou
thyself on a thief's errand, thou friend of the evil? "-
Verily, my brother, said Zarathustra, it is a
treasure that hath been given me: it is a little
truth which I carry.
But it is naughty, like a young child ; and if I
hold not its mouth, it screameth too loudly.
As I went on my way alone to-day, at the hour
when the sun declineth, there met me an old woman,
and she spake thus unto my soul :
"Much hath Zarathustra spoken also to us
women, but never spake he unto us concerning
woman. ”
## p. 75 (#153) #############################################
XVIII. —OLD AND YOUNG WOMEN. 75
And I answered her: "Concerning woman, one
should only talk unto men. "
"Talk also unto me of woman," said she; "I am
old enough to forget it presently. "
And I obliged the old woman and spake thus
unto her:
Everything in woman is a riddle, and everything
in woman hath one solution—it is called pregnancy.
Man is for woman, a means: the purpose is always
the child. But what is woman for man?
Two different things wanteth the true man:
danger and diversion. Therefore wanteth he
woman, as the most dangerous plaything.
Man shall be trained for war, and woman for the
recreation of the warrior: all else is folly.
Too sweet fruits—these the warrior liketh not.
Therefore liketh he woman;—bitter is even the
sweetest woman.
Better than man doth woman understand children,
but man is more childish than woman.
In the true man there is a child hidden: it
wanteth to play. Up then, ye women, and discover
the child in man!
A plaything let woman be, pure and fine like the
precious stone, illumined with the virtues of a
world not yet come.
Let the beam of a star shine in your love! Let
your hope say: "May I bear the Superman! "
In your love let there be valour! With your
love shall ye assail him who inspireth you with
fear!
In your love be your honour! Little doth
woman understand otherwise about honour. But
## p. 76 (#154) #############################################
76 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, I.
let this be your honour: always to love more than
ye are loved, and never be the second.
Let man fear woman when she loveth: then
maketh she every sacrifice, and everything else she
regardeth as worthless.
Let man fear woman when she hateth: for man in
his innermost soul is merely evil; woman, however,
is mean.
Whom hateth woman most? —Thus spake the
iron to the loadstone: "I hate thee most, because
thou attractest, but art too weak to draw unto
thee. "
The happiness of man is, " I will. " The happi-
ness of woman is, "He will. "
"Lo! now hath the world become perfect! "—
thus thinketh every woman when she obeyeth with
all her love.
Obey, must the woman, and find a depth for her
surface. Surface, is woman's soul, a mobile, stormy
film on shallow water.
Man's soul, however, is deep, its current gusheth
in subterranean caverns: woman surmiseth its
force, but comprehendeth it not. —
Then answered me the old woman: "Many fine
things hath Zarathustra said, especially for those
who are young enough for them.
Strange! Zarathustra knoweth little about
woman, and yet he is right about them! Doth this
happen, because with women nothing is impossible?
And now accept a little truth by way of thanks!
I am old enough for it!
Swaddle it up and hold its mouth: otherwise it
will scream too loudly, the little truth. "
## p. 77 (#155) #############################################
XVIII. -OLD AND YOUNG WOMEN.
77
"Give me, woman, thy little truth! ” said I. And
thus spake the old woman :
“Thou goest to women? Do not forget thy
whip! ”–
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XIX. —THE BITE OF THE ADDER.
One day had Zarathustra fallen asleep under a
fig-tree, owing to the heat, with his arms over his
face. And there came an adder and bit him in
the neck, so that Zarathustra screamed with pain.
When he had taken his arm from his face he
looked at the serpent; and then did it recognise
the eyes of Zarathustra, wriggled awkwardly, and
tried to get away. “Not at all,” said Zarathustra,
"as yet hast thou not received my thanks! Thou
hast awakened me in time; my journey is yet
long. ” “Thy journey is short,” said the adder,
sadly; “my poison is fatal. ” Zarathustra smiled.
"When did ever a dragon die of a serpent's poison? "
-said he. “But take thy poison back! Thou art
not rich enough to present it to me. " Then fell
the adder again on his neck, and licked his
wound.
When Zarathustra once told this to his disciples
they asked him: “And what, O Zarathustra, is the
moral of thy story? " And Zarathustra answered
them thus:
The destroyer of morality, the good and just cay
me: my story is immoral,
## p. 78 (#156) #############################################
78 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, I.
When, however, ye have an enemy, then return
him not good for evil: for that would abash him.
But prove that he hath done something good to you.
And rather be angry than abash any one! And
when ye are cursed, it pleaseth me not that ye
should then desire to bless.
