Towards the few, the long, the remote go forth
my soul and my seeking: of what account to me
are your many little, short miseries!
my soul and my seeking: of what account to me
are your many little, short miseries!
Nietzsche - v11 - Thus Spake Zarathustra
345
again to hope—unless they learn from thee, O Zara-
thustra, the great hope! "
Thus spake the king on the right, and seized
the hand of Zarathustra in order to kiss it; but
Zarathustra checked his veneration, and stepped
back frightened, fleeing as it were, silently and
suddenly into the far distance. After a little while,
however, he was again at home with his guests,
looked at them with clear scrutinising eyes, and
said:
"My guests, ye higher men, I will speak plain
language and plainly with you. It is not for you
that I have waited here in these mountains. "
('"Plain language and plainly? ' Good God ! " said
here the king on the left to himself; "one seeth he
doth not know the good Occidentals, this sage out
of the Orient!
But he meaneth ' blunt language and bluntly'—
well! That is not the worst taste in these days ! ")
"Ye may, verily, all of you be higher men," con-
tinued Zarathustra; "but for me—ye are neither
high enough, nor strong enough.
For me, that is to say, for the inexorable which
is now silent in me, but will not always be silent.
And if ye appertain to me, still it is not as my
right arm.
For he who himself standeth, like you, on sickly
and tender legs, wisheth above all to be treated
indulgently, whether he be conscious of it or hide it
from himself.
My arms and my legs, however, I do not treat
indulgently, / do not treat my warriors indulgently:
how then could ye be fit for my warfare?
## p. 346 (#532) ############################################
346 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
With you I should spoil all my victories. And
many of you would tumble over if ye but heard the
loud beating of my drums.
Moreover, ye are not sufficiently beautiful and
well-born for me. I require pure, smooth mirrors
for my doctrines; on your surface even mine own
likeness is distorted.
On your shoulders presseth many a burden,
many a recollection; many a mischievous dwarf
squatteth in your corners. There is concealed
populace also in you.
And though ye be high and of a higher type,
much in you is crooked and misshapen. There is
no smith in the world that could hammer you
right and straight for me.
Ye are only bridges: may higher ones pass over
upon you! Ye signify steps: so do not upbraid
him who ascendeth beyond you into his height!
Out of your seed there may one day arise for
me a genuine son and perfect heir: but that time
is distant. Ye yourselves are not those unto whom
my heritage and name belong.
Not for you do I wait here in these mountains;
not with you may I descend for the last time. Ye
have come unto me only as a presage that higher
ones are on the way to me,—
—Not the men of great longing, of great
loathing, of great satiety, and that which ye call
the remnant of God;
—Nay! Nay! Three times Nay! For others
do I wait here in these mountains, and will not
lift my foot from thence without them;
—For higher ones, stronger ones, triumphanter
## p. 347 (#533) ############################################
LXXI. —THE GREETING. 347
ones, merrier ones, for such as are built squarely
in body and soul: laughing lions must come!
O my guests, ye strange ones—have ye yet
heard nothing of my children? And that they
are on the way to me?
Do speak unto me of my gardens, of my Happy
Isles, of my new beautiful race,—why do ye not
speak unto me thereof?
This guests'-present do I solicit of your love,
that ye speak unto me of my children. For them
am I rich, for them I became poor: what have I
not surrendered,
—What would I not surrender that I might
have one thing: these children, this living planta-
tion, these life-trees of my will and of my highest
hope! "
Thus spake Zarathustra, and stopped suddenly
in his discourse: for his longing came over him,
and he closed his eyes and his mouth, because of
the agitation of his heart. And all his guests also
were silent, and stood still and confounded: except
only that the old soothsayer made signs with his
hands and his gestures.
LXXII. —THE SUPPER.
For at this point the soothsayer interrupted the
greeting of Zarathustra and his guests: he pressed
forward as one who had no time to lose, seized
Zarathustra's hand and exclaimed: "But Zara-
thustra!
## p. 348 (#534) ############################################
348 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
One thing is more necessary than the other, so
sayest thou thyself: well, one thing is now more
necessary unto me than all others.
A word at the right time: didst thou not invite
me to table? And here are many who have made
long journeys. Thou dost not mean to feed us
merely with discourses?
Besides, all of you have thought too much about
freezing, drowning, suffocating, and other bodily
dangers: none of you, however, have thought of my
danger, namely, perishing of hunger—"
(Thus spake the soothsayer. When Zarathustra's
animals, however, heard these words, they ran away
in terror. For they saw that all they had brought
home during the day would not be enough to fill
the one soothsayer. )
"Likewise perishing of thirst," continued the
soothsayer. "And although I hear water splash-
ing here like words of wisdom—that is to say,
plenteously and unweariedly, I—want wine!
Not every one is a born water-drinker like
Zarathustra. Neither doth water suit weary and
withered ones: we deserve wine—it alone giveth
immediate vigour and improvised health! "
On this occasion, when the soothsayer was
longing for wine, it happened that the king on the
left, the silent one, also found expression for once.
"We took care," said he, "about wine, I, along
with my brother the king on the right: we have
enough of wine,—a whole ass-load of it. So there
is nothing lacking but bread. "
"Bread," replied Zarathustra laughing when he
spake, "it is precisely bread that anchorites have
## p. 349 (#535) ############################################
LXXII. —THE SUPPER. 349
not. But man doth not live by bread alone, but
also by the flesh of good lambs, of which I have
two:
— These shall we slaughter quickly, and cook
spicily with sage: it is so that I like them. And
there is also no lack of roots and fruits, good
enough even for the fastidious and dainty,—nor of
nuts and other riddles for cracking.
Thus will we have a good repast in a little while.
But whoever wish to eat with us must also give a
hand to the work, even the kings. For with Zara-
thustra even a king may be a cook. "
This proposal appealed to the hearts of all of
them, save that the voluntary beggar objected to
the flesh and wine and spices.
"Just hear this glutton Zarathustra! " said he
jokingly: "doth one go into caves and high
mountains to make such repasts?
Now indeed do I understand what he once taught
us: 'Blessed be moderate poverty! ' And why he
wisheth to do away with beggars. "
"Be of good cheer," replied Zarathustra, " as I am.
Abide by thy customs, thou excellent one: grind
thy corn, drink thy water, praise thy cooking,—if
only it maketh thee glad!
I am a law only for mine own; I am not a law
for all. He, however, who belongeth unto me
must be strong of bone and light of foot,—
—Joyous in fight and feast, no sulker, no John o'
Dreams, ready for the hardest task as for the feast,
healthy and hale.
The best belongeth unto mine and me; and if
it be not given us, then do we take it:—the best
## p. 350 (#536) ############################################
350
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
food, the purest sky, the strongest thoughts, the
fairest women ! ”-
Thus spake Zarathustra; the king on the right
however answered and said: “Strange! Did one
ever hear such sensible things out of the mouth
of a wise man?
And verily, it is the strangest thing in a wise
man, if over and above, he be still sensible, and not
an ass. "
Thus spake the king on the right and wondered ;
the ass however, with ill-will, said YE-A to his
remark. This however was the beginning of that
long repast which is called “The Supper” in the
history-books. At this there was nothing else
spoken of but the higher man.
LXXIII. -THE HIGHER MAN.
1.
the market-ple folly, the great me, then
When I came unto men for the first time, then
did I commit the anchorite folly, the great folly : I
appeared on the market-place.
And when I spake unto all, I spake unto none.
In the evening, however, rope-dancers were my
companions, and corpses; and I myself almost a
corpse.
With the new morning, however, there came unto
me a new truth: then did I learn to say: "Of what
account to me are market-place and populace and
populace-noise and long populace-cars! ”
Ye higher men, learn this from me: On the
## p. 351 (#537) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 351
market-place no one believeth in higher men. But
if ye will speak there, very well! The populace,
however, blinketh: "We are all equal. "
"Ye higher men,"—so blinketh the populace—
"there are no higher men, we are all equal; man
is man, before God—we are all equal! "
Before God! —Now, however, this God hath
died. Before the populace, however, we will not
be equal. Ye higher men, away from the market-
place!
2.
Before God ! —Now however this God hath died!
Ye higher men, this God was your greatest danger.
Only since he lay in the grave have ye again
arisen. Now only cometh the great noontide, now
only doth the higher man become—master!
Have ye understood this word, O my brethren?
Ye are frightened: do your hearts turn giddy?
Doth the abyss here yawn for you? Doth the
hell-hound here yelp at you?
Well! Take heart! ye higher men! Now
only travaileth the mountain of the human future.
God hath died: now do we desire—the Superman
to live.
3.
The most careful ask to-day: "How is man to
be maintained? " Zarathustra however asketh, as the
first and only one: "How is man to be surpassed? "
The Superman, I have at heart; that is the first
and only thing to me—and not man: not the
neighbour, not the poorest, not the sorriest, not the
best—
## p. 352 (#538) ############################################
352 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
O my brethren, what I can love in man is that
he is an over-going and a down-going. And also in
you there is much that maketh me love and hope.
In that ye have despised, ye higher men, that
maketh me hope. For the great despisers are the
great reverers.
In that ye have despaired, there is much
to honour. For ye have not learned to submit
yourselves, ye have not learned petty policy.
For to-day have the petty people become master:
they all preach submission and humility and policy
and diligence and consideration and the long et
cetera of petty virtues.
Whatever is of the effeminate type, whatever
originateth from the servile type, and especially
the populace-mishmash:—that wisheth now to be
master of all human destiny—O disgust! Disgust!
Disgust!
That asketh and asketh and never tireth: "How
is man to maintain himself best, longest, most
pleasantly? " Thereby—are they the masters of
to-day.
These masters of to-day—surpass them, O my
brethren—these petty people: they are the Super-
man's greatest danger!
Surpass, ye higher men, the petty virtues, the
petty policy, the sand-grain considerateness, the
ant-hill trumpery, the pitiable comfortableness, the
"happiness of the greatest number "—!
And rather despair than submit yourselves.
And verily, 1 love you, because ye know not
to-day how to live, ye higher men! For thus do
ye live—best!
## p. 353 (#539) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 353
4-
Have ye courage, O my brethren? Are ye stout-
hearted? Not the courage before witnesses, but
anchorite and eagle courage, which not even a God
any longer beholdeth?
Cold souls, mules, the blind and the drunken, I
do not call stout-hearted. He hath heart who
knoweth fear, but vanquisheth it; who seeth the
abyss, but with pride.
He who seeth the abyss, but with eagle's eyes,—
he who with eagle's talons graspeth the abyss: he
hath courage.
5-
"Man is evil"—so said to me for consolation, all
the wisest ones. Ah, if only it be still true to-day!
For the evil is man's best force.
"Man must become better and eviler "—so do /
teach. The evilest is necessary for the Superman's
best.
It may have been well for the preacher of the
petty people to suffer and be burdened by men's
sin. I, however, rejoice in great sin as my great
consolation. —
Such things, however, are not said for long ears.
Every word, also, is not suited for every mouth.
These are fine, far-away things: at them sheep's
claws shall not grasp!
G.
Ye higher men, think ye that I am here to put
right what ye have put wrong?
Or that I wished henceforth to make snugger
Z
## p. 353 (#540) ############################################
352
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master of all hui
Disgust!
T/ial asketh an
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to-day.
These masters o
brethren—these pet
man's greatest dangi
Surpass, ye highe;
petty policy, the sari
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## p. 353 (#541) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 355
ccially when they will great things! For
>ivaken distrust in great things, these subtle
coiners and stage-players :—
ntil at last they are false towards themselves,
-eyed, whited cankers, glossed over with
words, parade virtues and brilliant false
, good care there, ye higher men! For
is more precious to me, and rarer, than
is to-day not that of the populace? The
2 however knoweth not what is great or
mall, what is straight or what is honest:
cently crooked, it ever lieth.
9.
good distrust to-day, ye higher men, ye
d ones! Ye open-hearted ones! And
reasons secret! For this to-day is that
lace.
e populace once learned to believe
ons, who could—refute it to them
easons?
e market-place one convinceth with
reasons make the populace dis-
uth hath once triumphed there, then
vith good distrust: "What strong
t for it? "
;uard also against the learned!
because they are unproductive!
ithered eyes before which every
## p. 354 (#542) ############################################
354 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
couches for you sufferers? Or show you restless,
miswandering, misclimbing ones, new and easier
footpaths?
Nay! Nay! Three times Nay! Always more,
always better ones of your type shall succumb,—
for ye shall always have it worse and harder. Thus
only—
—Thus only groweth man aloft to the height
where the lightning striketh and shattereth him:
high enough for the lightning!
Towards the few, the long, the remote go forth
my soul and my seeking: of what account to me
are your many little, short miseries!
Ye do not yet suffer enough for me! For ye
suffer from yourselves, ye have not yet suffered
from man. Ye would lie if ye spake otherwise!
None of you suffereth from what / have
suffered.
7-
It is not enough for me that the lightning no
longer doeth harm. I do not wish to conduct it
away: it shall learn—to work for me. —
My wisdom hath accumulated long like a cloud,
it becometh stiller and darker. So doeth all wisdom
which shall one day bear lightnings. —
Unto these men of to-day will I not be light, nor
be called light. Them—will I blind: lightning of
my wisdom! put out their eyes!
8.
Do not will anything beyond your power: there
is a bad falseness in those who will beyond their
power.
## p. 355 (#543) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 355
Especially when they will great things! For
they awaken distrust in great things, these subtle
false-coiners and stage-players :—
—Until at last they are false towards themselves,
squint-eyed, whited cankers, glossed over with
strong words, parade virtues and brilliant false
deeds.
Take good care there, ye higher men! For
nothing is more precious to me, and rarer, than
honesty.
Is this to-day not that of the populace? The
populace however knoweth not what is great or
what is small, what is straight or what is honest:
it is innocently crooked, it ever lieth.
9.
Have a good distrust to-day, ye higher men, ye
enheartened ones! Ye open-hearted ones! And
keep your reasons secret! For this to-day is that
of the populace.
What the populace once learned to believe
without reasons, who could—refute it to them
by means of reasons?
And on the market-place one convinceth with
gestures. But reasons make the populace dis-
trustful.
And when truth hath once triumphed there, then
ask yourselves with good distrust: "What strong
error hath fought for it? "
Be on your guard also against the learned!
They hate you, because they are unproductive!
They have cold, withered eyes before which every
bird is unplumed.
## p. 356 (#544) ############################################
356 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Such persons vaunt about not lying: but in-
ability to lie is still far from being love to truth-
Be on your guard!
Freedom from fever is still far from being know-
ledge! Refrigerated spirits I do not believe in.
He who cannot lie, doth not know what truth is.
10.
If ye would go up high, then use your own legs!
Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat
yourselves on other people's backs and heads!
Thou hast mounted, however, on horseback?
Thou now ridest briskly up to thy goal? Well,
my friend! But thy lame foot is also with thee on
horseback 1
When thou reachest thy goal, when thou
alightest from thy horse: precisely on thy height,
thou higher man,—then wilt thou stumble!
11.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! One is only
pregnant with one's own child.
Do not let yourselves be imposed upon or put
upon! Who then is your neighbour? Even if
ye act " for your neighbour "—ye still do not create
for him!
Unlearn, I pray you, this " for," ye creating ones:
your very virtue wisheth you to have naught to do
with "for" and "on account of" and "because. "
Against these false little words shall ye stop your
ears.
"For one's neighbour," is the virtue only of the
## p. 357 (#545) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 357
petty people: there it is said "like and like," and
"hand washeth hand" :—they have neither the
right nor the power for your self-seeking!
In your self-seeking, ye creating ones, there is the
foresight and foreseeing of the pregnant! What
no one's eyes hath yet seen, namely, the fruit—this,
sheltereth and saveth and nourisheth your entire
love.
Where your entire love is, namely, with your
child, there is also your entire virtue! Your work,
your will is your " neighbour": let no false values
impose upon you!
12.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! Whoever
hath to give birth is sick; whoever hath given
birth, however, is unclean.
Ask women: one giveth birth, not because it
giveth pleasure. The pain maketh hens and poets
cackle.
Ye creating ones, in you there is much unclean-
ness. That is because ye have had to be mothers.
A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also
come into the world! Go apart! He who hath
given birth shall wash his soul!
13-
Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek
nothing from yourselves opposed to probability!
Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers'
virtue hath already walked! How would ye rise
high, if your fathers' will should not rise with you?
He, however, who would be a firstling, let him
## p. 357 (#546) ############################################
356 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Such persons vaunt about not lying: but in-
ability to lie is still far from being love to truth.
Be on your guard!
Freedom from fever is still far from being know-
ledge! Refrigerated spirits I do not believe in.
He who cannot lie, doth not know what truth is.
10.
If ye would go up high, then use your own legs!
Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat
yourselves on other people's backs and heads!
Thou hast mounted, however, on horseback?
Thou now ridest briskly up to thy goal? Well,
my friend! But thy lame foot is also with thee on
horseback!
When thou reachest thy goal, when thou
alightest from thy horse: precisely on thy height,
thou higher man,—then wilt thou stumble!
11.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! One is only
pregnant with one's own child.
Do not let yourselves be imposed upon or put
upon! Who then is your neighbour? Even if
ye act " for your neighbour "—ye still do not create
for him!
Unlearn, I pray you, this " for," ye creating ones:
your very virtue wisheth you to have naught to do
with "for" and "on account of" and "because. "
Against these false little words shall ye stop your
ears.
"For one's neighbour," is the virtue only of the
## p. 357 (#547) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 357
petty people: there it is said "like and like," and
"hand washeth hand" :—they have neither the
right nor the power for your self-seeking!
In your self-seeking, ye creating ones, there is the
foresight and foreseeing of the pregnant! What
no one's eyes hath yet seen, namely, the fruit—this,
sheltereth and saveth and nourisheth your entire
love.
Where your entire love is, namely, with your
child, there is also your entire virtue! Your work,
your will is your "neighbour": let no false values
impose upon you!
12.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! Whoever
hath to give birth is sick; whoever hath given
birth, however, is unclean.
Ask women: one giveth birth, not because it
giveth pleasure. The pain maketh hens and poets
cackle.
Ye creating ones, in you there is much unclean-
ness. That is because ye have had to be mothers.
A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also
come into the world! Go apart! He who hath
given birth shall wash his soul!
13-
Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek
nothing from yourselves opposed to probability!
Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers'
virtue hath already walked! How would ye rise
high, if your fathers' will should not rise with you?
He, however, who would be a firstling, let him
## p. 358 (#548) ############################################
358 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
take care lest he also become a lastling! And
where the vices of your fathers are, there should ye
not set up as saints!
He whose fathers were inclined for women, and
for strong wine and flesh of wildboar swine; what
would it be if he demanded chastity of himself?
A folly would it be! Much, verily, doth it seem
to me for such a one, if he should be the husband
of one or of two or of three women.
And if he founded monasteries, and inscribed
over their portals: "The way to holiness,"—I
should still say: What good is it! it is a new
folly!
He hath founded for himself a penance-house
and refuge-house: much good may it do! But I
do not believe in it.
In solitude there groweth what any one bringeth
into it—also the brute in one's nature. Thus is
solitude inadvisable unto many.
Hath there ever been anything filthier on earth
than the saints of the wilderness? Around them.
was not only the devil loose—but also the swine.
14.
Shy, ashamed, awkward, like the tiger whose
spring hath failed—thus, ye higher men, have I
often seen you slink aside. A cast which ye made
had failed.
But what doth it matter, ye dice-players! Ye
had not learned to play and mock, as one must
play and mock! Do we not ever sit at a great
table of mocking and playing?
And if great things have been a failure with you.
## p. 359 (#549) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 359
have ye yourselves therefore—been a failure?
And if ye yourselves have been a failure, hath man
therefore—been a failure? If man, however, hath
been a failure: well then! never mind!
IS-
The higher its type, always the seldomer doth a
thing succeed. Ye higher men here, have ye not
all—been failures?
Be of good cheer; what doth it matter? How
much is still possible! Learn to laugh at your-
selves, as ye ought to laugh!
What wonder even that ye have failed and only
half-succeeded, ye half-shattered ones! Doth not
—man's future strive and struggle in you?
Man's furthest, profoundest, star-highest issues,
his prodigious powers—do not all these foam
through one another in your vessel?
What wonder that many a vessel shattereth!
Learn to laugh at yourselves, as ye ought to laugh!
Ye higher men, Oh, how much is still possible!
And verily, how much hath already succeeded!
How rich is this earth in small, good, perfect things,
in well-constituted things!
Set around you small, good, perfect things, ye
higher men. Their golden maturity healeth the
heart. The perfect teacheth one to hope.
16.
What hath hitherto been the greatest sin here on
earth? Was it not the word of him who said:
"Woe unto them that laugh now! "
\
## p. 360 (#550) ############################################
360 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Did he himself find no cause for laughter on the
earth? Then he sought badly. A child even
findeth cause for it.
He—did not love sufficiently: otherwise would
he also have loved us, the laughing ones! But he
hated and hooted us; wailing and teeth-gnashing
did he promise us.
Must one then curse immediately, when one doth
not love? That—seemeth to me bad taste. Thus
did he, however, this absolute one. He sprang
from the populace.
And he himself just did not love sufficiently;
otherwise would he have raged less because people
did not love him. All great love doth not seek
love :—it seeketh more.
Go out of the way of all such absolute ones!
They are a poor sickly type, a populace-type: they
look at this life with ill-will, they have an evil eye
for this earth.
Go out of the way of all such absolute ones!
They have heavy feet and sultry hearts :—they do
not know how to dance. How could the earth be
light to such ones!
17.
Tortuously do all good things come nigh to
their goal. Like cats they curve their backs, they
purr inwardly with their approaching happiness,—
all good things laugh.
His step betrayeth whether a person already
walketh on his own path: just see me walk! He,
however, who cometh nigh to his goal, danceth.
And verily, a statue have I not become, not yet
## p. 361 (#551) ############################################
LXXHI—THE HIGHER MAN. 361
do I stand there stiff, stupid and stony, like a
pillar; I love fast racing.
And though there be on earth fens and dense
afflictions, he who hath light feet runneth even
across the mud, and danceth, as upon well-
swept ice.
Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher!
And do not forget your legs!
again to hope—unless they learn from thee, O Zara-
thustra, the great hope! "
Thus spake the king on the right, and seized
the hand of Zarathustra in order to kiss it; but
Zarathustra checked his veneration, and stepped
back frightened, fleeing as it were, silently and
suddenly into the far distance. After a little while,
however, he was again at home with his guests,
looked at them with clear scrutinising eyes, and
said:
"My guests, ye higher men, I will speak plain
language and plainly with you. It is not for you
that I have waited here in these mountains. "
('"Plain language and plainly? ' Good God ! " said
here the king on the left to himself; "one seeth he
doth not know the good Occidentals, this sage out
of the Orient!
But he meaneth ' blunt language and bluntly'—
well! That is not the worst taste in these days ! ")
"Ye may, verily, all of you be higher men," con-
tinued Zarathustra; "but for me—ye are neither
high enough, nor strong enough.
For me, that is to say, for the inexorable which
is now silent in me, but will not always be silent.
And if ye appertain to me, still it is not as my
right arm.
For he who himself standeth, like you, on sickly
and tender legs, wisheth above all to be treated
indulgently, whether he be conscious of it or hide it
from himself.
My arms and my legs, however, I do not treat
indulgently, / do not treat my warriors indulgently:
how then could ye be fit for my warfare?
## p. 346 (#532) ############################################
346 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
With you I should spoil all my victories. And
many of you would tumble over if ye but heard the
loud beating of my drums.
Moreover, ye are not sufficiently beautiful and
well-born for me. I require pure, smooth mirrors
for my doctrines; on your surface even mine own
likeness is distorted.
On your shoulders presseth many a burden,
many a recollection; many a mischievous dwarf
squatteth in your corners. There is concealed
populace also in you.
And though ye be high and of a higher type,
much in you is crooked and misshapen. There is
no smith in the world that could hammer you
right and straight for me.
Ye are only bridges: may higher ones pass over
upon you! Ye signify steps: so do not upbraid
him who ascendeth beyond you into his height!
Out of your seed there may one day arise for
me a genuine son and perfect heir: but that time
is distant. Ye yourselves are not those unto whom
my heritage and name belong.
Not for you do I wait here in these mountains;
not with you may I descend for the last time. Ye
have come unto me only as a presage that higher
ones are on the way to me,—
—Not the men of great longing, of great
loathing, of great satiety, and that which ye call
the remnant of God;
—Nay! Nay! Three times Nay! For others
do I wait here in these mountains, and will not
lift my foot from thence without them;
—For higher ones, stronger ones, triumphanter
## p. 347 (#533) ############################################
LXXI. —THE GREETING. 347
ones, merrier ones, for such as are built squarely
in body and soul: laughing lions must come!
O my guests, ye strange ones—have ye yet
heard nothing of my children? And that they
are on the way to me?
Do speak unto me of my gardens, of my Happy
Isles, of my new beautiful race,—why do ye not
speak unto me thereof?
This guests'-present do I solicit of your love,
that ye speak unto me of my children. For them
am I rich, for them I became poor: what have I
not surrendered,
—What would I not surrender that I might
have one thing: these children, this living planta-
tion, these life-trees of my will and of my highest
hope! "
Thus spake Zarathustra, and stopped suddenly
in his discourse: for his longing came over him,
and he closed his eyes and his mouth, because of
the agitation of his heart. And all his guests also
were silent, and stood still and confounded: except
only that the old soothsayer made signs with his
hands and his gestures.
LXXII. —THE SUPPER.
For at this point the soothsayer interrupted the
greeting of Zarathustra and his guests: he pressed
forward as one who had no time to lose, seized
Zarathustra's hand and exclaimed: "But Zara-
thustra!
## p. 348 (#534) ############################################
348 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
One thing is more necessary than the other, so
sayest thou thyself: well, one thing is now more
necessary unto me than all others.
A word at the right time: didst thou not invite
me to table? And here are many who have made
long journeys. Thou dost not mean to feed us
merely with discourses?
Besides, all of you have thought too much about
freezing, drowning, suffocating, and other bodily
dangers: none of you, however, have thought of my
danger, namely, perishing of hunger—"
(Thus spake the soothsayer. When Zarathustra's
animals, however, heard these words, they ran away
in terror. For they saw that all they had brought
home during the day would not be enough to fill
the one soothsayer. )
"Likewise perishing of thirst," continued the
soothsayer. "And although I hear water splash-
ing here like words of wisdom—that is to say,
plenteously and unweariedly, I—want wine!
Not every one is a born water-drinker like
Zarathustra. Neither doth water suit weary and
withered ones: we deserve wine—it alone giveth
immediate vigour and improvised health! "
On this occasion, when the soothsayer was
longing for wine, it happened that the king on the
left, the silent one, also found expression for once.
"We took care," said he, "about wine, I, along
with my brother the king on the right: we have
enough of wine,—a whole ass-load of it. So there
is nothing lacking but bread. "
"Bread," replied Zarathustra laughing when he
spake, "it is precisely bread that anchorites have
## p. 349 (#535) ############################################
LXXII. —THE SUPPER. 349
not. But man doth not live by bread alone, but
also by the flesh of good lambs, of which I have
two:
— These shall we slaughter quickly, and cook
spicily with sage: it is so that I like them. And
there is also no lack of roots and fruits, good
enough even for the fastidious and dainty,—nor of
nuts and other riddles for cracking.
Thus will we have a good repast in a little while.
But whoever wish to eat with us must also give a
hand to the work, even the kings. For with Zara-
thustra even a king may be a cook. "
This proposal appealed to the hearts of all of
them, save that the voluntary beggar objected to
the flesh and wine and spices.
"Just hear this glutton Zarathustra! " said he
jokingly: "doth one go into caves and high
mountains to make such repasts?
Now indeed do I understand what he once taught
us: 'Blessed be moderate poverty! ' And why he
wisheth to do away with beggars. "
"Be of good cheer," replied Zarathustra, " as I am.
Abide by thy customs, thou excellent one: grind
thy corn, drink thy water, praise thy cooking,—if
only it maketh thee glad!
I am a law only for mine own; I am not a law
for all. He, however, who belongeth unto me
must be strong of bone and light of foot,—
—Joyous in fight and feast, no sulker, no John o'
Dreams, ready for the hardest task as for the feast,
healthy and hale.
The best belongeth unto mine and me; and if
it be not given us, then do we take it:—the best
## p. 350 (#536) ############################################
350
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
food, the purest sky, the strongest thoughts, the
fairest women ! ”-
Thus spake Zarathustra; the king on the right
however answered and said: “Strange! Did one
ever hear such sensible things out of the mouth
of a wise man?
And verily, it is the strangest thing in a wise
man, if over and above, he be still sensible, and not
an ass. "
Thus spake the king on the right and wondered ;
the ass however, with ill-will, said YE-A to his
remark. This however was the beginning of that
long repast which is called “The Supper” in the
history-books. At this there was nothing else
spoken of but the higher man.
LXXIII. -THE HIGHER MAN.
1.
the market-ple folly, the great me, then
When I came unto men for the first time, then
did I commit the anchorite folly, the great folly : I
appeared on the market-place.
And when I spake unto all, I spake unto none.
In the evening, however, rope-dancers were my
companions, and corpses; and I myself almost a
corpse.
With the new morning, however, there came unto
me a new truth: then did I learn to say: "Of what
account to me are market-place and populace and
populace-noise and long populace-cars! ”
Ye higher men, learn this from me: On the
## p. 351 (#537) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 351
market-place no one believeth in higher men. But
if ye will speak there, very well! The populace,
however, blinketh: "We are all equal. "
"Ye higher men,"—so blinketh the populace—
"there are no higher men, we are all equal; man
is man, before God—we are all equal! "
Before God! —Now, however, this God hath
died. Before the populace, however, we will not
be equal. Ye higher men, away from the market-
place!
2.
Before God ! —Now however this God hath died!
Ye higher men, this God was your greatest danger.
Only since he lay in the grave have ye again
arisen. Now only cometh the great noontide, now
only doth the higher man become—master!
Have ye understood this word, O my brethren?
Ye are frightened: do your hearts turn giddy?
Doth the abyss here yawn for you? Doth the
hell-hound here yelp at you?
Well! Take heart! ye higher men! Now
only travaileth the mountain of the human future.
God hath died: now do we desire—the Superman
to live.
3.
The most careful ask to-day: "How is man to
be maintained? " Zarathustra however asketh, as the
first and only one: "How is man to be surpassed? "
The Superman, I have at heart; that is the first
and only thing to me—and not man: not the
neighbour, not the poorest, not the sorriest, not the
best—
## p. 352 (#538) ############################################
352 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
O my brethren, what I can love in man is that
he is an over-going and a down-going. And also in
you there is much that maketh me love and hope.
In that ye have despised, ye higher men, that
maketh me hope. For the great despisers are the
great reverers.
In that ye have despaired, there is much
to honour. For ye have not learned to submit
yourselves, ye have not learned petty policy.
For to-day have the petty people become master:
they all preach submission and humility and policy
and diligence and consideration and the long et
cetera of petty virtues.
Whatever is of the effeminate type, whatever
originateth from the servile type, and especially
the populace-mishmash:—that wisheth now to be
master of all human destiny—O disgust! Disgust!
Disgust!
That asketh and asketh and never tireth: "How
is man to maintain himself best, longest, most
pleasantly? " Thereby—are they the masters of
to-day.
These masters of to-day—surpass them, O my
brethren—these petty people: they are the Super-
man's greatest danger!
Surpass, ye higher men, the petty virtues, the
petty policy, the sand-grain considerateness, the
ant-hill trumpery, the pitiable comfortableness, the
"happiness of the greatest number "—!
And rather despair than submit yourselves.
And verily, 1 love you, because ye know not
to-day how to live, ye higher men! For thus do
ye live—best!
## p. 353 (#539) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 353
4-
Have ye courage, O my brethren? Are ye stout-
hearted? Not the courage before witnesses, but
anchorite and eagle courage, which not even a God
any longer beholdeth?
Cold souls, mules, the blind and the drunken, I
do not call stout-hearted. He hath heart who
knoweth fear, but vanquisheth it; who seeth the
abyss, but with pride.
He who seeth the abyss, but with eagle's eyes,—
he who with eagle's talons graspeth the abyss: he
hath courage.
5-
"Man is evil"—so said to me for consolation, all
the wisest ones. Ah, if only it be still true to-day!
For the evil is man's best force.
"Man must become better and eviler "—so do /
teach. The evilest is necessary for the Superman's
best.
It may have been well for the preacher of the
petty people to suffer and be burdened by men's
sin. I, however, rejoice in great sin as my great
consolation. —
Such things, however, are not said for long ears.
Every word, also, is not suited for every mouth.
These are fine, far-away things: at them sheep's
claws shall not grasp!
G.
Ye higher men, think ye that I am here to put
right what ye have put wrong?
Or that I wished henceforth to make snugger
Z
## p. 353 (#540) ############################################
352
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T/ial asketh an
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to-day.
These masters o
brethren—these pet
man's greatest dangi
Surpass, ye highe;
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## p. 353 (#541) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 355
ccially when they will great things! For
>ivaken distrust in great things, these subtle
coiners and stage-players :—
ntil at last they are false towards themselves,
-eyed, whited cankers, glossed over with
words, parade virtues and brilliant false
, good care there, ye higher men! For
is more precious to me, and rarer, than
is to-day not that of the populace? The
2 however knoweth not what is great or
mall, what is straight or what is honest:
cently crooked, it ever lieth.
9.
good distrust to-day, ye higher men, ye
d ones! Ye open-hearted ones! And
reasons secret! For this to-day is that
lace.
e populace once learned to believe
ons, who could—refute it to them
easons?
e market-place one convinceth with
reasons make the populace dis-
uth hath once triumphed there, then
vith good distrust: "What strong
t for it? "
;uard also against the learned!
because they are unproductive!
ithered eyes before which every
## p. 354 (#542) ############################################
354 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
couches for you sufferers? Or show you restless,
miswandering, misclimbing ones, new and easier
footpaths?
Nay! Nay! Three times Nay! Always more,
always better ones of your type shall succumb,—
for ye shall always have it worse and harder. Thus
only—
—Thus only groweth man aloft to the height
where the lightning striketh and shattereth him:
high enough for the lightning!
Towards the few, the long, the remote go forth
my soul and my seeking: of what account to me
are your many little, short miseries!
Ye do not yet suffer enough for me! For ye
suffer from yourselves, ye have not yet suffered
from man. Ye would lie if ye spake otherwise!
None of you suffereth from what / have
suffered.
7-
It is not enough for me that the lightning no
longer doeth harm. I do not wish to conduct it
away: it shall learn—to work for me. —
My wisdom hath accumulated long like a cloud,
it becometh stiller and darker. So doeth all wisdom
which shall one day bear lightnings. —
Unto these men of to-day will I not be light, nor
be called light. Them—will I blind: lightning of
my wisdom! put out their eyes!
8.
Do not will anything beyond your power: there
is a bad falseness in those who will beyond their
power.
## p. 355 (#543) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 355
Especially when they will great things! For
they awaken distrust in great things, these subtle
false-coiners and stage-players :—
—Until at last they are false towards themselves,
squint-eyed, whited cankers, glossed over with
strong words, parade virtues and brilliant false
deeds.
Take good care there, ye higher men! For
nothing is more precious to me, and rarer, than
honesty.
Is this to-day not that of the populace? The
populace however knoweth not what is great or
what is small, what is straight or what is honest:
it is innocently crooked, it ever lieth.
9.
Have a good distrust to-day, ye higher men, ye
enheartened ones! Ye open-hearted ones! And
keep your reasons secret! For this to-day is that
of the populace.
What the populace once learned to believe
without reasons, who could—refute it to them
by means of reasons?
And on the market-place one convinceth with
gestures. But reasons make the populace dis-
trustful.
And when truth hath once triumphed there, then
ask yourselves with good distrust: "What strong
error hath fought for it? "
Be on your guard also against the learned!
They hate you, because they are unproductive!
They have cold, withered eyes before which every
bird is unplumed.
## p. 356 (#544) ############################################
356 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Such persons vaunt about not lying: but in-
ability to lie is still far from being love to truth-
Be on your guard!
Freedom from fever is still far from being know-
ledge! Refrigerated spirits I do not believe in.
He who cannot lie, doth not know what truth is.
10.
If ye would go up high, then use your own legs!
Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat
yourselves on other people's backs and heads!
Thou hast mounted, however, on horseback?
Thou now ridest briskly up to thy goal? Well,
my friend! But thy lame foot is also with thee on
horseback 1
When thou reachest thy goal, when thou
alightest from thy horse: precisely on thy height,
thou higher man,—then wilt thou stumble!
11.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! One is only
pregnant with one's own child.
Do not let yourselves be imposed upon or put
upon! Who then is your neighbour? Even if
ye act " for your neighbour "—ye still do not create
for him!
Unlearn, I pray you, this " for," ye creating ones:
your very virtue wisheth you to have naught to do
with "for" and "on account of" and "because. "
Against these false little words shall ye stop your
ears.
"For one's neighbour," is the virtue only of the
## p. 357 (#545) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 357
petty people: there it is said "like and like," and
"hand washeth hand" :—they have neither the
right nor the power for your self-seeking!
In your self-seeking, ye creating ones, there is the
foresight and foreseeing of the pregnant! What
no one's eyes hath yet seen, namely, the fruit—this,
sheltereth and saveth and nourisheth your entire
love.
Where your entire love is, namely, with your
child, there is also your entire virtue! Your work,
your will is your " neighbour": let no false values
impose upon you!
12.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! Whoever
hath to give birth is sick; whoever hath given
birth, however, is unclean.
Ask women: one giveth birth, not because it
giveth pleasure. The pain maketh hens and poets
cackle.
Ye creating ones, in you there is much unclean-
ness. That is because ye have had to be mothers.
A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also
come into the world! Go apart! He who hath
given birth shall wash his soul!
13-
Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek
nothing from yourselves opposed to probability!
Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers'
virtue hath already walked! How would ye rise
high, if your fathers' will should not rise with you?
He, however, who would be a firstling, let him
## p. 357 (#546) ############################################
356 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Such persons vaunt about not lying: but in-
ability to lie is still far from being love to truth.
Be on your guard!
Freedom from fever is still far from being know-
ledge! Refrigerated spirits I do not believe in.
He who cannot lie, doth not know what truth is.
10.
If ye would go up high, then use your own legs!
Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat
yourselves on other people's backs and heads!
Thou hast mounted, however, on horseback?
Thou now ridest briskly up to thy goal? Well,
my friend! But thy lame foot is also with thee on
horseback!
When thou reachest thy goal, when thou
alightest from thy horse: precisely on thy height,
thou higher man,—then wilt thou stumble!
11.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! One is only
pregnant with one's own child.
Do not let yourselves be imposed upon or put
upon! Who then is your neighbour? Even if
ye act " for your neighbour "—ye still do not create
for him!
Unlearn, I pray you, this " for," ye creating ones:
your very virtue wisheth you to have naught to do
with "for" and "on account of" and "because. "
Against these false little words shall ye stop your
ears.
"For one's neighbour," is the virtue only of the
## p. 357 (#547) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 357
petty people: there it is said "like and like," and
"hand washeth hand" :—they have neither the
right nor the power for your self-seeking!
In your self-seeking, ye creating ones, there is the
foresight and foreseeing of the pregnant! What
no one's eyes hath yet seen, namely, the fruit—this,
sheltereth and saveth and nourisheth your entire
love.
Where your entire love is, namely, with your
child, there is also your entire virtue! Your work,
your will is your "neighbour": let no false values
impose upon you!
12.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! Whoever
hath to give birth is sick; whoever hath given
birth, however, is unclean.
Ask women: one giveth birth, not because it
giveth pleasure. The pain maketh hens and poets
cackle.
Ye creating ones, in you there is much unclean-
ness. That is because ye have had to be mothers.
A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also
come into the world! Go apart! He who hath
given birth shall wash his soul!
13-
Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek
nothing from yourselves opposed to probability!
Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers'
virtue hath already walked! How would ye rise
high, if your fathers' will should not rise with you?
He, however, who would be a firstling, let him
## p. 358 (#548) ############################################
358 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
take care lest he also become a lastling! And
where the vices of your fathers are, there should ye
not set up as saints!
He whose fathers were inclined for women, and
for strong wine and flesh of wildboar swine; what
would it be if he demanded chastity of himself?
A folly would it be! Much, verily, doth it seem
to me for such a one, if he should be the husband
of one or of two or of three women.
And if he founded monasteries, and inscribed
over their portals: "The way to holiness,"—I
should still say: What good is it! it is a new
folly!
He hath founded for himself a penance-house
and refuge-house: much good may it do! But I
do not believe in it.
In solitude there groweth what any one bringeth
into it—also the brute in one's nature. Thus is
solitude inadvisable unto many.
Hath there ever been anything filthier on earth
than the saints of the wilderness? Around them.
was not only the devil loose—but also the swine.
14.
Shy, ashamed, awkward, like the tiger whose
spring hath failed—thus, ye higher men, have I
often seen you slink aside. A cast which ye made
had failed.
But what doth it matter, ye dice-players! Ye
had not learned to play and mock, as one must
play and mock! Do we not ever sit at a great
table of mocking and playing?
And if great things have been a failure with you.
## p. 359 (#549) ############################################
LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 359
have ye yourselves therefore—been a failure?
And if ye yourselves have been a failure, hath man
therefore—been a failure? If man, however, hath
been a failure: well then! never mind!
IS-
The higher its type, always the seldomer doth a
thing succeed. Ye higher men here, have ye not
all—been failures?
Be of good cheer; what doth it matter? How
much is still possible! Learn to laugh at your-
selves, as ye ought to laugh!
What wonder even that ye have failed and only
half-succeeded, ye half-shattered ones! Doth not
—man's future strive and struggle in you?
Man's furthest, profoundest, star-highest issues,
his prodigious powers—do not all these foam
through one another in your vessel?
What wonder that many a vessel shattereth!
Learn to laugh at yourselves, as ye ought to laugh!
Ye higher men, Oh, how much is still possible!
And verily, how much hath already succeeded!
How rich is this earth in small, good, perfect things,
in well-constituted things!
Set around you small, good, perfect things, ye
higher men. Their golden maturity healeth the
heart. The perfect teacheth one to hope.
16.
What hath hitherto been the greatest sin here on
earth? Was it not the word of him who said:
"Woe unto them that laugh now! "
\
## p. 360 (#550) ############################################
360 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Did he himself find no cause for laughter on the
earth? Then he sought badly. A child even
findeth cause for it.
He—did not love sufficiently: otherwise would
he also have loved us, the laughing ones! But he
hated and hooted us; wailing and teeth-gnashing
did he promise us.
Must one then curse immediately, when one doth
not love? That—seemeth to me bad taste. Thus
did he, however, this absolute one. He sprang
from the populace.
And he himself just did not love sufficiently;
otherwise would he have raged less because people
did not love him. All great love doth not seek
love :—it seeketh more.
Go out of the way of all such absolute ones!
They are a poor sickly type, a populace-type: they
look at this life with ill-will, they have an evil eye
for this earth.
Go out of the way of all such absolute ones!
They have heavy feet and sultry hearts :—they do
not know how to dance. How could the earth be
light to such ones!
17.
Tortuously do all good things come nigh to
their goal. Like cats they curve their backs, they
purr inwardly with their approaching happiness,—
all good things laugh.
His step betrayeth whether a person already
walketh on his own path: just see me walk! He,
however, who cometh nigh to his goal, danceth.
And verily, a statue have I not become, not yet
## p. 361 (#551) ############################################
LXXHI—THE HIGHER MAN. 361
do I stand there stiff, stupid and stony, like a
pillar; I love fast racing.
And though there be on earth fens and dense
afflictions, he who hath light feet runneth even
across the mud, and danceth, as upon well-
swept ice.
Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher!
And do not forget your legs!
