—Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life?
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life?
Nietzsche - v06 - Human All-Too-Human - a
It is
\ unfortunately otherwise; for there is no eternal
1 justice.
54-
/ Falsehood. —Why do people mostly speak
if- the truth in daily life ? —Assuredly not because a
god has forbidden falsehood. But, firstly, because
\^ it is more convenient, as falsehood requires inven-
tion, deceit, and memory. (As Swift says, he
who tells a lie is not sensible how great a task
he undertakes; for in order to uphold one
lie he must invent twenty others. ) Therefore,
because it is advantageous in upright circum-
stances to say straight out, "I want this, I have
done that," and so on; because, in other words,
the path of compulsion and authority is surer than
that of cunning. But if a child has been brought
up in complicated domestic circumstances, he em-
ploys falsehood, naturally and unconsciously says
whatever best suits his interests; a sense of truth
and a hatred of falsehood are quite foreign and
unknown to him, and so he lies in all innocence.
%
## p. 73 (#117) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 73
55-
Throwing Suspicion on Morality for
Faith's Sake. —No power can be maintained
when it is only represented by hypocrites; no
matter how many " worldly " elements the Catholic
Church possesses, its strength lies in those still
numerous priestly natures who render life hard
and full of meaning for themselves, and whose
glance and worn bodies speak of nocturnal vigils,
hunger, burning prayers, and perhaps even of
scourging; these move men and inspire them
with fear. What if it were necessary to live thus?
This is the terrible question which their aspect
brings to the lips. Whilst they spread this doubt
they always uprear another pillar of their power;
even the free-thinker does not dare to withstand
such unselfishness with hard words of truth, and to
say, " Thyself deceived, deceive not others! " Only
the difference of views divides them from him,
certainly no difference of goodness or badness;
but men generally treat unjustly that which they
do not like. Thus we speak of the cunning and
the infamous art of the Jesuits, but overlook the
self-control which every individual Jesuit practises,
and the fact that the lightened manner of life
preached by Jesuit books is by no means for their
benefit, but for that of the laity. We may even
ask whether, with precisely similar tactics and
organisation, we enlightened ones would make
equally good tools, equally admirable through
self-conquest, indefatigableness, and renunciation.
## p. 74 (#118) #############################################
74
HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
AA Victory of
yM Evil. —It is of;
W
^
. vj
56.
of Knowledge over Radical
great advantage to him who de-
sires to be wise to have witnessed for a time the
spectacle of a thoroughly evil and degenerate man;
it is false, like the contrary spectacle, but for whole
long periods it held the mastery, and its roots have
even extended and ramified themselves to us and
our world. In order to understand ourselves we
must understand it; but then, in order to mount
higher we must rise above it. We recognise, then,
that there exist no sins in the metaphysical sense;
but, in the same sense, also no virtues; we recog-
nise that the entire domain of ethical ideas is
perpetually tottering, that there are higher and
deeper conceptions of good and evil, of moral and
immoral. He who does not desire much more
from things than a knowledge of them easily
makes peace with his soul, and will make a mis-
take (or commit a sin, as the world calls it) at
the most from ignorance, but hardly from covetous-
ness. He will no longer wish to excommunicate
and exterminate desires; but his only, his wholly
dominating ambition, to know as well as possible
at all times, will make him cool and will soften
all the savageness in his disposition. Moreover,
he has been freed from a number of tormenting
conceptions, he has no more feeling at the mention
of the words " punishments of hell," "sinfulness,"
"incapacity for good," he recognises in them only
the vanishing shadow-pictures of false views of
the world and of life.
## p. 75 (#119) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 7J
57-
Morality as the Self-Disintegration of
Man. —A good author, who really has his heart in
his work, wishes that some one could come and
annihilate him by representing the same thing in
a clearer way and answering without more ado
the problems therein proposed. The loving girl
wishes she could prove the self-sacrificing faithful-
ness of her love by the unfaithfulness of her
beloved. The soldier hopes to die on the field of
battle for his victorious fatherland; for his loftiest
desires triumph in the victory of his country.
The mother gives to the child that of which she
deprives herself—sleep, the best food, sometimes
her health and fortune. But are all these un-
egoistic conditions? Are these deeds of morality
miracles, because, to use Schopenhauer's expres-
sion, they are "impossible and yet performed "?
Is it not clear that in all four cases the individual
loves something of himself, a thought, a desire, a
production, better than anything else of himself;
that he therefore divides his nature and to one
part sacrifices all the rest? Is it something
entirely different when an obstinate man says, "I
would rather be shot than move a step out of my
way for this man "? The desire for something
(wish, inclination, longing) is present in all the
instances mentioned; to give way to it, with all
its consequences, is certainly not "un-egoistic. "
—In ethics man does not consider himself as
individuum but as dividuiim.
r
## p. 76 (#120) #############################################
/6 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
58.
What One may Promise. —One may promise
(actions, but no sentiments, for these are involun-
tary. Whoever promises to love or hate a person,
or be faithful to him for ever, promises something
which is not within his power; he can certainly
promise such actions as are usually the results of
love, hate, or fidelity, but which may also spring
from other motives; for many ways and motives
lead to one and the same action. The promise
to love some one for ever is, therefore, really: So
long as I love you I will act towards you in a
loving way; if I cease to love you, you will still
receive the same treatment from me, although
inspired by other motives, so that our fellow-men
will still be deluded into the belief that our love
is unchanged and ever the same. One promises,
therefore, the continuation of the semblance of
love, when, without self-deception, one speaks vows
of eternal love.
59-
Intellect and Morality. —One must have
a good memory to be able to keep a given promise.
One must have a strong power of imagination to
be able to feel pity. So closely is morality bound
to the goodness of the intellect.
60.
J To wish for Revenge and to take Re-
venge. —To have a revengeful thought and to
## p. 77 (#121) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 77
carry it into effect is to have a violent attack of
fever, which passes off, however,—but to have a
revengeful thought without the strength and
courage to carry it out is a chronic disease, a
poisoning of body and soul which we have to
bear about with us. Morality, which only takes
intentions into account, considers the two cases
as equal; usually the former case is regarded as
the worse (because of the evil consequences which
may perhaps result from the deed of revenge).
Both estimates are short-sighted.
61.
"The Power of Waiting. —Waiting is so
difficult that even great poets have not disdained
to take incapability of waiting as the motive for
their works. Thus Shakespeare in Othello or
Sophocles in Ajax, to whom suicide, had he been
able to let his feelings cool down for one day,
would no longer have seemed necessary, as the
oracle intimated; he would probably have snapped
his fingers at the terrible whisperings of wounded
vanity, and said to himself, " Who has not already,
in my circumstances, mistaken a fool for a hero?
Is it something so very extraordinary? " On the
contrary, it is something very commonly human;
Ajax might allow himself that consolation. Passion
will not wait; the tragedy in the lives of great men
frequently lies not in their conflict with the times
and the baseness of their fellow-men, but in their
incapacity of postponing their work for a year or
two; they cannot wait. In all duels advising
## p. 78 (#122) #############################################
78 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
friends have one thing to decide, namely whether
the parties concerned can still wait awhile; if this
is not the case, then a duel is advisable, inasmuch
as each of the two says," Either I continue to live
and that other man must die immediately, or vice
versa" In such case waiting would mean a pro-
longed suffering of the terrible martyrdom of
wounded honour in the face of the insulter, and
this may entail more suffering than life is worth.
62.
Revelling in Vengeance. —Coarser individ-
uals who feel themselves insulted, make out the
insult to be as' great as possible, and relate the
affair in greatly exaggerated language, in order to
be able to revel thoroughly in the rarely awakened
feelings of hatred and revenge.
63.
The Value of Disparagement. —In order
to maintain their self-respect in their own eyes and
a certain thoroughness of action, not a few men,
perhaps even the majority, find it absolutely
necessary to run down and disparage all their
acquaintances. But as mean natures are numer-
ous, and since it is very important whether they
possess that thoroughness or lose it, hence
64.
The Man in a Passion. —We must beware of
one who is in a passion against us as of one who
## p. 79 (#123) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 79
has once sought our life; for the fact that we still
live is due to the absence of power to kill,—if looks
would suffice, we should have been dead long ago.
It is a piece of rough civilisation to force some one
* into silence by the exhibition of physical savage-
ness and the inspiring of fear. That cold glance
which exalted persons employ towards their
servants is also a relic of that caste division be-
tween man and man, a piece of rough antiquity;
'women, the preservers of ancient things, have also
* faithfully retained this survival of an ancient
, habit.
65.
Whither Honesty can Lead. —Somebody
» had the bad habit of occasionally talking quite
\M frankly about the motives of his actions, which
were as good and as bad as the motives of most
men. He first gave offence, then aroused sus--
picion, was then gradually excluded from society
and declared a social outlaw, until at last justice
remembered such an abandoned creature, on
occasions when it would otherwise have had no
eyes, or would have closed them. The lack of
power to hold his tongue concerning the common
secret, and the irresponsible tendency to see what
no one wishes to see—himself—brought him to a
prison and an early death.
v 66.
r
Punishable, but never Punished. —Our
crime against criminals lies in the fact that we
treat them like rascals.
## p. 80 (#124) #############################################
80 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
Sancta simplicitas of Virtue. — Every
virtue has its privileges; for example, that of
contributing its own little faggot to the scaffold
of every condemned man.
68.
Morality and Consequences. —It is not
only the spectators of a deed who frequently judge
of its morality or immorality according to its
consequences, but the doer of the deed himself
does so. For the motives and intentions are
seldom sufficiently clear and simple, and some-
times memory itself seems clouded by the con-
sequences of the deed, so that one ascribes the
deed to false motives or looks upon unessential
motives as essential. Success often gives an
action the whole honest glamour of a good
conscience; failure casts the shadow of re-
morse over the most estimable deed. Hence
arises the well-known practice of the politician,
who thinks, "Only grant me success, with that
I bring all honest souls over to my side and
make myself honest in my own eyes. " In
the same way success must replace a better
argument. Many educated people still believe
that the triumph of Christianity over Greek
philosophy is a proof of the greater truthfulness
of the former,—although in this case it is only
the coarser and more powerful that has triumphed
over the more spiritual and delicate. Which pos-
## p. 81 (#125) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 8l
sesses the greater truth may be seen from the fact
that the awakening sciences have agreed with
Epicurus' philosophy on point after point, but on
point after point have rejected Christianity.
69.
Love and Justice. —Why do we over-esti-
mate love to the disadvantage of justice, and say
the most beautiful things about it, as if it were
something very much higher than the latter? Is
it not visibly more stupid than justice? Certainly,
but precisely for that reason all the pleasanter for
every one. It is blind, and possesses an abundant
cornucopia, out of which it distributes its gifts to
all, even if they do not deserve them, even if they
express no thanks for them. It is as impartial as
the rain, which, according to the Bible and experi-
ence, makes not only the unjust, but also occasion-
ally the just wet through to the skin.
70.
EXECUTION. —How is it that every execution
offends us more than does a murder? It is the
coldness of the judges, the painful preparations,
the conviction that a human being is here being
used as a warning to scare others. For the guilt
is not punished, even if it existed—it lies with
educators, parents, surroundings, in ourselves, not
in the murderer—I mean the determining cir-
cumstances.
VOL. 1. F
## p. 82 (#126) #############################################
82 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
Hope. —Pandora brought the box of ills and
opened it. It was the gift of the gods to men,
outwardly a beautiful and seductive gift, and called
the Casket of Happiness. Out of it flew all the
evils, living winged creatures, thence they now
circulate and do men injury day and night. One
single evil had not yet escaped from the box, and
by the will of Zeus Pandora closed the lid and it
remained within. Now for ever man has the
casket of happiness in his house and thinks he
holds a great treasure; it is at his disposal, he
stretches out his hand for it whenever he desires;
for he does not know the box which Pandora
brought was the casket of evil, and he believes the
ill which remains within to be the greatest blessing,
—it is hope. Zeus did not wish man, however
much he might be tormented by the other evils,
to fling away his life, but to go on letting himself
be tormented again and again. Therefore he gives
man hope,—in reality it is the worst of all evils,
because it prolongs the torments of man.
72.
The Degree of Moral Inflammability
Unknown. —According to whether we have or
have not had certain disturbing views and im-
pressions—for instance, an unjustly executed,
killed, or martyred father; a faithless wife; a
cruel hostile attack — it depends whether our
passions reach fever heat and influence our whole
## p. 83 (#127) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 83
life or not. No one knows to what he may
be driven by circumstances, pity, or indignation;
he does not know the degree of his own inflam-
mability. Miserable little circumstances make us
. * miserable; it is generally not the quantity of ex-
periences, but their quality, on which lower and
higher man depends, in good and evil.
> The Martyr in Spite of Himself. —There
was a man belonging to a party who was too
nervous and cowardly ever to contradict his com-
rades; they made use of him for everything, they
demanded everything from him, because he was
> more afraid of the bad opinion of his companions
» than of death itself; his was a miserable, feeble
soul. They recognised this, and on the ground
of these qualities they made a hero of him, and
finally even a martyr. Although the coward in-
wardly always said No, with his lips he always said
Yes, even on the scaffold, when he was about to die
for the opinions of his party; for beside him stood
one of his old companions, who so tyrannised over
him by word and look that he really suffered death
in the most respectable manner, and has ever
since been celebrated as a martyr and a great
character.
74-
> The Every-day Standard. — One will
seldom go wrong if one attributes extreme actions
to vanity, average ones to habit, and petty ones
to fear.
4
## p. 84 (#128) #############################################
84 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
75-
Misunderstanding Concerning Virtue.
—Whoever has known immorality in connection
with pleasure, as is the case with a man who has
a pleasure-seeking youth behind him, imagines
that virtue must be connected with absence of
pleasure. —Whoever, on the contrary, has been
much plagued by his passions and vices, longs to
find in virtue peace and the soul's happiness.
Hence it is possible for two virtuous persons
not to understand each other at all.
76.
The ASCETIC. —The ascetic makes a necessity
of virtue.
77-
Transferring Honour from the Person
TO the Thing. —Deeds of love and sacrifice
for the benefit of one's neighbour are gener-
ally honoured, wherever they are manifested.
Thereby we multiply the valuation of things which
are thus loved, or for which we sacrifice ourselves,
although perhaps they are not worth much in
themselves. A brave army is convinced of the
cause for which it fights.
78.
Ambition a Substitute for the Moral
Sense. —The moral sense must not be lacking in
those natures which have no ambition. The am-
^
## p. 85 (#129) #############################################
The history of the moral sentiments. 85
bitious manage without it, with almost the same
results. For this reason the sons of unpreten-
tious, unambitious families, when once they lose the
moral sense, generally degenerate very quickly
into complete scamps.
79-
Vanity Enriches. —How poor would be the
human mind without vanity! Thus, however, it
resembles a well-stocked and constantly replen-
ished bazaar which attracts buyers of every kind.
There they can find almost everything, obtain
almost everything, provided that they bring the
right sort of coin, namely admiration.
80.
Old Age and Death. —Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life? Suicide in this case is a per-
fectly natural, obvious action, which should justly
arouse respect as a triumph of reason, and did
arouse it in those times when the heads of Greek
philosophy and the sturdiest patriots used to seek
death through suicide. The seeking, on the con-
trary, to prolong existence from day to day, with
anxious consultation of doctors and painful mode
of living, without the power of drawing nearer to
the actual aim of life, is far less worthy. Religion
is rich in excuses to reply to the demand for
/
## p. 85 (#130) #############################################
84 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
75-
Misunderstanding Concerning Virtue.
—Whoever has known immorality in connection
with pleasure, as is the case with a man who has
a pleasure-seeking youth behind him, imagines
that virtue must be connected with absence of
pleasure. —Whoever, on the contrary, has been
much plagued by his passions and vices, longs to
find in virtue peace and the soul's happiness.
Hence it is possible for two virtuous persons
not to understand each other at all.
76.
The Ascetic. —The ascetic makes a necessity
of virtue.
77-
Transferring Honour from the Person
to the Thing. —Deeds of love and sacrifice
for the benefit of one's neighbour are gener-
ally honoured, wherever they are manifested.
Thereby we multiply the valuation of things which
are thus loved, or for which we sacrifice ourselves,
although perhaps they are not worth much in
themselves. A brave army is convinced of the
cause for which it fights.
78.
Ambition a Substitute for the Moral
SENSE. —The moral sense must not be lacking in
those natures which have no ambition. The am-
## p. 85 (#131) #############################################
The history of the moral sentiments. 85
bitious manage without it, with almost the same
results. For this reason the sons of unpreten-
tious, unambitious families, when once they lose the
moral sense, generally degenerate very quickly
into complete scamps.
79-
Vanity Enriches. —How poor would be the
human mind without vanity! Thus, however, it
resembles a well-stocked and constantly replen-
ished bazaar which attracts buyers of every kind.
There they can find almost everything, obtain
almost everything, provided that they bring the
right sort of coin, namely admiration.
80.
Old Age and Death.
—Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life? Suicide in this case is a per-
fectly natural, obvious action, which should justly
arouse respect as a triumph of reason, and did
arouse it in those times when the heads of Greek
philosophy and the sturdiest patriots used to seek
death through suicide. The seeking, on the con-
trary, to prolong existence from day to day, with
anxious consultation of doctors and painful mode
of living, without the power of drawing nearer to
the actual aim of life, is far less worthy. Religion
is rich in excuses to reply to the demand for
## p. 85 (#132) #############################################
84 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
75-
Misunderstanding Concerning Virtue.
—Whoever has known immorality in connection
with pleasure, as is the case with a man who has
a pleasure-seeking youth behind him, imagines
that virtue must be connected with absence of
pleasure. —Whoever, on the contrary, has been
much plagued by his passions and vices, longs to
find in virtue peace and the soul's happiness.
Hence it is possible for two virtuous persons
not to understand each other at all.
76.
THE ASCETIC. —The ascetic makes a necessity
of virtue.
77-
Transferring Honour from the Person
TO THE THING. —Deeds of love and sacrifice
for the benefit of one's neighbour are gener-
ally honoured, wherever they are manifested.
Thereby we multiply the valuation of things which
are thus loved, or for which we sacrifice ourselves,
although perhaps they are not worth much in
themselves. A brave army is convinced of the
cause for which it fights.
78.
Ambition a Substitute for the Moral
SENSE. —The moral sense must not be lacking in
those natures which have no ambition. The am-
## p. 85 (#133) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 85
bitious manage without it, with almost the same
results. For this reason the sons of unpreten-
tious, unambitious families, when once they lose the
moral sense, generally degenerate very quickly
into complete scamps.
79-
Vanity Enriches. —How poor would be the
human mind without vanity! Thus, however, it
resembles a well-stocked and constantly replen-
ished bazaar which attracts buyers of every kind.
There they can find almost everything, obtain
almost everything, provided that they bring the
right sort of coin, namely admiration.
80.
Old Age and Death. —Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life? Suicide in this case is a per-
fectly natural, obvious action, which should justly
arouse respect as a triumph of reason, and did
arouse it in those times when the heads of Greek
philosophy and the sturdiest patriots used to seek
death through suicide. The seeking, on the con-
trary, to prolong existence from day to day, with
anxious consultation of doctors and painful mode
of living, without the power of drawing nearer to
the actual aim of life, is far less worthy. Religion
is rich in excuses to reply to the demand for
## p. 85 (#134) #############################################
84 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
75-
Misunderstanding Concerning Virtue.
—Whoever has known immorality in connection
with pleasure, as is the case with a man who has
a pleasure-seeking youth behind him, imagines
that virtue must be connected with absence of
pleasure. —Whoever, on the contrary, has been
much plagued by his passions and vices, longs to
find in virtue peace and the soul's happiness.
Hence it is possible for two virtuous persons
not to understand each other at all.
76.
THE ASCETIC. —The ascetic makes a necessity
of virtue.
77-
Transferring Honour from the Person
TO THE Thing. —Deeds of love and sacrifice
for the benefit of one's neighbour are gener-
ally honoured, wherever they are manifested.
Thereby we multiply the valuation of things which
are thus loved, or for which we sacrifice ourselves,
although perhaps they are not worth much in
themselves. A brave army is convinced of the
cause for which it fights.
78.
Ambition a Substitute for the Moral
SENSE. —The moral sense must not be lacking in
those natures which have no ambition. The am-
## p. 85 (#135) #############################################
The history of the moral sentiments. 85
bitious manage without it, with almost the same
results. For this reason the sons of unpreten-
tious, unambitious families, when once they lose the
moral sense, generally degenerate very quickly
into complete scamps.
79-
Vanity Enriches. —How poor would be the
human mind without vanity! Thus, however, it
resembles a well-stocked and constantly replen-
ished bazaar which attracts buyers of every kind.
There they can find almost everything, obtain
almost everything, provided that they bring the
right sort of coin, namely admiration.
80.
Old Age and Death. —Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life? Suicide in this case is a per-
fectly natural, obvious action, which should justly
arouse respect as a triumph of reason, and did
arouse it in those times when the heads of Greek
philosophy and the sturdiest patriots used to seek
death through suicide. The seeking, on the con-
trary, to prolong existence from day to day, with
anxious consultation of doctors and painful mode
of living, without the power of drawing nearer to
the actual aim of life, is far less worthy. Religion
is rich in excuses to reply to the demand for
## p. 85 (#136) #############################################
84 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
75-
Misunderstanding Concerning Virtue.
—Whoever has known immorality in connection
with pleasure, as is the case with a man who has
a pleasure-seeking youth behind him, imagines
that virtue must be connected with absence of
pleasure. —Whoever, on the contrary, has been
much plagued by his passions and vices, longs to
find in virtue peace and the soul's happiness.
Hence it is possible for two virtuous persons
not to understand each other at all.
76.
THE ASCETIC. —The ascetic makes a necessity
of virtue.
77-
Transferring Honour from the Person
TO THE THING. —Deeds of love and sacrifice
for the benefit of one's neighbour are gener-
ally honoured, wherever they are manifested.
Thereby we multiply the valuation of things which
are thus loved, or for which we sacrifice ourselves,
although perhaps they are not worth much in
themselves. A brave army is convinced of the
cause for which it fights.
78.
Ambition a Substitute for the Moral
SENSE. —The moral sense must not be lacking in
those natures which have no ambition. The am-
-.
## p. 85 (#137) #############################################
The history of the moral sentiments. 85
bitious manage without it, with almost the same
results. For this reason the sons of unpreten-
tious, unambitious families, when once they lose the
moral sense, generally degenerate very quickly
into complete scamps.
79-
Vanity Enriches. —How poor would be the
human mind without vanity! Thus, however, it
resembles a well-stocked and constantly replen-
ished bazaar which attracts buyers of every kind.
There they can find almost everything, obtain
almost everything, provided that they bring the
right sort of coin, namely admiration.
80.
Old Age and Death. —Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life? Suicide in this case is a per-
fectly natural, obvious action, which should justly
arouse respect as a triumph of reason, and did
arouse it in those times when the heads of Greek
philosophy and the sturdiest patriots used to seek
death through suicide. The seeking, on the con-
trary, to prolong existence from day to day, with
anxious consultation of doctors and painful mode
of living, without the power of drawing nearer to
the actual aim of life, is far less worthy. Religion
is rich in excuses to reply to the demand for
## p. 86 (#138) #############################################
86 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
suicide, and thus it ingratiates itself with those
who wish to cling to life.
81.
Errors of the Sufferer and the Doer.
—When a rich man deprives a poor man of a
possession (for instance, a prince taking the sweet-
heart of a plebeian), an error arises in the mind of
the poor man; he thinks that the rich man must be
utterly infamous to take away from him the little
that he has. But the rich man does not estimate
so highly the value of a single possession, because
he is accustomed to have many; hence he cannot
imagine himself in the poor man's place, and does
not commit nearly so great a wrong as the latter
supposes. They each have a mistaken idea of the
other. The injustice of the powerful, which, more
than anything else, rouses indignation in history,
is by no means so great as it appears. Alone the
mere inherited consciousness of being a higher
creation, with higher claims, produces a cold tem-
perament, and leaves the conscience quiet; we
all of us feel no injustice when the difference is
very great between ourselves and another creature,
and kill a fly, for instance, without any pricks of
conscience. Therefore it was no sign of badness
in Xerxes (whom even all Greeks describe as
superlatively noble) when he took a son away
from his father and had him cut in pieces, because
he had expressed a nervous, ominous distrust of
the whole campaign; in this case the individual
is put out of the way like an unpleasant insect; he
## p. 87 (#139) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 87
is too lowly to be allowed any longer to cause
annoyance to a ruler of the world. Yes, every
cruel man is not so cruel as the ill-treated one
imagines; the idea of pain is not the same as its
endurance. It is the same thing in the case
of unjust judges, of the journalist who leads
public opinion astray by small dishonesties. In
all these cases cause and effect are surrounded by
entirely different groups of feelings and thoughts;
yet one unconsciously takes it for granted that
doer and sufferer think and feel alike, and accord-
ing to this supposition we measure the guilt of the
one by the pain of the other.
82.
The Skin of the Soul. —As the bones, flesh,
entrails, and blood-vessels are enclosed within a
skin, which makes the aspect of man endurable,
so the emotions and passions of the soul are
enwrapped with vanity,—it is the skin of the soul.
S3-
The Sleep of Virtue. —^hen virtue has
slept, it will arise again all the fresher.
84.
The Refinement of Shame. —People are
not ashamed to think something foul, but they
are ashamed when they think these foul thoughts
are attributed to them.
-
## p. 88 (#140) #############################################
88 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
85.
Malice is Rare. —Most people are far too
much occupied with themselves to be malicious.
86.
The Tongue in the Balance. —We praise
or blame according as the one or the other affords
more opportunity for exhibiting our power of
judgment.
87.
St. Luke xviii. 14, Improved. —He that
humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.
The Prevention of Suicide. —There is a
certain right by which we may deprive a man of
life, but none by which we may deprive him of
death; this is mere cruelty.
89.
Vanity. —We care for the good opinion of
men, firstly because they are useful to us, and
then because we wish to please them (children
their parents, pupils their teachers, and well-
meaning people generally their fellow-men). Only
where the good opinion of men is of importance
to some one, apart from the advantage thereof or
his wish to please, can we speak of vanity. In
## p. 89 (#141) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 89
this case the man wishes to please himself, but at
the expense of his fellow-men, either by misleading
them into holding a false opinion about him, or by
aiming at a degree of " good opinion " which must
be painful to every one else (by arousing envy).
The individual usually wishes to corroborate the
opinion he holds of himself by the opinion of others,
and to strengthen it in his own eyes; but the strong
habit of authority—a habit as old as man himself
—induces many to support by authority their
belief in themselves: that is to say, they accept it
first from others; they trust the judgment of
others more than their own. The interest in
himself, the wish to please himself, attains to
such a height in a vain man that he misleads
others into having a false, all too elevated estimation
of him, and yet nevertheless sets store by their
authority,—thus causing an error and yet believing
in it. It must be confessed, therefore, that vain
people do not wish to please others so much as
themselves, and that they go so far therein as to
neglect their advantage, for they often endeavour
to prejudice their fellow - men unfavourably,
inimicably, enviously, consequently injuriously
against themselves, merely in order to have
pleasure in themselves, personal pleasure.
90.
The Limits of Human Love. —A man who
has declared that another is an idiot and a bad
companion, is angry when the latter eventually
proves himself to be otherwise.
J*
## p. 90 (#142) #############################################
go HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
91.
Moraute larmoyante. —What a great deal
of pleasure morality gives! Only think what a
sea of pleasant tears has been shed over descrip-
tions of noble and unselfish deeds! This charm
of life would vanish if the belief in absolute
irresponsibility were to obtain supremacy.
92.
The Origin of Justice. —Justice (equity) has
I its origin amongst powers which are fairly equal,
I as Thucydides (in the terrible dialogue between
'the Athenian and Melian ambassadors) rightly
comprehended: that is to say, where there is no
clearly recognisable supremacy, and where a
conflict would be useless and would injure both
sides, there arises the thought of coming to an
understanding and settling the opposing claims;
the character of exchange is the primary character
of justice. Each party satisfies the other, as each
obtains what he values more than the other.
Each one receives that which he desires, as his
own henceforth, and whatever is desired is received
in return. Justice, therefore, is recompense and
\ exchange based on the hypothesis of a fairly equal
degree of power,—thus, originally, revenge belongs
\to the province of justice, it is an exchange. Also
[gratitude. —Justice naturally is based on the point
k>{ view of a judicious self-preservation, on the
egoism, therefore, of that reflection, " Why should
I injure myself uselessly and perhaps not attain
## p. 91 (#143) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 91
my aim after all? " So much about the origin of
justice. Because man, according to his intellectual
custom, has forgotten the original purpose of so-
called just and reasonable actions,-and particularly
because for hundreds of years children have been
taught to admire and imitate such actions, the
idea has gradually arisen that such an action is
un-egoistic; upon this idea, however, is based the
high estimation in which it is held: which, more-
over, like all valuations, is constantly growing, for
something that is valued highly is striven after,
imitated, multiplied, and increases, because the
value of the output of toil and enthusiasm of each
individual is added to the value of the thing itself.
How little moral would the world look without
this forgetfulness! A poet might say that God
had placed forgetfulness as door-keeper in the
temple of human dignity.
93-
The Right of>the Weaker. —When any
one submits under certain conditions to a greater
power, as a besieged town for instance, the counter-
condition is that one can destroy one's self, burn
the town, and so cause the mighty one a great
loss. Therefore there is a kind of equalisation
here, on the basis of which rights may be
determined. The enemy has his advantage in
maintaining it. In so far there are also rights
between slaves and masters, that is, precisely so
far as the possession of the slave is useful and
important to his master. The right originally
r
-
## p. 92 (#144) #############################################
92 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
extends so far as one appears to be valuable
to the other, essentially unlosable, unconquerable,
and so forth. In so far the weaker one also has
rights, but lesser ones. Hence the famous
unusquisque tankum juris habet, quantum potentia
valet (or more/ exactly, quantum potentia valere
creditur).
94-
The Three Phases of Hitherto Existing
MORALITY. —It is the first sign that the animal
has become man when its actions no longer have
regard only to momentary welfare, but to what is
enduring, when it grows useful and practical; there
the free rule of reason first breaks out. A still
higher step is reached when he acts according to
the principle of honour; by this means he brings
ftimself into order, submits to common feelings,
and that exalts him still higher over the phase in
which he was led only by the idea of usefulness
from a personal point of view; he respects and
wishes to be respected, i. e. he understands useful-
ness as dependent upon what he thinks of others
and what others think of him. Eventually he
acts, on the highest step of the hitherto existing
morality, according to his standard of things and
men; he himself decides for himself and others
what is honourable, what is useful; he has become
the law-giver of opinions, in accordance with the
ever more highly developed idea of what is useful
and honourable. Knowledge enables him to place
that which is most useful, that is to say the
general, enduring usefulness, above the personal,
## p. 93 (#145) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 93
the honourable recognition of general, enduring
validity above the momentary; he lives and acts
as a collective individual.
95-
The Morality of the Mature Individual.
—The impersonal has hitherto been looked upon
as the actual distinguishing mark of moral action;
and it has been pointed out that in the beginning
it was in consideration of the common good that
all impersonal actions were praised and distin-
guished. Is not an important change in these
views impending, now when it is more and more
recognised that it is precisely in the most personal
possible considerations that the common good is
the greatest, so that a strictly personal action now
best illustrates the present idea of morality, as
utility for the mass? To make a whole person-
ality out of ourselves, and in all that we do to keep
that personality's highest good in view, carries
us further than those sympathetic emotions and
actions for the benefit of others. We all still
suffer, certainly, from the too small consideration
of the personal in us; it is badly developed,—let
us admit it; rather has our mind been forcibly
drawn away from it and offered as a sacrifice to
the State, to science, or to those who stand in
need of help, as if it were the bad part which
must be sacrificed. We are still willing to work'
for our fellow-men, but only so far as we find our
own greatest advantage in this work, no more and
no less. It is only a question of what we under-
r
## p. 94 (#146) #############################################
94 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
stand as our advantage; the unripe, undeveloped,
crude individual will understand it in the crudest
way.
96.
Custom and Morality. —To be moral,correct,
and virtuous is to be obedient to an old-established
law and custom. Whether we submit with diffi-
culty or willingly is immaterial, enough that we
do so. He is called "good" who, as if naturally,
after long precedent, easily and willingly, there-
fore, does what is right, according to whatever this
may be (as, for instance, taking revenge, if to take
revenge be considered as right, as amongst the
ancient Greeks). He is called good because he
is good "for something"; but as goodwill, pity,
consideration, moderation, and such like, have come,
with the change in manners, to be looked upon as
"good for something," as useful, the good-natured
and helpful have, later on, come to be distinguished
specially as "good. " (In the beginning other and
more important kinds of usefulness stood in the
foreground. ) To be evil is to be "not moral"
(immoral), to be immoral is to be in opposi-
tion to tradition, however sensible or stupid it
may be; injury to the community (the "neigh-
bour" being understood thereby) has, however,
been looked upon by the social laws of all different
ages as being eminently the actual "immorality,"
so that now at the word "evil" we immediately
think of voluntary injury to one's neighbour. The
fundamental antithesis which has taught man the
distinction between moral and immoral, between
## p.
\ unfortunately otherwise; for there is no eternal
1 justice.
54-
/ Falsehood. —Why do people mostly speak
if- the truth in daily life ? —Assuredly not because a
god has forbidden falsehood. But, firstly, because
\^ it is more convenient, as falsehood requires inven-
tion, deceit, and memory. (As Swift says, he
who tells a lie is not sensible how great a task
he undertakes; for in order to uphold one
lie he must invent twenty others. ) Therefore,
because it is advantageous in upright circum-
stances to say straight out, "I want this, I have
done that," and so on; because, in other words,
the path of compulsion and authority is surer than
that of cunning. But if a child has been brought
up in complicated domestic circumstances, he em-
ploys falsehood, naturally and unconsciously says
whatever best suits his interests; a sense of truth
and a hatred of falsehood are quite foreign and
unknown to him, and so he lies in all innocence.
%
## p. 73 (#117) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 73
55-
Throwing Suspicion on Morality for
Faith's Sake. —No power can be maintained
when it is only represented by hypocrites; no
matter how many " worldly " elements the Catholic
Church possesses, its strength lies in those still
numerous priestly natures who render life hard
and full of meaning for themselves, and whose
glance and worn bodies speak of nocturnal vigils,
hunger, burning prayers, and perhaps even of
scourging; these move men and inspire them
with fear. What if it were necessary to live thus?
This is the terrible question which their aspect
brings to the lips. Whilst they spread this doubt
they always uprear another pillar of their power;
even the free-thinker does not dare to withstand
such unselfishness with hard words of truth, and to
say, " Thyself deceived, deceive not others! " Only
the difference of views divides them from him,
certainly no difference of goodness or badness;
but men generally treat unjustly that which they
do not like. Thus we speak of the cunning and
the infamous art of the Jesuits, but overlook the
self-control which every individual Jesuit practises,
and the fact that the lightened manner of life
preached by Jesuit books is by no means for their
benefit, but for that of the laity. We may even
ask whether, with precisely similar tactics and
organisation, we enlightened ones would make
equally good tools, equally admirable through
self-conquest, indefatigableness, and renunciation.
## p. 74 (#118) #############################################
74
HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
AA Victory of
yM Evil. —It is of;
W
^
. vj
56.
of Knowledge over Radical
great advantage to him who de-
sires to be wise to have witnessed for a time the
spectacle of a thoroughly evil and degenerate man;
it is false, like the contrary spectacle, but for whole
long periods it held the mastery, and its roots have
even extended and ramified themselves to us and
our world. In order to understand ourselves we
must understand it; but then, in order to mount
higher we must rise above it. We recognise, then,
that there exist no sins in the metaphysical sense;
but, in the same sense, also no virtues; we recog-
nise that the entire domain of ethical ideas is
perpetually tottering, that there are higher and
deeper conceptions of good and evil, of moral and
immoral. He who does not desire much more
from things than a knowledge of them easily
makes peace with his soul, and will make a mis-
take (or commit a sin, as the world calls it) at
the most from ignorance, but hardly from covetous-
ness. He will no longer wish to excommunicate
and exterminate desires; but his only, his wholly
dominating ambition, to know as well as possible
at all times, will make him cool and will soften
all the savageness in his disposition. Moreover,
he has been freed from a number of tormenting
conceptions, he has no more feeling at the mention
of the words " punishments of hell," "sinfulness,"
"incapacity for good," he recognises in them only
the vanishing shadow-pictures of false views of
the world and of life.
## p. 75 (#119) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 7J
57-
Morality as the Self-Disintegration of
Man. —A good author, who really has his heart in
his work, wishes that some one could come and
annihilate him by representing the same thing in
a clearer way and answering without more ado
the problems therein proposed. The loving girl
wishes she could prove the self-sacrificing faithful-
ness of her love by the unfaithfulness of her
beloved. The soldier hopes to die on the field of
battle for his victorious fatherland; for his loftiest
desires triumph in the victory of his country.
The mother gives to the child that of which she
deprives herself—sleep, the best food, sometimes
her health and fortune. But are all these un-
egoistic conditions? Are these deeds of morality
miracles, because, to use Schopenhauer's expres-
sion, they are "impossible and yet performed "?
Is it not clear that in all four cases the individual
loves something of himself, a thought, a desire, a
production, better than anything else of himself;
that he therefore divides his nature and to one
part sacrifices all the rest? Is it something
entirely different when an obstinate man says, "I
would rather be shot than move a step out of my
way for this man "? The desire for something
(wish, inclination, longing) is present in all the
instances mentioned; to give way to it, with all
its consequences, is certainly not "un-egoistic. "
—In ethics man does not consider himself as
individuum but as dividuiim.
r
## p. 76 (#120) #############################################
/6 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
58.
What One may Promise. —One may promise
(actions, but no sentiments, for these are involun-
tary. Whoever promises to love or hate a person,
or be faithful to him for ever, promises something
which is not within his power; he can certainly
promise such actions as are usually the results of
love, hate, or fidelity, but which may also spring
from other motives; for many ways and motives
lead to one and the same action. The promise
to love some one for ever is, therefore, really: So
long as I love you I will act towards you in a
loving way; if I cease to love you, you will still
receive the same treatment from me, although
inspired by other motives, so that our fellow-men
will still be deluded into the belief that our love
is unchanged and ever the same. One promises,
therefore, the continuation of the semblance of
love, when, without self-deception, one speaks vows
of eternal love.
59-
Intellect and Morality. —One must have
a good memory to be able to keep a given promise.
One must have a strong power of imagination to
be able to feel pity. So closely is morality bound
to the goodness of the intellect.
60.
J To wish for Revenge and to take Re-
venge. —To have a revengeful thought and to
## p. 77 (#121) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 77
carry it into effect is to have a violent attack of
fever, which passes off, however,—but to have a
revengeful thought without the strength and
courage to carry it out is a chronic disease, a
poisoning of body and soul which we have to
bear about with us. Morality, which only takes
intentions into account, considers the two cases
as equal; usually the former case is regarded as
the worse (because of the evil consequences which
may perhaps result from the deed of revenge).
Both estimates are short-sighted.
61.
"The Power of Waiting. —Waiting is so
difficult that even great poets have not disdained
to take incapability of waiting as the motive for
their works. Thus Shakespeare in Othello or
Sophocles in Ajax, to whom suicide, had he been
able to let his feelings cool down for one day,
would no longer have seemed necessary, as the
oracle intimated; he would probably have snapped
his fingers at the terrible whisperings of wounded
vanity, and said to himself, " Who has not already,
in my circumstances, mistaken a fool for a hero?
Is it something so very extraordinary? " On the
contrary, it is something very commonly human;
Ajax might allow himself that consolation. Passion
will not wait; the tragedy in the lives of great men
frequently lies not in their conflict with the times
and the baseness of their fellow-men, but in their
incapacity of postponing their work for a year or
two; they cannot wait. In all duels advising
## p. 78 (#122) #############################################
78 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
friends have one thing to decide, namely whether
the parties concerned can still wait awhile; if this
is not the case, then a duel is advisable, inasmuch
as each of the two says," Either I continue to live
and that other man must die immediately, or vice
versa" In such case waiting would mean a pro-
longed suffering of the terrible martyrdom of
wounded honour in the face of the insulter, and
this may entail more suffering than life is worth.
62.
Revelling in Vengeance. —Coarser individ-
uals who feel themselves insulted, make out the
insult to be as' great as possible, and relate the
affair in greatly exaggerated language, in order to
be able to revel thoroughly in the rarely awakened
feelings of hatred and revenge.
63.
The Value of Disparagement. —In order
to maintain their self-respect in their own eyes and
a certain thoroughness of action, not a few men,
perhaps even the majority, find it absolutely
necessary to run down and disparage all their
acquaintances. But as mean natures are numer-
ous, and since it is very important whether they
possess that thoroughness or lose it, hence
64.
The Man in a Passion. —We must beware of
one who is in a passion against us as of one who
## p. 79 (#123) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 79
has once sought our life; for the fact that we still
live is due to the absence of power to kill,—if looks
would suffice, we should have been dead long ago.
It is a piece of rough civilisation to force some one
* into silence by the exhibition of physical savage-
ness and the inspiring of fear. That cold glance
which exalted persons employ towards their
servants is also a relic of that caste division be-
tween man and man, a piece of rough antiquity;
'women, the preservers of ancient things, have also
* faithfully retained this survival of an ancient
, habit.
65.
Whither Honesty can Lead. —Somebody
» had the bad habit of occasionally talking quite
\M frankly about the motives of his actions, which
were as good and as bad as the motives of most
men. He first gave offence, then aroused sus--
picion, was then gradually excluded from society
and declared a social outlaw, until at last justice
remembered such an abandoned creature, on
occasions when it would otherwise have had no
eyes, or would have closed them. The lack of
power to hold his tongue concerning the common
secret, and the irresponsible tendency to see what
no one wishes to see—himself—brought him to a
prison and an early death.
v 66.
r
Punishable, but never Punished. —Our
crime against criminals lies in the fact that we
treat them like rascals.
## p. 80 (#124) #############################################
80 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
Sancta simplicitas of Virtue. — Every
virtue has its privileges; for example, that of
contributing its own little faggot to the scaffold
of every condemned man.
68.
Morality and Consequences. —It is not
only the spectators of a deed who frequently judge
of its morality or immorality according to its
consequences, but the doer of the deed himself
does so. For the motives and intentions are
seldom sufficiently clear and simple, and some-
times memory itself seems clouded by the con-
sequences of the deed, so that one ascribes the
deed to false motives or looks upon unessential
motives as essential. Success often gives an
action the whole honest glamour of a good
conscience; failure casts the shadow of re-
morse over the most estimable deed. Hence
arises the well-known practice of the politician,
who thinks, "Only grant me success, with that
I bring all honest souls over to my side and
make myself honest in my own eyes. " In
the same way success must replace a better
argument. Many educated people still believe
that the triumph of Christianity over Greek
philosophy is a proof of the greater truthfulness
of the former,—although in this case it is only
the coarser and more powerful that has triumphed
over the more spiritual and delicate. Which pos-
## p. 81 (#125) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 8l
sesses the greater truth may be seen from the fact
that the awakening sciences have agreed with
Epicurus' philosophy on point after point, but on
point after point have rejected Christianity.
69.
Love and Justice. —Why do we over-esti-
mate love to the disadvantage of justice, and say
the most beautiful things about it, as if it were
something very much higher than the latter? Is
it not visibly more stupid than justice? Certainly,
but precisely for that reason all the pleasanter for
every one. It is blind, and possesses an abundant
cornucopia, out of which it distributes its gifts to
all, even if they do not deserve them, even if they
express no thanks for them. It is as impartial as
the rain, which, according to the Bible and experi-
ence, makes not only the unjust, but also occasion-
ally the just wet through to the skin.
70.
EXECUTION. —How is it that every execution
offends us more than does a murder? It is the
coldness of the judges, the painful preparations,
the conviction that a human being is here being
used as a warning to scare others. For the guilt
is not punished, even if it existed—it lies with
educators, parents, surroundings, in ourselves, not
in the murderer—I mean the determining cir-
cumstances.
VOL. 1. F
## p. 82 (#126) #############################################
82 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
Hope. —Pandora brought the box of ills and
opened it. It was the gift of the gods to men,
outwardly a beautiful and seductive gift, and called
the Casket of Happiness. Out of it flew all the
evils, living winged creatures, thence they now
circulate and do men injury day and night. One
single evil had not yet escaped from the box, and
by the will of Zeus Pandora closed the lid and it
remained within. Now for ever man has the
casket of happiness in his house and thinks he
holds a great treasure; it is at his disposal, he
stretches out his hand for it whenever he desires;
for he does not know the box which Pandora
brought was the casket of evil, and he believes the
ill which remains within to be the greatest blessing,
—it is hope. Zeus did not wish man, however
much he might be tormented by the other evils,
to fling away his life, but to go on letting himself
be tormented again and again. Therefore he gives
man hope,—in reality it is the worst of all evils,
because it prolongs the torments of man.
72.
The Degree of Moral Inflammability
Unknown. —According to whether we have or
have not had certain disturbing views and im-
pressions—for instance, an unjustly executed,
killed, or martyred father; a faithless wife; a
cruel hostile attack — it depends whether our
passions reach fever heat and influence our whole
## p. 83 (#127) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 83
life or not. No one knows to what he may
be driven by circumstances, pity, or indignation;
he does not know the degree of his own inflam-
mability. Miserable little circumstances make us
. * miserable; it is generally not the quantity of ex-
periences, but their quality, on which lower and
higher man depends, in good and evil.
> The Martyr in Spite of Himself. —There
was a man belonging to a party who was too
nervous and cowardly ever to contradict his com-
rades; they made use of him for everything, they
demanded everything from him, because he was
> more afraid of the bad opinion of his companions
» than of death itself; his was a miserable, feeble
soul. They recognised this, and on the ground
of these qualities they made a hero of him, and
finally even a martyr. Although the coward in-
wardly always said No, with his lips he always said
Yes, even on the scaffold, when he was about to die
for the opinions of his party; for beside him stood
one of his old companions, who so tyrannised over
him by word and look that he really suffered death
in the most respectable manner, and has ever
since been celebrated as a martyr and a great
character.
74-
> The Every-day Standard. — One will
seldom go wrong if one attributes extreme actions
to vanity, average ones to habit, and petty ones
to fear.
4
## p. 84 (#128) #############################################
84 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
75-
Misunderstanding Concerning Virtue.
—Whoever has known immorality in connection
with pleasure, as is the case with a man who has
a pleasure-seeking youth behind him, imagines
that virtue must be connected with absence of
pleasure. —Whoever, on the contrary, has been
much plagued by his passions and vices, longs to
find in virtue peace and the soul's happiness.
Hence it is possible for two virtuous persons
not to understand each other at all.
76.
The ASCETIC. —The ascetic makes a necessity
of virtue.
77-
Transferring Honour from the Person
TO the Thing. —Deeds of love and sacrifice
for the benefit of one's neighbour are gener-
ally honoured, wherever they are manifested.
Thereby we multiply the valuation of things which
are thus loved, or for which we sacrifice ourselves,
although perhaps they are not worth much in
themselves. A brave army is convinced of the
cause for which it fights.
78.
Ambition a Substitute for the Moral
Sense. —The moral sense must not be lacking in
those natures which have no ambition. The am-
^
## p. 85 (#129) #############################################
The history of the moral sentiments. 85
bitious manage without it, with almost the same
results. For this reason the sons of unpreten-
tious, unambitious families, when once they lose the
moral sense, generally degenerate very quickly
into complete scamps.
79-
Vanity Enriches. —How poor would be the
human mind without vanity! Thus, however, it
resembles a well-stocked and constantly replen-
ished bazaar which attracts buyers of every kind.
There they can find almost everything, obtain
almost everything, provided that they bring the
right sort of coin, namely admiration.
80.
Old Age and Death. —Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life? Suicide in this case is a per-
fectly natural, obvious action, which should justly
arouse respect as a triumph of reason, and did
arouse it in those times when the heads of Greek
philosophy and the sturdiest patriots used to seek
death through suicide. The seeking, on the con-
trary, to prolong existence from day to day, with
anxious consultation of doctors and painful mode
of living, without the power of drawing nearer to
the actual aim of life, is far less worthy. Religion
is rich in excuses to reply to the demand for
/
## p. 85 (#130) #############################################
84 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
75-
Misunderstanding Concerning Virtue.
—Whoever has known immorality in connection
with pleasure, as is the case with a man who has
a pleasure-seeking youth behind him, imagines
that virtue must be connected with absence of
pleasure. —Whoever, on the contrary, has been
much plagued by his passions and vices, longs to
find in virtue peace and the soul's happiness.
Hence it is possible for two virtuous persons
not to understand each other at all.
76.
The Ascetic. —The ascetic makes a necessity
of virtue.
77-
Transferring Honour from the Person
to the Thing. —Deeds of love and sacrifice
for the benefit of one's neighbour are gener-
ally honoured, wherever they are manifested.
Thereby we multiply the valuation of things which
are thus loved, or for which we sacrifice ourselves,
although perhaps they are not worth much in
themselves. A brave army is convinced of the
cause for which it fights.
78.
Ambition a Substitute for the Moral
SENSE. —The moral sense must not be lacking in
those natures which have no ambition. The am-
## p. 85 (#131) #############################################
The history of the moral sentiments. 85
bitious manage without it, with almost the same
results. For this reason the sons of unpreten-
tious, unambitious families, when once they lose the
moral sense, generally degenerate very quickly
into complete scamps.
79-
Vanity Enriches. —How poor would be the
human mind without vanity! Thus, however, it
resembles a well-stocked and constantly replen-
ished bazaar which attracts buyers of every kind.
There they can find almost everything, obtain
almost everything, provided that they bring the
right sort of coin, namely admiration.
80.
Old Age and Death.
—Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life? Suicide in this case is a per-
fectly natural, obvious action, which should justly
arouse respect as a triumph of reason, and did
arouse it in those times when the heads of Greek
philosophy and the sturdiest patriots used to seek
death through suicide. The seeking, on the con-
trary, to prolong existence from day to day, with
anxious consultation of doctors and painful mode
of living, without the power of drawing nearer to
the actual aim of life, is far less worthy. Religion
is rich in excuses to reply to the demand for
## p. 85 (#132) #############################################
84 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
75-
Misunderstanding Concerning Virtue.
—Whoever has known immorality in connection
with pleasure, as is the case with a man who has
a pleasure-seeking youth behind him, imagines
that virtue must be connected with absence of
pleasure. —Whoever, on the contrary, has been
much plagued by his passions and vices, longs to
find in virtue peace and the soul's happiness.
Hence it is possible for two virtuous persons
not to understand each other at all.
76.
THE ASCETIC. —The ascetic makes a necessity
of virtue.
77-
Transferring Honour from the Person
TO THE THING. —Deeds of love and sacrifice
for the benefit of one's neighbour are gener-
ally honoured, wherever they are manifested.
Thereby we multiply the valuation of things which
are thus loved, or for which we sacrifice ourselves,
although perhaps they are not worth much in
themselves. A brave army is convinced of the
cause for which it fights.
78.
Ambition a Substitute for the Moral
SENSE. —The moral sense must not be lacking in
those natures which have no ambition. The am-
## p. 85 (#133) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 85
bitious manage without it, with almost the same
results. For this reason the sons of unpreten-
tious, unambitious families, when once they lose the
moral sense, generally degenerate very quickly
into complete scamps.
79-
Vanity Enriches. —How poor would be the
human mind without vanity! Thus, however, it
resembles a well-stocked and constantly replen-
ished bazaar which attracts buyers of every kind.
There they can find almost everything, obtain
almost everything, provided that they bring the
right sort of coin, namely admiration.
80.
Old Age and Death. —Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life? Suicide in this case is a per-
fectly natural, obvious action, which should justly
arouse respect as a triumph of reason, and did
arouse it in those times when the heads of Greek
philosophy and the sturdiest patriots used to seek
death through suicide. The seeking, on the con-
trary, to prolong existence from day to day, with
anxious consultation of doctors and painful mode
of living, without the power of drawing nearer to
the actual aim of life, is far less worthy. Religion
is rich in excuses to reply to the demand for
## p. 85 (#134) #############################################
84 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
75-
Misunderstanding Concerning Virtue.
—Whoever has known immorality in connection
with pleasure, as is the case with a man who has
a pleasure-seeking youth behind him, imagines
that virtue must be connected with absence of
pleasure. —Whoever, on the contrary, has been
much plagued by his passions and vices, longs to
find in virtue peace and the soul's happiness.
Hence it is possible for two virtuous persons
not to understand each other at all.
76.
THE ASCETIC. —The ascetic makes a necessity
of virtue.
77-
Transferring Honour from the Person
TO THE Thing. —Deeds of love and sacrifice
for the benefit of one's neighbour are gener-
ally honoured, wherever they are manifested.
Thereby we multiply the valuation of things which
are thus loved, or for which we sacrifice ourselves,
although perhaps they are not worth much in
themselves. A brave army is convinced of the
cause for which it fights.
78.
Ambition a Substitute for the Moral
SENSE. —The moral sense must not be lacking in
those natures which have no ambition. The am-
## p. 85 (#135) #############################################
The history of the moral sentiments. 85
bitious manage without it, with almost the same
results. For this reason the sons of unpreten-
tious, unambitious families, when once they lose the
moral sense, generally degenerate very quickly
into complete scamps.
79-
Vanity Enriches. —How poor would be the
human mind without vanity! Thus, however, it
resembles a well-stocked and constantly replen-
ished bazaar which attracts buyers of every kind.
There they can find almost everything, obtain
almost everything, provided that they bring the
right sort of coin, namely admiration.
80.
Old Age and Death. —Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life? Suicide in this case is a per-
fectly natural, obvious action, which should justly
arouse respect as a triumph of reason, and did
arouse it in those times when the heads of Greek
philosophy and the sturdiest patriots used to seek
death through suicide. The seeking, on the con-
trary, to prolong existence from day to day, with
anxious consultation of doctors and painful mode
of living, without the power of drawing nearer to
the actual aim of life, is far less worthy. Religion
is rich in excuses to reply to the demand for
## p. 85 (#136) #############################################
84 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
75-
Misunderstanding Concerning Virtue.
—Whoever has known immorality in connection
with pleasure, as is the case with a man who has
a pleasure-seeking youth behind him, imagines
that virtue must be connected with absence of
pleasure. —Whoever, on the contrary, has been
much plagued by his passions and vices, longs to
find in virtue peace and the soul's happiness.
Hence it is possible for two virtuous persons
not to understand each other at all.
76.
THE ASCETIC. —The ascetic makes a necessity
of virtue.
77-
Transferring Honour from the Person
TO THE THING. —Deeds of love and sacrifice
for the benefit of one's neighbour are gener-
ally honoured, wherever they are manifested.
Thereby we multiply the valuation of things which
are thus loved, or for which we sacrifice ourselves,
although perhaps they are not worth much in
themselves. A brave army is convinced of the
cause for which it fights.
78.
Ambition a Substitute for the Moral
SENSE. —The moral sense must not be lacking in
those natures which have no ambition. The am-
-.
## p. 85 (#137) #############################################
The history of the moral sentiments. 85
bitious manage without it, with almost the same
results. For this reason the sons of unpreten-
tious, unambitious families, when once they lose the
moral sense, generally degenerate very quickly
into complete scamps.
79-
Vanity Enriches. —How poor would be the
human mind without vanity! Thus, however, it
resembles a well-stocked and constantly replen-
ished bazaar which attracts buyers of every kind.
There they can find almost everything, obtain
almost everything, provided that they bring the
right sort of coin, namely admiration.
80.
Old Age and Death. —Apart from the com-
mands of religion, the question may well be asked,
Why is it more worthy for an old man who feels
his powers decline, to await his slow exhaustion
and extinction than with full consciousness to set
a limit to his life? Suicide in this case is a per-
fectly natural, obvious action, which should justly
arouse respect as a triumph of reason, and did
arouse it in those times when the heads of Greek
philosophy and the sturdiest patriots used to seek
death through suicide. The seeking, on the con-
trary, to prolong existence from day to day, with
anxious consultation of doctors and painful mode
of living, without the power of drawing nearer to
the actual aim of life, is far less worthy. Religion
is rich in excuses to reply to the demand for
## p. 86 (#138) #############################################
86 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
suicide, and thus it ingratiates itself with those
who wish to cling to life.
81.
Errors of the Sufferer and the Doer.
—When a rich man deprives a poor man of a
possession (for instance, a prince taking the sweet-
heart of a plebeian), an error arises in the mind of
the poor man; he thinks that the rich man must be
utterly infamous to take away from him the little
that he has. But the rich man does not estimate
so highly the value of a single possession, because
he is accustomed to have many; hence he cannot
imagine himself in the poor man's place, and does
not commit nearly so great a wrong as the latter
supposes. They each have a mistaken idea of the
other. The injustice of the powerful, which, more
than anything else, rouses indignation in history,
is by no means so great as it appears. Alone the
mere inherited consciousness of being a higher
creation, with higher claims, produces a cold tem-
perament, and leaves the conscience quiet; we
all of us feel no injustice when the difference is
very great between ourselves and another creature,
and kill a fly, for instance, without any pricks of
conscience. Therefore it was no sign of badness
in Xerxes (whom even all Greeks describe as
superlatively noble) when he took a son away
from his father and had him cut in pieces, because
he had expressed a nervous, ominous distrust of
the whole campaign; in this case the individual
is put out of the way like an unpleasant insect; he
## p. 87 (#139) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 87
is too lowly to be allowed any longer to cause
annoyance to a ruler of the world. Yes, every
cruel man is not so cruel as the ill-treated one
imagines; the idea of pain is not the same as its
endurance. It is the same thing in the case
of unjust judges, of the journalist who leads
public opinion astray by small dishonesties. In
all these cases cause and effect are surrounded by
entirely different groups of feelings and thoughts;
yet one unconsciously takes it for granted that
doer and sufferer think and feel alike, and accord-
ing to this supposition we measure the guilt of the
one by the pain of the other.
82.
The Skin of the Soul. —As the bones, flesh,
entrails, and blood-vessels are enclosed within a
skin, which makes the aspect of man endurable,
so the emotions and passions of the soul are
enwrapped with vanity,—it is the skin of the soul.
S3-
The Sleep of Virtue. —^hen virtue has
slept, it will arise again all the fresher.
84.
The Refinement of Shame. —People are
not ashamed to think something foul, but they
are ashamed when they think these foul thoughts
are attributed to them.
-
## p. 88 (#140) #############################################
88 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
85.
Malice is Rare. —Most people are far too
much occupied with themselves to be malicious.
86.
The Tongue in the Balance. —We praise
or blame according as the one or the other affords
more opportunity for exhibiting our power of
judgment.
87.
St. Luke xviii. 14, Improved. —He that
humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.
The Prevention of Suicide. —There is a
certain right by which we may deprive a man of
life, but none by which we may deprive him of
death; this is mere cruelty.
89.
Vanity. —We care for the good opinion of
men, firstly because they are useful to us, and
then because we wish to please them (children
their parents, pupils their teachers, and well-
meaning people generally their fellow-men). Only
where the good opinion of men is of importance
to some one, apart from the advantage thereof or
his wish to please, can we speak of vanity. In
## p. 89 (#141) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 89
this case the man wishes to please himself, but at
the expense of his fellow-men, either by misleading
them into holding a false opinion about him, or by
aiming at a degree of " good opinion " which must
be painful to every one else (by arousing envy).
The individual usually wishes to corroborate the
opinion he holds of himself by the opinion of others,
and to strengthen it in his own eyes; but the strong
habit of authority—a habit as old as man himself
—induces many to support by authority their
belief in themselves: that is to say, they accept it
first from others; they trust the judgment of
others more than their own. The interest in
himself, the wish to please himself, attains to
such a height in a vain man that he misleads
others into having a false, all too elevated estimation
of him, and yet nevertheless sets store by their
authority,—thus causing an error and yet believing
in it. It must be confessed, therefore, that vain
people do not wish to please others so much as
themselves, and that they go so far therein as to
neglect their advantage, for they often endeavour
to prejudice their fellow - men unfavourably,
inimicably, enviously, consequently injuriously
against themselves, merely in order to have
pleasure in themselves, personal pleasure.
90.
The Limits of Human Love. —A man who
has declared that another is an idiot and a bad
companion, is angry when the latter eventually
proves himself to be otherwise.
J*
## p. 90 (#142) #############################################
go HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
91.
Moraute larmoyante. —What a great deal
of pleasure morality gives! Only think what a
sea of pleasant tears has been shed over descrip-
tions of noble and unselfish deeds! This charm
of life would vanish if the belief in absolute
irresponsibility were to obtain supremacy.
92.
The Origin of Justice. —Justice (equity) has
I its origin amongst powers which are fairly equal,
I as Thucydides (in the terrible dialogue between
'the Athenian and Melian ambassadors) rightly
comprehended: that is to say, where there is no
clearly recognisable supremacy, and where a
conflict would be useless and would injure both
sides, there arises the thought of coming to an
understanding and settling the opposing claims;
the character of exchange is the primary character
of justice. Each party satisfies the other, as each
obtains what he values more than the other.
Each one receives that which he desires, as his
own henceforth, and whatever is desired is received
in return. Justice, therefore, is recompense and
\ exchange based on the hypothesis of a fairly equal
degree of power,—thus, originally, revenge belongs
\to the province of justice, it is an exchange. Also
[gratitude. —Justice naturally is based on the point
k>{ view of a judicious self-preservation, on the
egoism, therefore, of that reflection, " Why should
I injure myself uselessly and perhaps not attain
## p. 91 (#143) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 91
my aim after all? " So much about the origin of
justice. Because man, according to his intellectual
custom, has forgotten the original purpose of so-
called just and reasonable actions,-and particularly
because for hundreds of years children have been
taught to admire and imitate such actions, the
idea has gradually arisen that such an action is
un-egoistic; upon this idea, however, is based the
high estimation in which it is held: which, more-
over, like all valuations, is constantly growing, for
something that is valued highly is striven after,
imitated, multiplied, and increases, because the
value of the output of toil and enthusiasm of each
individual is added to the value of the thing itself.
How little moral would the world look without
this forgetfulness! A poet might say that God
had placed forgetfulness as door-keeper in the
temple of human dignity.
93-
The Right of>the Weaker. —When any
one submits under certain conditions to a greater
power, as a besieged town for instance, the counter-
condition is that one can destroy one's self, burn
the town, and so cause the mighty one a great
loss. Therefore there is a kind of equalisation
here, on the basis of which rights may be
determined. The enemy has his advantage in
maintaining it. In so far there are also rights
between slaves and masters, that is, precisely so
far as the possession of the slave is useful and
important to his master. The right originally
r
-
## p. 92 (#144) #############################################
92 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
extends so far as one appears to be valuable
to the other, essentially unlosable, unconquerable,
and so forth. In so far the weaker one also has
rights, but lesser ones. Hence the famous
unusquisque tankum juris habet, quantum potentia
valet (or more/ exactly, quantum potentia valere
creditur).
94-
The Three Phases of Hitherto Existing
MORALITY. —It is the first sign that the animal
has become man when its actions no longer have
regard only to momentary welfare, but to what is
enduring, when it grows useful and practical; there
the free rule of reason first breaks out. A still
higher step is reached when he acts according to
the principle of honour; by this means he brings
ftimself into order, submits to common feelings,
and that exalts him still higher over the phase in
which he was led only by the idea of usefulness
from a personal point of view; he respects and
wishes to be respected, i. e. he understands useful-
ness as dependent upon what he thinks of others
and what others think of him. Eventually he
acts, on the highest step of the hitherto existing
morality, according to his standard of things and
men; he himself decides for himself and others
what is honourable, what is useful; he has become
the law-giver of opinions, in accordance with the
ever more highly developed idea of what is useful
and honourable. Knowledge enables him to place
that which is most useful, that is to say the
general, enduring usefulness, above the personal,
## p. 93 (#145) #############################################
THE HISTORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS. 93
the honourable recognition of general, enduring
validity above the momentary; he lives and acts
as a collective individual.
95-
The Morality of the Mature Individual.
—The impersonal has hitherto been looked upon
as the actual distinguishing mark of moral action;
and it has been pointed out that in the beginning
it was in consideration of the common good that
all impersonal actions were praised and distin-
guished. Is not an important change in these
views impending, now when it is more and more
recognised that it is precisely in the most personal
possible considerations that the common good is
the greatest, so that a strictly personal action now
best illustrates the present idea of morality, as
utility for the mass? To make a whole person-
ality out of ourselves, and in all that we do to keep
that personality's highest good in view, carries
us further than those sympathetic emotions and
actions for the benefit of others. We all still
suffer, certainly, from the too small consideration
of the personal in us; it is badly developed,—let
us admit it; rather has our mind been forcibly
drawn away from it and offered as a sacrifice to
the State, to science, or to those who stand in
need of help, as if it were the bad part which
must be sacrificed. We are still willing to work'
for our fellow-men, but only so far as we find our
own greatest advantage in this work, no more and
no less. It is only a question of what we under-
r
## p. 94 (#146) #############################################
94 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
stand as our advantage; the unripe, undeveloped,
crude individual will understand it in the crudest
way.
96.
Custom and Morality. —To be moral,correct,
and virtuous is to be obedient to an old-established
law and custom. Whether we submit with diffi-
culty or willingly is immaterial, enough that we
do so. He is called "good" who, as if naturally,
after long precedent, easily and willingly, there-
fore, does what is right, according to whatever this
may be (as, for instance, taking revenge, if to take
revenge be considered as right, as amongst the
ancient Greeks). He is called good because he
is good "for something"; but as goodwill, pity,
consideration, moderation, and such like, have come,
with the change in manners, to be looked upon as
"good for something," as useful, the good-natured
and helpful have, later on, come to be distinguished
specially as "good. " (In the beginning other and
more important kinds of usefulness stood in the
foreground. ) To be evil is to be "not moral"
(immoral), to be immoral is to be in opposi-
tion to tradition, however sensible or stupid it
may be; injury to the community (the "neigh-
bour" being understood thereby) has, however,
been looked upon by the social laws of all different
ages as being eminently the actual "immorality,"
so that now at the word "evil" we immediately
think of voluntary injury to one's neighbour. The
fundamental antithesis which has taught man the
distinction between moral and immoral, between
## p.
