Entirely
hard is only the noblest.
Nietzsche - v11 - Thus Spake Zarathustra
And at last
asketh their weariness: " Why did we ever go on
the way? All is indifferent! "
To them soundeth it pleasant to have preached
in their ears: "Nothing is worth while! Ye shall
not will! " That, however, is a sermon for slavery.
O my brethren, a fresh blustering wind cometh
## p. 252 (#368) ############################################
252 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
Zarathustra unto all way-weary ones; many noses
will he yet make sneeze!
Even through walls bloweth my free breath, and
in into prisons and imprisoned spirits!
Willing emancipateth: for willing is creating: so
do I teach. And only for creating shall ye learn!
And also the learning shall ye learn only from
me, the learning well! —He who hath ears let him
hear!
17-
There standeth the boat—thither goeth it over,
perhaps into vast nothingness—but who willeth to
enter into this " Perhaps "?
None of you want to enter into the death-boat!
How should ye then be world-weary ones!
World-weary ones! And have not even with-
drawn from the earth! Eager did I ever find you for
the earth, amorous still of your own earth-
weariness!
Not in vain doth your lip hang down :—a small
worldly wish still sitteth thereon! And in your
eye—floateth there not a cloudlet of unforgotten
earthly bliss?
There are on the earth many good inventions,
some useful, some pleasant: for their sake is the
earth to be loved.
And many such good inventions are there, that
they are like woman's breasts: useful at the same
time, and pleasant.
Ye world-weary ones, however! Ye earth-idlers!
You, shall one beat with stripes! With stripes shall
one again make you sprightly limbs.
## p. 253 (#369) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 253
For if ye be not invalids, or decrepit creatures,
of whom the earth is weary, then are ye sly
sloths, or dainty, sneaking pleasure-cats. And if
ye will not again run gaily, then shall ye-pass
away!
To the incurable shall one not seek to be a
physician : thus teacheth Zarathustra :-so shall ye
pass away!
But more courage is needed to make an end than
to make a new verse: that do all physicians and
poets know well. -
18.
O my brethren, there are tables which weariness
framed, and tables which slothfulness framed, cor-
rupt slothfulness : although they speak similarly,
they want to be heard differently. -
See this languishing one! Only a span-breadth
is he from his goal; but from weariness hath he
lain down obstinately in the dust, this brave one!
From weariness yawneth he at the path, at the
earth, at the goal, and at himself: not a step further
will he go,—this brave one!
Now gloweth the sun upon him, and the dogs lick
at his sweat: but he lieth there in his obstinacy
and preferreth to languish :-
-A span-breadth from his goal, to languish!
Verily, ye will have to drag him into his heaven
by the hair of his head—this hero!
Better still that ye let him lie where he hath lain
down, that sleep may come unto him, the comforter,
with cooling patter-rain.
Let him lie, until of his own accord he awakeneth,
## p. 254 (#370) ############################################
254 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
—until of his own accord he repudiateth all
weariness, and what weariness hath taught through
him!
Only, my brethren, see that ye scare the dogs
away from him, the idle skulkers, and all the
swarming vermin:—
—All the swarming vermin of the "cultured,"
that—feast on the sweat of every hero ! —
19.
I form circles around me and holy boundaries;
ever fewer ascend with me ever higher mountains:
I build a mountain-range out of ever holier
mountains. —
But wherever ye would ascend with me, O my
brethren, take care lest a parasite ascend with you!
A parasite: that is a reptile, a creeping, cringing
reptile, that trieth to fatten on your infirm and
sore places.
And this is its art: it divineth where ascending
souls are weary; in your trouble and dejection, in
your sensitive modesty, doth it build its loathsome
nest.
Where the strong are weak, where the noble are
all-too-gentle—there buildeth it its loathsome nest;
the parasite liveth where the great have small
sore-places.
What is the highest of all species of being, and
what is the lowest? The parasite is the lowest
species; he, however, who is of the highest species
feedeth most parasites.
For the soul which hath the longest ladder, and
## p. 255 (#371) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 255
can go deepest down : how could there fail to be
most parasites upon it? -
-The most comprehensive soul, which can run
and stray and rove furthest in itself; the most
necessary soul, which out of joy flingeth itself into
chance :-
-The soul in Being, which plungeth into Be-
coming; the possessing soul, which seeketh to attain
desire and longing :-
- The soul fleeing from itself, which overtaketh
itself in the widest circuit; the wisest soul, unto
which folly speaketh most sweetly :-
-The soul most self-loving, in which all things
have their current and counter-current, their ebb
and their flow :-oh, how could the loftiest soul fail
to have the worst parasites ?
20.
O my brethren, am I then cruel? But I say:
What falleth, that shall one also push!
Everything of to-day-it falleth, it decayeth; who
would preserve it! But 1-I wish also to push it !
Know ye the delight which rolleth stones into
precipitous depths ? – Those men of to-day, see
just how they roll into my depths!
A prelude am I to better players, O my brethren!
An example! Do according to mine example!
And him whom ye do not teach to fly, teach I
pray you-to fall faster ! —
21.
I love the brave: but it is not enough to be a
swordsman,—one must also know whereon to use
swordsmanship!
## p. 256 (#372) ############################################
256 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
And often is it greater bravery to keep quiet
and pass by, that thereby one may reserve oneself
for a worthier foe!
Ye shall only have foes to be hated; but not
foes to be despised: ye must be proud of your
foes. Thus have I already taught.
For the worthier foe, O my brethren, shall ye
reserve yourselves: therefore must ye pass by
many a one,—
—Especially many of the rabble, who din your
ears with noise about people and peoples.
Keep your eye clear of their For and Against!
There is there much right, much wrong: he who
looketh on becometh wroth.
Therein viewing, therein hewing—they are the
same thing: therefore depart into the forests and
lay your sword to sleep!
Go your ways! and let the people and peoples
go theirs! —gloomy ways, verily, on which not a
single hope glinteth any more!
Let there the trader rule, where all that still
glittereth is—traders' gold. It is the time of kings
no longer: that which now calleth itself the people
is unworthy of kings.
See how these peoples themselves now do just
like the traders: they pick up the smallest advan-
tage out of all kinds of rubbish!
They lay lures for one another, they lure things
out of one another,—that they call "good neigh-
bourliness. " O blessed remote period when a
people said to itself: "I will be—master over
peoples! "
For, my brethren, the best shall rule, the best
## p. 257 (#373) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 257
also willeth to rule! And where the teaching is
different, there—the best is lacking.
22.
If they had—bread for nothing, alas! for what
would they cry! Their maintainment—that is their
true entertainment; and they shall have it hard!
Beasts of prey, are they: in their " working "—
there is even plundering, in their "earning "—there
is even overreaching! Therefore shall they have
it hard!
Better beasts of prey shall they thus become,
subtler, cleverer, more man-like: for man is the
best beast of prey.
All the animals hath man already robbed of their
virtues: that is why of all animals it hath been
hardest for man.
Only the birds are still beyond him. And if
man should yet learn to fly, alas! to what height—
would his rapacity fly!
23-
Thus would I have man and woman: fit for war,
the one; fit for maternity, the other; both, how-
ever, fit for dancing with head and legs.
And lost be the day to us in which a measure
hath not been danced. And false be every truth
which hath not had laughter along with it!
24.
Your marriage-arranging: see that it be not a
bad arranging! Ye have arranged too hastily: so
there followeth therefrom—marriage-breaking!
R
1
## p. 258 (#374) ############################################
258 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
And better marriage-breaking than marriage-
bending, marriage-lying! —Thus spake a woman
unto me: "Indeed, I broke the marriage, but first
did the marriage break—me! "
The badly paired found I ever the most revenge-
ful: they make every one suffer for it that they
no longer run singly.
On that account want I the honest ones to say to
one another: "We love each other: let us see to
it that we maintain our love! Or shall our pledg-
ing be blundering? "
—" Give us a set term and a small marriage, that
we may see if we are fit for the great marriage!
It is a great matter always to be twain. "
Thus do I counsel all honest ones; and what
would be my love to the Superman, and to all that
is to come, if I should counsel and speak otherwise!
Not only to propagate yourselves onwards but
upwards—thereto, O my brethren, may the garden
of marriage help you!
25-
He who hath grown wise concerning old origins,
lo, he will at last seek after the fountains of the
future and new origins. —
O my brethren, not long will it be until new
peoples shall arise and new fountains shall rush
down into new depths.
For the earthquake—it choketh up many wells,
it causeth much languishing: but it bringeth also
to light inner powers and secrets.
The earthquake discloseth new fountains. In the
earthquake of old peoples new fountains burst forth.
## p. 259 (#375) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 259
And whoever calleth out: "Lo, here is a well
for many thirsty ones, one heart for many longing
ones, one will for many instruments " :—around him
collecteth a people, that is to say, many attempting
ones.
Who can command, who must obey—that is
there attempted! Ah, with what long seeking and
solving and failing and learning and re-attempting!
Human society: it is an attempt—so I teach—a
long seeking: it seeketh however the ruler! —
—An attempt, my brethren! And no " contract"!
Destroy, I pray you, destroy that word of the soft-
hearted and half-and-half!
26.
O my brethren! With whom lieth the greatest
danger to the whole human future? Is it not with
the good and just ? —
—As those who say and feel in their hearts:
"We already know what is good and just, we
possess it also; woe to those who still seek there-
after! "
And whatever harm the wicked may do, the harm
of the good is the harmfulest harm!
And whatever harm the world-maligners may do,
the harm of the good is the harmfulest harm!
O my brethren, into the hearts of the good and
just looked some one once on a time, who said:
"They are the Pharisees. " But people did not
understand him.
The good and just themselves were not free to
understand him; their spirit was imprisoned in
## p. 260 (#376) ############################################
2f5o THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
their good conscience. The stupidity of the good
is unfathomably wise.
It is the truth, however, that the good must be
Pharisees—they have no choice!
The good must crucify him who deviseth his own
virtue! That is the truth!
The second one, however, who discovered their
country—the country, heart and soil of the good
and just,—it was he who asked: "Whom do they
hate most? "
The creator, hate they most, him who breaketh
the tables and old values, the breaker,—him they
call the law-breaker.
For the good—they cannot create; they are
always the beginning of the end :—
—They crucify him who writeth new values on
new tables, they sacrifice unto themselves the future
—they crucify the whole human future!
The good—they have always been the beginning
of the end. —
27.
O my brethren, have ye also understood this
word? And what I once said of the "last
man "?
With whom lieth the greatest danger to the whole
human future? Is it not with the good and just?
Break up, break up, I pray you, the good andjust!
—O my brethren, have ye understood also this
word?
28.
Ye flee from me? Yc are frightened? Ye
tremble at this word?
## p. 261 (#377) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 261
O my brethren, when I enjoined on you to break
up the good, and the tables of the good, then only
did I embark man on his high seas.
And now only cometh unto him the great terror,
the great outlook, the great sickness, the great
nausea, the great sea-sickness.
False shores and false securities did the good
teach you; in the lies of the good were ye born
and bred. Everything hath been radically contorted
and distorted by the good.
But he who discovered the country of "man,"
discovered also the country of" man's future. " Now
shall ye be sailors for me, brave, patient!
Keep yourselves up betimes, my brethren, learn
to keep yourselves up! The sea stormeth: many
seek to raise themselves again by you.
The sea stormeth: all is in the sea. Well!
Cheer up! Ye old seaman-hearts!
What of fatherland! Thither striveth our helm
where our children's land is! Thitherwards, stormier
than the sea, stormeth our great longing! —
29.
"Why so hard ! "—said to the diamond one day
the charcoal; "are we then not near relatives ? "—
Why so soft? O my brethren; thus do / ask
you: are ye then not—my brethren?
Why so soft, so submissive and yielding? Why
is there so much negation and abnegation in your
hearts? Why is there so little fate in your looks?
And if ye will not be fates and inexorable ones,
how can ye one day—conquer with me?
And if your hardness will not glance and cut
## p. 262 (#378) ############################################
262
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
and chip to pieces, how can ye one day--create
with me?
For the creators are hard. And blessedness
must it seem to you to press your hand upon
millenniums as upon wax,-
-Blessedness to write upon the will of millen-
niums as upon brass,—harder than brass, nobler
than brass.
Entirely hard is only the noblest.
This new table, O my brethren, put I up over
you : Become hard ! -
30.
O thou, my Will! Thou change of every need,
my needfulness ! Preserve me from all small
victories !
Thou fatedness of my soul, which I call fate!
Thou In-me! Over-me! Preserve and spare me
for one great fate!
And thy last greatness, my Will, spare it for thy
last-that thou mayest be inexorable in thy victory!
Ah, who hath not succumbed to his victory!
Ah, whose eye hath not bedimmed in this intoxi-
cated twilight! Ah, whose foot hath not faltered
and forgotten in victory—how to stand !
- That I may one day be ready and ripe in the
great noontide : ready and ripe like the glowing
ore, the lightning-bearing cloud, and the swelling
milk-udder :-
-Ready for myself and for my most hidden
Will: a bow eager for its arrow, an arrow eager for
its star :-
-A star, ready and ripe in its noontide, glowing,
pierced, blessed, by annihilating sun-arrows :-
## p. 263 (#379) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 263
—A sun itself, and an inexorable sun-will-, ready
for annihilation in victory!
O Will, thou change of every need, my needful-
ness! Spare me for one great victory!
Thus spake Zarathustra.
LVI I. —THE CONVALESCENT.
1.
One morning, not long after his return to his
cave, Zarathustra sprang up from his couch like a
madman, crying with a frightful voice, and acting
as if some one still lay on the couch who did not
wish to rise. Zarathustra's voice also resounded
in such a manner that his animals came to him
frightened, and out of all the neighbouring caves
and lurking-places all the creatures slipped away—
flying, fluttering, creeping or leaping, according to
their variety of foot or wing. Zarathustra, however,
spake these words:
Up, abysmal thought out of my depth! I am
thy cock and morning dawn, thou overslept reptile:
Up! Up! My voice shall soon crow thee awake!
Unbind the fetters of thine ears: listen! For I
wish to hear thee! Up! Up! There is thunder
enough to make the very graves listen!
And rub the sleep and all the dimness and blind-
ness out of thine eyes! Hear me also with thine
eyes: my voice is a medicine even for those born
blind.
And once thou art awake, then shalt thou ever
## p. 264 (#380) ############################################
264
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
remain awake. It is not my custom to awake great-
grandmothers out of their sleep that I may bid
them sleep on!
Thou stirrest, stretchest thyself, wheezest? Up!
Up! Not wheeze, shalt thou,—but speak unto me!
Zarathustra calleth thee, Zarathustra the godless !
I, Zarathustra, the advocate of living, the advocate
of suffering, the advocate of the circuit—thee do I
call, my most abysmal thought!
Joy to me! Thou comest,—I hear thee! Mine
abyss speaketh, my lowest depth have I turned over
into the light!
Joy to me! Come hither! Give me thy hand-
-ha! let be! aha ! - -Disgust, disgust, disgust-
-~alas to me!
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra spoken these
words, when he fell down as one dead, and re-
mained long as one dead. When however he again
came to himself, then was he pale and trembling,
and remained lying ; and for long he would neither
eat nor drink. This condition continued for seven
days; his animals, however, did not leave him day
nor night, except that the eagle flew forth to fetch
food. And what it fetched and foraged, it laid on
Zarathustra's couch : so that Zarathustra at last lay
among yellow and red berries, grapes, rosy apples,
sweet-smelling herbage, and pine-cones. At his
feet, however, two lambs were stretched, which the
eagle had with difficulty carried off from their
shepherds.
At last, after seven days, Zarathustra raised him-
## p. 265 (#381) ############################################
LVII. —THE CONVALESCENT. 265
self upon his couch, took a rosy apple in his hand,
smelt it and found its smell pleasant. Then did his
animals think the time had come to speak unto him.
"O Zarathustra," said they, " now hast thou lain
thus for seven days with heavy eyes: wilt thou not
set thyself again upon thy feet?
Step out of thy cave: the world waiteth for thee
as a garden. The wind playeth with heavy fragrance
which seeketh for thee; and all brooks would like
to run after thee.
All things long for thee, since thou hast remained
alone for seven days—step forth out of thy cave!
All things want to be thy physicians!
Did perhaps a new knowledge come to thee, a
bitter, grievous knowledge? Like leavened dough
layest thou, thy soul arose and swelled beyond all
its bounds. —"
—O mine animals, answered Zarathustra, talk on
thus and let me listen! It refresheth me so to hear
your talk: where there is talk, there is the world as
a garden unto me.
How charming it is that there are words and
tones; are not words and tones rainbows and
seeming bridges 'twixt the eternally separated?
To each soul belongeth another world; to each
soul is every other soul a back-world.
Among the most alike doth semblance deceive
most delightfully: for the smallest gap is most
difficult to bridge over.
For me—how could there be an outside-of-me?
There is no outside! But this we forget on hearing
tones; how delightful it is that we forget!
## p. 265 (#382) ############################################
264 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
remain awake. It is not my custom to awake great-
grandmothers out of their sleep that I may bid
them—sleep on!
Thou stirrest, stretchest thyself, wheezest? Up!
Up! Not wheeze, shalt thou,—but speak unto me!
Zarathustra calleth thee, Zarathustra the godless!
I, Zarathustra, the advocate of living, the advocate
of suffering, the advocate of the circuit—thee do I
call, my most abysmal thought!
Joy to me! Thou comest,—I hear thee! Mine
abyss speaketh, my lowest depth have I turned over
into the light!
Joy to me! Come hither! Give me thy hand—
—ha! let be! aha! Disgust, disgust, disgust—
alas to me!
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra spoken these
words, when he fell down as one dead, and re-
mained long as one dead. When however he again
came to himself, then was he pale and trembling,
and remained lying; and for long he would neither
eat nor drink. This condition continued for seven
days; his animals, however, did not leave him day
nor night, except that the eagle flew forth to fetch
food. And what it fetched and foraged, it laid on
Zarathustra's couch: so that Zarathustra at last lay
among yellow and red berries, grapes, rosy apples,
sweet-smelling herbage, and pine-cones. At his
feet, however, two lambs were stretched, which the
eagle had with difficulty carried off from their
shepherds.
At last, after seven days, Zarathustra raised him-
^
n
## p. 265 (#383) ############################################
LVII— THE CONVALESCENT. 265
self upon his couch, took a rosy apple in his hand,
smelt it and found its smell pleasant. Then did his
animals think the time had come to speak unto him.
"O Zarathustra," said they, "now hast thou lain
thus for seven days with heavy eyes: wilt thou not
set thyself again upon thy feet?
Step out of thy cave: the world waiteth for thee
as a garden. The wind playeth with heavy fragrance
which seeketh for thee; and all brooks would like
to run after thee.
All things long for thee, since thou hast remained
alone for seven days—step forth out of thy cave!
All things want to be thy physicians!
Did perhaps a new knowledge come to thee, a
bitter, grievous knowledge? Like leavened dough
layest thou, thy soul arose and swelled beyond all
its bounds. —"
—O mine animals, answered Zarathustra, talk on
thus and let me listen! It refresheth me so to hear
your talk: where there is talk, there is the world as
a garden unto me.
How charming it is that there are words and
tones; are not words and tones rainbows and
seeming bridges 'twixt the eternally separated?
To each soul belongeth another world; to each
soul is every other soul a back-world.
Among the most alike doth semblance deceive
most delightfully: for the smallest gap is most
difficult to bridge over.
For me—how could there be an outside-of-me?
There is no outside! But this we forget on hearing
tones; how delightful it is that we forget!
## p. 265 (#384) ############################################
264 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
remain awake. It is not my custom to awake great-
grandmothers out of their sleep that I may bid
them—sleep on!
Thou stirrest, stretchest thyself, wheezest? Up!
Up! Not wheeze, shalt thou,—but speak unto me!
Zarathustra calleth thee, Zarathustra the godless!
I, Zarathustra, the advocate of living, the advocate
of suffering, the advocate of the circuit—thee do I
call, my most abysmal thought!
Joy to me! Thou comest,—I hear thee! Mine
abyss speaketh, my lowest depth have I turned over
into the light!
Joy to me! Come hither! Give me thy hand—
—ha! let be! aha! Disgust, disgust, disgust—
alas to me!
2.
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra spoken these
words, when he fell down as one dead, and re-
mained long as one dead. When however he again
came to himself, then was he pale and trembling,
and remained lying; and for long he would neither
eat nor drink. This condition continued for seven
days; his animals, however, did not leave him day
nor night, except that the eagle flew forth to fetch
food. And what it fetched and foraged, it laid on
Zarathustra's couch: so that Zarathustra at last lay
among yellow and red berries, grapes, rosy apples,
sweet-smelling herbage, and pine-cones. At his
feet, however, two lambs were stretched, which the
eagle had with difficulty carried off from their
shepherds.
At last, after seven days, Zarathustra raised him-
^
^
## p. 265 (#385) ############################################
LVII. —THE CONVALESCENT. 265
self upon his couch, took a rosy apple in his hand,
smelt it and found its smell pleasant. Then did his
animals think the time had come to speak unto him.
"O Zarathustra," said they, " now hast thou lain
thus for seven days with heavy eyes: wilt thou not
set thyself again upon thy feet?
Step out of thy cave: the world waiteth for thee
as a garden. The wind playeth with heavy fragrance
which seeketh for thee; and all brooks would like
to run after thee.
All things long for thee, since thou hast remained
alone for seven days—step forth out of thy cave!
All things want to be thy physicians!
Did perhaps a new knowledge come to thee, a
bitter, grievous knowledge? Like leavened dough
layest thou, thy soul arose and swelled beyond all
its bounds. —"
—O mine animals, answered Zarathustra, talk on
thus and let me listen! It refresheth me so to hear
your talk: where there is talk, there is the world as
a garden unto me.
How charming it is that there are words and
tones; are not words and tones rainbows and
seeming bridges 'twixt the eternally separated?
To each soul belongeth another world; to each
soul is every other soul a back-world.
Among the most alike doth semblance deceive
most delightfully: for the smallest gap is most
difficult to bridge over.
For me—how could there be an outside-of-me?
There is no outside! But this we forget on hearing
tones; how delightful it is that we forget!
## p. 265 (#386) ############################################
264 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
remain awake. It is not my custom to awake great-
grandmothers out of their sleep that I may bid
them—sleep on!
Thou stirrest, stretchest thyself, wheezest? Up!
Up! Not wheeze, shalt thou,—but speak unto me!
Zarathustra calleth thee, Zarathustra the godless!
I, Zarathustra, the advocate of living, the advocate
of suffering, the advocate of the circuit—thee do I
call, my most abysmal thought!
Joy to me! Thou comest,—I hear thee! Mine
abyss speaketh, my lowest depth have I turned over
into the light!
Joy to me! Come hither! Give me thy hand—
—ha! let be! aha! Disgust, disgust, disgust—
alas to me!
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra spoken these
words, when he fell down as one dead, and re-
mained long as one dead. When however he again
came to himself, then was he pale and trembling,
and remained lying; and for long he would neither
eat nor drink. This condition continued for seven
days; his animals, however, did not leave him day
nor night, except that the eagle flew forth to fetch
food. And what it fetched and foraged, it laid on
Zarathustra's couch: so that Zarathustra at last lay
among yellow and red berries, grapes, rosy apples,
sweet-smelling herbage, and pine-cones. At his
feet, however, two lambs were stretched, which the
eagle had with difficulty carried off from their
shepherds.
At last, after seven days, Zarathustra raised him-
^
^
## p. 265 (#387) ############################################
LVII. —THE CONVALESCENT.
265
self upon his couch, took a rosy apple in his hand,
smelt it and found its smell pleasant. Then did his
animals think the time had come to speak unto him.
"O Zarathustra," said they, “now hast thou lain
thus for seven days with heavy eyes : wilt thou not
set thyself again upon thy feet?
Step out of thy cave: the world waiteth for thee
as a garden. The wind playeth with heavy fragrance
which seeketh for thee; and all brooks would like
to run after thee.
asketh their weariness: " Why did we ever go on
the way? All is indifferent! "
To them soundeth it pleasant to have preached
in their ears: "Nothing is worth while! Ye shall
not will! " That, however, is a sermon for slavery.
O my brethren, a fresh blustering wind cometh
## p. 252 (#368) ############################################
252 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
Zarathustra unto all way-weary ones; many noses
will he yet make sneeze!
Even through walls bloweth my free breath, and
in into prisons and imprisoned spirits!
Willing emancipateth: for willing is creating: so
do I teach. And only for creating shall ye learn!
And also the learning shall ye learn only from
me, the learning well! —He who hath ears let him
hear!
17-
There standeth the boat—thither goeth it over,
perhaps into vast nothingness—but who willeth to
enter into this " Perhaps "?
None of you want to enter into the death-boat!
How should ye then be world-weary ones!
World-weary ones! And have not even with-
drawn from the earth! Eager did I ever find you for
the earth, amorous still of your own earth-
weariness!
Not in vain doth your lip hang down :—a small
worldly wish still sitteth thereon! And in your
eye—floateth there not a cloudlet of unforgotten
earthly bliss?
There are on the earth many good inventions,
some useful, some pleasant: for their sake is the
earth to be loved.
And many such good inventions are there, that
they are like woman's breasts: useful at the same
time, and pleasant.
Ye world-weary ones, however! Ye earth-idlers!
You, shall one beat with stripes! With stripes shall
one again make you sprightly limbs.
## p. 253 (#369) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 253
For if ye be not invalids, or decrepit creatures,
of whom the earth is weary, then are ye sly
sloths, or dainty, sneaking pleasure-cats. And if
ye will not again run gaily, then shall ye-pass
away!
To the incurable shall one not seek to be a
physician : thus teacheth Zarathustra :-so shall ye
pass away!
But more courage is needed to make an end than
to make a new verse: that do all physicians and
poets know well. -
18.
O my brethren, there are tables which weariness
framed, and tables which slothfulness framed, cor-
rupt slothfulness : although they speak similarly,
they want to be heard differently. -
See this languishing one! Only a span-breadth
is he from his goal; but from weariness hath he
lain down obstinately in the dust, this brave one!
From weariness yawneth he at the path, at the
earth, at the goal, and at himself: not a step further
will he go,—this brave one!
Now gloweth the sun upon him, and the dogs lick
at his sweat: but he lieth there in his obstinacy
and preferreth to languish :-
-A span-breadth from his goal, to languish!
Verily, ye will have to drag him into his heaven
by the hair of his head—this hero!
Better still that ye let him lie where he hath lain
down, that sleep may come unto him, the comforter,
with cooling patter-rain.
Let him lie, until of his own accord he awakeneth,
## p. 254 (#370) ############################################
254 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
—until of his own accord he repudiateth all
weariness, and what weariness hath taught through
him!
Only, my brethren, see that ye scare the dogs
away from him, the idle skulkers, and all the
swarming vermin:—
—All the swarming vermin of the "cultured,"
that—feast on the sweat of every hero ! —
19.
I form circles around me and holy boundaries;
ever fewer ascend with me ever higher mountains:
I build a mountain-range out of ever holier
mountains. —
But wherever ye would ascend with me, O my
brethren, take care lest a parasite ascend with you!
A parasite: that is a reptile, a creeping, cringing
reptile, that trieth to fatten on your infirm and
sore places.
And this is its art: it divineth where ascending
souls are weary; in your trouble and dejection, in
your sensitive modesty, doth it build its loathsome
nest.
Where the strong are weak, where the noble are
all-too-gentle—there buildeth it its loathsome nest;
the parasite liveth where the great have small
sore-places.
What is the highest of all species of being, and
what is the lowest? The parasite is the lowest
species; he, however, who is of the highest species
feedeth most parasites.
For the soul which hath the longest ladder, and
## p. 255 (#371) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 255
can go deepest down : how could there fail to be
most parasites upon it? -
-The most comprehensive soul, which can run
and stray and rove furthest in itself; the most
necessary soul, which out of joy flingeth itself into
chance :-
-The soul in Being, which plungeth into Be-
coming; the possessing soul, which seeketh to attain
desire and longing :-
- The soul fleeing from itself, which overtaketh
itself in the widest circuit; the wisest soul, unto
which folly speaketh most sweetly :-
-The soul most self-loving, in which all things
have their current and counter-current, their ebb
and their flow :-oh, how could the loftiest soul fail
to have the worst parasites ?
20.
O my brethren, am I then cruel? But I say:
What falleth, that shall one also push!
Everything of to-day-it falleth, it decayeth; who
would preserve it! But 1-I wish also to push it !
Know ye the delight which rolleth stones into
precipitous depths ? – Those men of to-day, see
just how they roll into my depths!
A prelude am I to better players, O my brethren!
An example! Do according to mine example!
And him whom ye do not teach to fly, teach I
pray you-to fall faster ! —
21.
I love the brave: but it is not enough to be a
swordsman,—one must also know whereon to use
swordsmanship!
## p. 256 (#372) ############################################
256 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
And often is it greater bravery to keep quiet
and pass by, that thereby one may reserve oneself
for a worthier foe!
Ye shall only have foes to be hated; but not
foes to be despised: ye must be proud of your
foes. Thus have I already taught.
For the worthier foe, O my brethren, shall ye
reserve yourselves: therefore must ye pass by
many a one,—
—Especially many of the rabble, who din your
ears with noise about people and peoples.
Keep your eye clear of their For and Against!
There is there much right, much wrong: he who
looketh on becometh wroth.
Therein viewing, therein hewing—they are the
same thing: therefore depart into the forests and
lay your sword to sleep!
Go your ways! and let the people and peoples
go theirs! —gloomy ways, verily, on which not a
single hope glinteth any more!
Let there the trader rule, where all that still
glittereth is—traders' gold. It is the time of kings
no longer: that which now calleth itself the people
is unworthy of kings.
See how these peoples themselves now do just
like the traders: they pick up the smallest advan-
tage out of all kinds of rubbish!
They lay lures for one another, they lure things
out of one another,—that they call "good neigh-
bourliness. " O blessed remote period when a
people said to itself: "I will be—master over
peoples! "
For, my brethren, the best shall rule, the best
## p. 257 (#373) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 257
also willeth to rule! And where the teaching is
different, there—the best is lacking.
22.
If they had—bread for nothing, alas! for what
would they cry! Their maintainment—that is their
true entertainment; and they shall have it hard!
Beasts of prey, are they: in their " working "—
there is even plundering, in their "earning "—there
is even overreaching! Therefore shall they have
it hard!
Better beasts of prey shall they thus become,
subtler, cleverer, more man-like: for man is the
best beast of prey.
All the animals hath man already robbed of their
virtues: that is why of all animals it hath been
hardest for man.
Only the birds are still beyond him. And if
man should yet learn to fly, alas! to what height—
would his rapacity fly!
23-
Thus would I have man and woman: fit for war,
the one; fit for maternity, the other; both, how-
ever, fit for dancing with head and legs.
And lost be the day to us in which a measure
hath not been danced. And false be every truth
which hath not had laughter along with it!
24.
Your marriage-arranging: see that it be not a
bad arranging! Ye have arranged too hastily: so
there followeth therefrom—marriage-breaking!
R
1
## p. 258 (#374) ############################################
258 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
And better marriage-breaking than marriage-
bending, marriage-lying! —Thus spake a woman
unto me: "Indeed, I broke the marriage, but first
did the marriage break—me! "
The badly paired found I ever the most revenge-
ful: they make every one suffer for it that they
no longer run singly.
On that account want I the honest ones to say to
one another: "We love each other: let us see to
it that we maintain our love! Or shall our pledg-
ing be blundering? "
—" Give us a set term and a small marriage, that
we may see if we are fit for the great marriage!
It is a great matter always to be twain. "
Thus do I counsel all honest ones; and what
would be my love to the Superman, and to all that
is to come, if I should counsel and speak otherwise!
Not only to propagate yourselves onwards but
upwards—thereto, O my brethren, may the garden
of marriage help you!
25-
He who hath grown wise concerning old origins,
lo, he will at last seek after the fountains of the
future and new origins. —
O my brethren, not long will it be until new
peoples shall arise and new fountains shall rush
down into new depths.
For the earthquake—it choketh up many wells,
it causeth much languishing: but it bringeth also
to light inner powers and secrets.
The earthquake discloseth new fountains. In the
earthquake of old peoples new fountains burst forth.
## p. 259 (#375) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 259
And whoever calleth out: "Lo, here is a well
for many thirsty ones, one heart for many longing
ones, one will for many instruments " :—around him
collecteth a people, that is to say, many attempting
ones.
Who can command, who must obey—that is
there attempted! Ah, with what long seeking and
solving and failing and learning and re-attempting!
Human society: it is an attempt—so I teach—a
long seeking: it seeketh however the ruler! —
—An attempt, my brethren! And no " contract"!
Destroy, I pray you, destroy that word of the soft-
hearted and half-and-half!
26.
O my brethren! With whom lieth the greatest
danger to the whole human future? Is it not with
the good and just ? —
—As those who say and feel in their hearts:
"We already know what is good and just, we
possess it also; woe to those who still seek there-
after! "
And whatever harm the wicked may do, the harm
of the good is the harmfulest harm!
And whatever harm the world-maligners may do,
the harm of the good is the harmfulest harm!
O my brethren, into the hearts of the good and
just looked some one once on a time, who said:
"They are the Pharisees. " But people did not
understand him.
The good and just themselves were not free to
understand him; their spirit was imprisoned in
## p. 260 (#376) ############################################
2f5o THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
their good conscience. The stupidity of the good
is unfathomably wise.
It is the truth, however, that the good must be
Pharisees—they have no choice!
The good must crucify him who deviseth his own
virtue! That is the truth!
The second one, however, who discovered their
country—the country, heart and soil of the good
and just,—it was he who asked: "Whom do they
hate most? "
The creator, hate they most, him who breaketh
the tables and old values, the breaker,—him they
call the law-breaker.
For the good—they cannot create; they are
always the beginning of the end :—
—They crucify him who writeth new values on
new tables, they sacrifice unto themselves the future
—they crucify the whole human future!
The good—they have always been the beginning
of the end. —
27.
O my brethren, have ye also understood this
word? And what I once said of the "last
man "?
With whom lieth the greatest danger to the whole
human future? Is it not with the good and just?
Break up, break up, I pray you, the good andjust!
—O my brethren, have ye understood also this
word?
28.
Ye flee from me? Yc are frightened? Ye
tremble at this word?
## p. 261 (#377) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 261
O my brethren, when I enjoined on you to break
up the good, and the tables of the good, then only
did I embark man on his high seas.
And now only cometh unto him the great terror,
the great outlook, the great sickness, the great
nausea, the great sea-sickness.
False shores and false securities did the good
teach you; in the lies of the good were ye born
and bred. Everything hath been radically contorted
and distorted by the good.
But he who discovered the country of "man,"
discovered also the country of" man's future. " Now
shall ye be sailors for me, brave, patient!
Keep yourselves up betimes, my brethren, learn
to keep yourselves up! The sea stormeth: many
seek to raise themselves again by you.
The sea stormeth: all is in the sea. Well!
Cheer up! Ye old seaman-hearts!
What of fatherland! Thither striveth our helm
where our children's land is! Thitherwards, stormier
than the sea, stormeth our great longing! —
29.
"Why so hard ! "—said to the diamond one day
the charcoal; "are we then not near relatives ? "—
Why so soft? O my brethren; thus do / ask
you: are ye then not—my brethren?
Why so soft, so submissive and yielding? Why
is there so much negation and abnegation in your
hearts? Why is there so little fate in your looks?
And if ye will not be fates and inexorable ones,
how can ye one day—conquer with me?
And if your hardness will not glance and cut
## p. 262 (#378) ############################################
262
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
and chip to pieces, how can ye one day--create
with me?
For the creators are hard. And blessedness
must it seem to you to press your hand upon
millenniums as upon wax,-
-Blessedness to write upon the will of millen-
niums as upon brass,—harder than brass, nobler
than brass.
Entirely hard is only the noblest.
This new table, O my brethren, put I up over
you : Become hard ! -
30.
O thou, my Will! Thou change of every need,
my needfulness ! Preserve me from all small
victories !
Thou fatedness of my soul, which I call fate!
Thou In-me! Over-me! Preserve and spare me
for one great fate!
And thy last greatness, my Will, spare it for thy
last-that thou mayest be inexorable in thy victory!
Ah, who hath not succumbed to his victory!
Ah, whose eye hath not bedimmed in this intoxi-
cated twilight! Ah, whose foot hath not faltered
and forgotten in victory—how to stand !
- That I may one day be ready and ripe in the
great noontide : ready and ripe like the glowing
ore, the lightning-bearing cloud, and the swelling
milk-udder :-
-Ready for myself and for my most hidden
Will: a bow eager for its arrow, an arrow eager for
its star :-
-A star, ready and ripe in its noontide, glowing,
pierced, blessed, by annihilating sun-arrows :-
## p. 263 (#379) ############################################
LVI. —OLD AND NEW TABLES. 263
—A sun itself, and an inexorable sun-will-, ready
for annihilation in victory!
O Will, thou change of every need, my needful-
ness! Spare me for one great victory!
Thus spake Zarathustra.
LVI I. —THE CONVALESCENT.
1.
One morning, not long after his return to his
cave, Zarathustra sprang up from his couch like a
madman, crying with a frightful voice, and acting
as if some one still lay on the couch who did not
wish to rise. Zarathustra's voice also resounded
in such a manner that his animals came to him
frightened, and out of all the neighbouring caves
and lurking-places all the creatures slipped away—
flying, fluttering, creeping or leaping, according to
their variety of foot or wing. Zarathustra, however,
spake these words:
Up, abysmal thought out of my depth! I am
thy cock and morning dawn, thou overslept reptile:
Up! Up! My voice shall soon crow thee awake!
Unbind the fetters of thine ears: listen! For I
wish to hear thee! Up! Up! There is thunder
enough to make the very graves listen!
And rub the sleep and all the dimness and blind-
ness out of thine eyes! Hear me also with thine
eyes: my voice is a medicine even for those born
blind.
And once thou art awake, then shalt thou ever
## p. 264 (#380) ############################################
264
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
remain awake. It is not my custom to awake great-
grandmothers out of their sleep that I may bid
them sleep on!
Thou stirrest, stretchest thyself, wheezest? Up!
Up! Not wheeze, shalt thou,—but speak unto me!
Zarathustra calleth thee, Zarathustra the godless !
I, Zarathustra, the advocate of living, the advocate
of suffering, the advocate of the circuit—thee do I
call, my most abysmal thought!
Joy to me! Thou comest,—I hear thee! Mine
abyss speaketh, my lowest depth have I turned over
into the light!
Joy to me! Come hither! Give me thy hand-
-ha! let be! aha ! - -Disgust, disgust, disgust-
-~alas to me!
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra spoken these
words, when he fell down as one dead, and re-
mained long as one dead. When however he again
came to himself, then was he pale and trembling,
and remained lying ; and for long he would neither
eat nor drink. This condition continued for seven
days; his animals, however, did not leave him day
nor night, except that the eagle flew forth to fetch
food. And what it fetched and foraged, it laid on
Zarathustra's couch : so that Zarathustra at last lay
among yellow and red berries, grapes, rosy apples,
sweet-smelling herbage, and pine-cones. At his
feet, however, two lambs were stretched, which the
eagle had with difficulty carried off from their
shepherds.
At last, after seven days, Zarathustra raised him-
## p. 265 (#381) ############################################
LVII. —THE CONVALESCENT. 265
self upon his couch, took a rosy apple in his hand,
smelt it and found its smell pleasant. Then did his
animals think the time had come to speak unto him.
"O Zarathustra," said they, " now hast thou lain
thus for seven days with heavy eyes: wilt thou not
set thyself again upon thy feet?
Step out of thy cave: the world waiteth for thee
as a garden. The wind playeth with heavy fragrance
which seeketh for thee; and all brooks would like
to run after thee.
All things long for thee, since thou hast remained
alone for seven days—step forth out of thy cave!
All things want to be thy physicians!
Did perhaps a new knowledge come to thee, a
bitter, grievous knowledge? Like leavened dough
layest thou, thy soul arose and swelled beyond all
its bounds. —"
—O mine animals, answered Zarathustra, talk on
thus and let me listen! It refresheth me so to hear
your talk: where there is talk, there is the world as
a garden unto me.
How charming it is that there are words and
tones; are not words and tones rainbows and
seeming bridges 'twixt the eternally separated?
To each soul belongeth another world; to each
soul is every other soul a back-world.
Among the most alike doth semblance deceive
most delightfully: for the smallest gap is most
difficult to bridge over.
For me—how could there be an outside-of-me?
There is no outside! But this we forget on hearing
tones; how delightful it is that we forget!
## p. 265 (#382) ############################################
264 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
remain awake. It is not my custom to awake great-
grandmothers out of their sleep that I may bid
them—sleep on!
Thou stirrest, stretchest thyself, wheezest? Up!
Up! Not wheeze, shalt thou,—but speak unto me!
Zarathustra calleth thee, Zarathustra the godless!
I, Zarathustra, the advocate of living, the advocate
of suffering, the advocate of the circuit—thee do I
call, my most abysmal thought!
Joy to me! Thou comest,—I hear thee! Mine
abyss speaketh, my lowest depth have I turned over
into the light!
Joy to me! Come hither! Give me thy hand—
—ha! let be! aha! Disgust, disgust, disgust—
alas to me!
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra spoken these
words, when he fell down as one dead, and re-
mained long as one dead. When however he again
came to himself, then was he pale and trembling,
and remained lying; and for long he would neither
eat nor drink. This condition continued for seven
days; his animals, however, did not leave him day
nor night, except that the eagle flew forth to fetch
food. And what it fetched and foraged, it laid on
Zarathustra's couch: so that Zarathustra at last lay
among yellow and red berries, grapes, rosy apples,
sweet-smelling herbage, and pine-cones. At his
feet, however, two lambs were stretched, which the
eagle had with difficulty carried off from their
shepherds.
At last, after seven days, Zarathustra raised him-
^
n
## p. 265 (#383) ############################################
LVII— THE CONVALESCENT. 265
self upon his couch, took a rosy apple in his hand,
smelt it and found its smell pleasant. Then did his
animals think the time had come to speak unto him.
"O Zarathustra," said they, "now hast thou lain
thus for seven days with heavy eyes: wilt thou not
set thyself again upon thy feet?
Step out of thy cave: the world waiteth for thee
as a garden. The wind playeth with heavy fragrance
which seeketh for thee; and all brooks would like
to run after thee.
All things long for thee, since thou hast remained
alone for seven days—step forth out of thy cave!
All things want to be thy physicians!
Did perhaps a new knowledge come to thee, a
bitter, grievous knowledge? Like leavened dough
layest thou, thy soul arose and swelled beyond all
its bounds. —"
—O mine animals, answered Zarathustra, talk on
thus and let me listen! It refresheth me so to hear
your talk: where there is talk, there is the world as
a garden unto me.
How charming it is that there are words and
tones; are not words and tones rainbows and
seeming bridges 'twixt the eternally separated?
To each soul belongeth another world; to each
soul is every other soul a back-world.
Among the most alike doth semblance deceive
most delightfully: for the smallest gap is most
difficult to bridge over.
For me—how could there be an outside-of-me?
There is no outside! But this we forget on hearing
tones; how delightful it is that we forget!
## p. 265 (#384) ############################################
264 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
remain awake. It is not my custom to awake great-
grandmothers out of their sleep that I may bid
them—sleep on!
Thou stirrest, stretchest thyself, wheezest? Up!
Up! Not wheeze, shalt thou,—but speak unto me!
Zarathustra calleth thee, Zarathustra the godless!
I, Zarathustra, the advocate of living, the advocate
of suffering, the advocate of the circuit—thee do I
call, my most abysmal thought!
Joy to me! Thou comest,—I hear thee! Mine
abyss speaketh, my lowest depth have I turned over
into the light!
Joy to me! Come hither! Give me thy hand—
—ha! let be! aha! Disgust, disgust, disgust—
alas to me!
2.
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra spoken these
words, when he fell down as one dead, and re-
mained long as one dead. When however he again
came to himself, then was he pale and trembling,
and remained lying; and for long he would neither
eat nor drink. This condition continued for seven
days; his animals, however, did not leave him day
nor night, except that the eagle flew forth to fetch
food. And what it fetched and foraged, it laid on
Zarathustra's couch: so that Zarathustra at last lay
among yellow and red berries, grapes, rosy apples,
sweet-smelling herbage, and pine-cones. At his
feet, however, two lambs were stretched, which the
eagle had with difficulty carried off from their
shepherds.
At last, after seven days, Zarathustra raised him-
^
^
## p. 265 (#385) ############################################
LVII. —THE CONVALESCENT. 265
self upon his couch, took a rosy apple in his hand,
smelt it and found its smell pleasant. Then did his
animals think the time had come to speak unto him.
"O Zarathustra," said they, " now hast thou lain
thus for seven days with heavy eyes: wilt thou not
set thyself again upon thy feet?
Step out of thy cave: the world waiteth for thee
as a garden. The wind playeth with heavy fragrance
which seeketh for thee; and all brooks would like
to run after thee.
All things long for thee, since thou hast remained
alone for seven days—step forth out of thy cave!
All things want to be thy physicians!
Did perhaps a new knowledge come to thee, a
bitter, grievous knowledge? Like leavened dough
layest thou, thy soul arose and swelled beyond all
its bounds. —"
—O mine animals, answered Zarathustra, talk on
thus and let me listen! It refresheth me so to hear
your talk: where there is talk, there is the world as
a garden unto me.
How charming it is that there are words and
tones; are not words and tones rainbows and
seeming bridges 'twixt the eternally separated?
To each soul belongeth another world; to each
soul is every other soul a back-world.
Among the most alike doth semblance deceive
most delightfully: for the smallest gap is most
difficult to bridge over.
For me—how could there be an outside-of-me?
There is no outside! But this we forget on hearing
tones; how delightful it is that we forget!
## p. 265 (#386) ############################################
264 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
remain awake. It is not my custom to awake great-
grandmothers out of their sleep that I may bid
them—sleep on!
Thou stirrest, stretchest thyself, wheezest? Up!
Up! Not wheeze, shalt thou,—but speak unto me!
Zarathustra calleth thee, Zarathustra the godless!
I, Zarathustra, the advocate of living, the advocate
of suffering, the advocate of the circuit—thee do I
call, my most abysmal thought!
Joy to me! Thou comest,—I hear thee! Mine
abyss speaketh, my lowest depth have I turned over
into the light!
Joy to me! Come hither! Give me thy hand—
—ha! let be! aha! Disgust, disgust, disgust—
alas to me!
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra spoken these
words, when he fell down as one dead, and re-
mained long as one dead. When however he again
came to himself, then was he pale and trembling,
and remained lying; and for long he would neither
eat nor drink. This condition continued for seven
days; his animals, however, did not leave him day
nor night, except that the eagle flew forth to fetch
food. And what it fetched and foraged, it laid on
Zarathustra's couch: so that Zarathustra at last lay
among yellow and red berries, grapes, rosy apples,
sweet-smelling herbage, and pine-cones. At his
feet, however, two lambs were stretched, which the
eagle had with difficulty carried off from their
shepherds.
At last, after seven days, Zarathustra raised him-
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LVII. —THE CONVALESCENT.
265
self upon his couch, took a rosy apple in his hand,
smelt it and found its smell pleasant. Then did his
animals think the time had come to speak unto him.
"O Zarathustra," said they, “now hast thou lain
thus for seven days with heavy eyes : wilt thou not
set thyself again upon thy feet?
Step out of thy cave: the world waiteth for thee
as a garden. The wind playeth with heavy fragrance
which seeketh for thee; and all brooks would like
to run after thee.
