No More Learning

the reactionagainstthat Revolution
has likewise been very much stronger, and (strange to
say) that reaction of the powerful, the rich, and the
aristocrats has appropriated the Christian religion
to itself in order to fight the revolutionary lower
classes, which were strongly, but wrongly, suspected
by them of a lack of Christian spirit Wrongly, I say,
because they quite forgot that Christianity, in spite of
a benignantmask. isinrealityarevolutionary religion,
and that not the lack of religion, but the very spirit of
religion, had driven the French people to cut off the
heads of their king and their aristocrats. Now, when
the Revolution was vanquished and the full tide of
the Restoration had set in, the monarchs of Prussia,
Russia, and Austria had nothing better to do than to
found the Holy Alliance, which was joined by most
monarchs of Europe (except the Prince-Regent of
England) and adopted Christianity and the princi-
ples of justice, peace, and charity (the requirements
of all the lower strata of society) as their shibboleth:
xiv


## p. xv (#23) ##############################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
in other words, it was they, the princes, the powerful,
the masters, who adopted the tenets of the religion
of the slaves. In opposition to them, and in order to
fight their "enemies and oppressors," the liberal and
socialistic lower classes of the Continent have more
or less loudly proclaimed a sort of atheism, although
it is precisely they who most fervently believe, if not
in the Christian God, at least in something much more
important than this God—to wit, His morality.
Thus, as will easily be seen,on the Continent every-
thing is muddled in matters of religion; what should
be below is above, and what should be above is be-
low; whereas in England everything is comparatively
natural: the religion of those below is still most alive
amongst those below, while the upper classes are much
more permeated by the non -Christian spirit—by the
spirit of a Voltaire and aGibbon. In England, there-
fore, at election times the battle-cry can still be heard:
"To Hell with the Dukes and the Lords: vote for
Christ 1" while on the Continent Christ fights side
by side with the aristocrats, who pretend to be on the
most intimate terms with Him, the enemy of proud
names and worldly riches. French officers of good fa-
milies nowadays regularly attend mass, not from a
deep inner relationship to the Prince of Peace on the
Cross, but in order to protest against what they sup-
pose to be the most impudent atheism of the rebellious
lower classes. German Junkers pretend to be pillars
of the throne and altar, not knowing or not wishing to
know that the teaching given out at the altar is, so
long as it is delivered without falsehood, subversive
of all thrones and all authorities. Wealth and beauty
all over the Continent, from a reaction against the
xv


## p. xvi (#24) #############################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
"materialistic " lower classes, feels itself coerced into
doing homage to a God who stood for poverty and
equality against full pockets and rosy cheeks. With
perfect justice, therefore, the Liberals and Socialists
on the Continent reproach the upper classes with
hypocrisy, while in England the hypocrisy is much
more on the side of the Liberal and middle classes.
For, why do not these Liberals carry out their Chris-
tian principles? Why not establish equality? Why
not abolish capitalism? . . . " But it is impossible to do
all that! " Ah! . . . is Christianity then impossible?
It is on account of these peculiar religious condi-
tions that Nietzschean thought seems more likely to
be understood in England than any other country of
Europe, for in England, and only in England, can it
still be seen that Nietzsche was right in describing
Christianity as the religion of the lower classes, while
ontheContinent his whole attack seems tobe without
significance. his whole philosophy based upon assump-
tion. But why not—it might be objected—rely much
more upon another country, a country much more
Nietzschean than England, a country where the
translation of Nietzsche has been subsidised by the
Government, and one which besides enjoys the repu-
tation of being the most intellectual of European
nations—why not rely upon modern France for the
practical success of Nietzsche? The answer to this
important objection is very simple, and it is this:
that French free-thought—although certainly of a
much more independent nature than what is called
free-thought elsewhere—that French free-thought, I
say, is not too much to be depended upon when it
is supposed to turn in earnest against an old religion,
xvi



## p. xvii (#25) ############################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
It must never be forgotten that Catholicism, unlike
Protestantism, has really entered into the hearts of
its believers; that the head of a Latin may be as free-
thinking and daring as possible, but that his heart
will shrink nevertheless from drawing the final con-
clusions of his intellectual persuasion. Catholicism,
besides, is an admirable system, thought out by real
connoisseurs of human nature; it is well adapted to
the requirements of Southerners, and it has not yet
quite led to those intolerable conditions which Niet-
zsche so constantlyattacks in his works. There is still
a remnant of patriarchalism left in Latin countries; the
family is not yet totally undermined; nor woman in
open rebellion ; nor the authority of the father quite
abolished; nor are the children imbued with the in-
flexible conviction that" they must live their own lives
at all cost! " And, as patriarchalism in domestic and
business life has not yet quite disappeared in these
countries, there has up to now been no necessity for
the State to take care of millions of slaves, many of
whom are beyond any care and hope, many whose
propagation even threatens our society with an ig-
noble death from suffocation by its own refuse.
There is no doubt that Protestantism (whatever
good it may have done in other fields) has created
these sad conditionsaround us: with its idea of equal-
ity it has split humanity into thousands of anarchical
atoms, with its idea of liberty it has thrown responsi-
bility upon weak shoulders, with its idea of charity it
has helped these weak and worthless people to sur-
vive, nay, to pullulate as freely as possible. Now, as
Protestantism is the principal object of Nietzsche's
attack, and as affairs are not quite so desperate
b xvii


## p. xviii (#26) ###########################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
amongst the Catholics as amongst the Protestants,
a French or Italian free-thinker, though most willing-
ly agreeing with Nietzsche's remarks about Christi-
anity, will only too readily save himself by drawing
a line between Catholicism and Christianity. "One
should be too good a Catholicto be a good Christian,"
one of the foremost Nietzscheans of France wrote the
other day. Nowthisin my opinion is agrave error—an
error. by the way,not shared bythehead of the Catho-
lic Church, who has rightly, from this point of view,
put the works of Friedrich Nietzsche on the " Index
Expurgatorius. " It is a great mistake, I think, to hide
behind the Church in order to escape the consequences
of true Christianity, for the Church, even the Catholic
Church, the least Christian of all Christian Churches,
will never give up the faith: it would make itself su-
perfluous as a physician if it ever ceased from distri-
buting its peculiar poison. In spite, therefore, of all my
respect for the most intellectual country in Europe, I
have the greatest doubt whether it will not and should
not be a Protestant country that oughttotake the lead
in the matter of Nietzschean thought. And since the
country of our philosopher, as he rightly prophesied
himself (see Ecce Homo, p. 126 of this edition), is out
of the question on account of its low-church morality,
its mental confusion, its indecision in matters of in-
tellect, it became a most urgent necessity to carry
conviction to that country which has the most deep-
ly rooted aversion to any convictions—and especi-
ally to those pronounced in dictatorial terms—to
England.
"This is a difficult country to move, my friend, a
difficult country indeed," said the aged Disraeli once
xviii


## p. xix (#27) #############################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
to the young and enthusiastic Socialist Mr. Hynd-
man; and if anyone besides Disraeli has ever experi-
enced the truth of this saying. it is we. who havebrought
this edition to a successful conclusion. The stoical
"ataraxia" of the Anglo-Saxon world is—to put it
mildly—something terrible; but why put it mildly?
That in matters of the intellect England is a real
brick wall there is not the slightest doubt, as some
almost ineffaceable bruises on the heads of my fellow-
workers and myself will for ever demonstrate to any
unbeliever. In saying this I of course in no way de-
sire to utter any specially adverse criticism—on the
contrary, I rather admire this characteristic in an
otherwise unprincipled world, in a world which only
too often pretends to be tolerant of all ideas, because
it has no original ideas of itsown. Such open-minded
people are the last for whom Nietzsche wrote, and the
early active acceptance of Nietzsche by just such
people was and is still our greatest danger—a much
greaterdanger than the passive resistance of that fatal
brick wall. No, if I am to have any choice in the
matter, let me deal with the British brick wall: at
least it is no yielding softness, at least there is firmness
in that stupidity, and once it is conquered you can
with certainty rely and build upon a brick wall, how-
ever obstinate the resistance may have been. . . .
But I do not wish to dwell any longer upon the re-
sistance we encountered, lest it might be thought that
this is only done for the purpose of glorifying our
achievements or of exalting our pluck in overcoming
obstacles. It is for a much more modest reason that
I have to draw the reader's attention to the conditions
under which Nietzsche has been introduced into Eng-
xix


## p. xx (#28) ##############################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
land; it is in order to excuse us, the Nietzscheans, for
the manner in which it was accomplished.
This manner of our campaign has very often been
blamed in private conversations as well as in public
utterances, and, let me say it at once, not without
some shadow of justice. Our publications have been
very loud, our lectures aggressive, our conversations
"conceited. " I myself have openly indulged in sneers
and sarcasms of a most hearty calibre, as the Preface
to this very edition and all the prefaces I wrote to the
books of my friends will prove. I have likewise, I con-
fess, encouraged some of my contributors to indulge
in a similar language—a languagewhich is both jar-
ring and discomfiting to the ordinary inhabitant of
this island, accustomed as he is to have the more
polite forms of parliamentary discussion preserved
even in his literature. I know it, and I confess it; but,
let me say at once, I do not at all regret it. The
reason for all this extraordinary behaviour is only
too plain: we were an insignificant minority in a state
of war with a vast majority, whose arrows, as the
Persian ambassador once upon a time said to the
Spartans, would well have been able to darken the
sun.
We were a hopelessly small garrison in the midst
of alarmingly hostile surroundings. Everybody was
against us: not openly, to be sure, but, what is worse,
silently, sullenly, instinctively. In front of us stood
a most powerful phalanx composed of everything
thatdirectstheintellect of this country—a phalanxof
pricstsandprofessors,politicians and petticoats. One
might have thought that some solitaries, a few of the
independent thinkers, or some of the literary cele-

xx


## p. xxi (#29) #############################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
brities of modern England would have come to our
rescue; but, apart from a misunderstanding of our
cause and a very private and secret encouragement,
not a soul stirred, not a mouth opened, not a finger
was moved in our favour. Add to this that we were
really a beaten crew, that England had stated before
she would have nothing to do with Nietzsche. Re-
member that we were likewise a terribly decimated
crew. Of the older Nietzscheans, of those who stood
sponsor for the first edition, only two, Mr. Thomas
Common and Mr. William Haussmann, have remain-
ed faithful to the cause. Some have left the flag, others
have disappeared, one has become a Catholic. John
Davidson, a true Nietzschean likewise, though one
more intoxicated than inspired by Nietzsche, has
even taken his own life. What wonder! The battle-
field of thought has its dead, its wounded, and its
deserters as well as any other—and only the com-
fortable citizen who has no idea of what this higher
warfare is like will shrug his shoulders at those who
come to grief during their noble but dangerous enter-
prise.
In other words: it was a case of "now or never,"
and of at least one of our army I know for a certainty
that he would not have survived a " never. " One fights
well with broken bridges behind one's back, one fights
rather ruthlessly, one is consequently not very particu-
lar about the means. "Je riaimepas la guerre a Feau
de rose" as Napoleon used to say. "If moral support
will not do, we must give immoral support to Greece,"
as Bismarck once remarked. And we have certainly
helped our cause by all possible means, open or secret,
lawful or unlawful, moral or immoral—there is no
xxi


## p. xxi (#30) #############################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
land; it is in order to excuse us, the Nietzscheans, for
the manner in which it was accomplished.
This manner of our campaign has very often been
blamed in private conversations as well as in public
utterances, and, let me say it at once, not without
some shadow of justice. Our publications have been
very loud, our lectures aggressive, our conversations
"conceited. " I myself have openly indulged in sneers
and sarcasms of a most hearty calibre, as the Preface
to this very edition and all the prefaces I wrote to the
books of my friends will prove. I have likewise, I con-
fess, encouraged some of my contributors to indulge
in a similar language—a languagewhich is both jar-
ring and discomfiting to the ordinary inhabitant of
this island, accustomed as he is to have the more
polite forms of parliamentary discussion preserved
even in his literature. I know it, and I confess it; but,
let me say at once, I do not at all regret it. The
reason for all this extraordinary behaviour is only
too plain: we were an insignificant minority in a state
of war with a vast majority, whose arrows, as the
Persian ambassador once upon a time said to the
Spartans, would well have been able to darken the
sun.
We were a hopelessly small garrison in the midst
of alarmingly hostile surroundings. Everybody was
against us: not openly, to be sure, but, what is worse,
silently, sullenly, instinctively. In front of us stood
a most powerful phalanx composed of everything
thatdirectstheintellect of this country—a phalanxof
priests and professors. politicians and petticoats. One
might have thought that some solitaries, a few of the
independent thinkers, or some of the literary cele-

xx


## p. xxi (#31) #############################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
brities of modern England would have come to our
rescue; but, apart from a misunderstanding of our
cause and a very private and secret encouragement,
not a soul stirred, not a mouth opened, not a finger
was moved in our favour. Add to this that we were
really a beaten crew, that England had stated before
she would have nothing to do with Nietzsche. Re-
member that we were likewise a terribly decimated
crew. Of the older Nietzscheans, of those who stood
sponsor for the first edition, only two, Mr. Thomas
Common and Mr. William Haussmann. have remain-
ed faithful to the cause. Some have left the flag, others
have disappeared, one has become a Catholic. John
Davidson, a true Nietzschean likewise, though one
more intoxicated than inspired by Nietzsche, has
even taken his own life. What wonder! The battle-
field of thought has its dead, its wounded, and its
deserters as well as any other—and only the com-
fortable citizen who has no idea of what this higher
warfare is like will shrug his shoulders at those who
come to grief during their noble but dangerous enter-
prise.
In other words: it was a case of "now or never,"
and of at least one of our army I know for a certainty
that he would not have survived a " never. " O ne fights
well with broken bridges behind one's back,one fights
ratherruthlessly, one isconsequently not very particu-
lar about the means. "Je riaimepas la guerre a Feau
de rose" as Napoleon used to say. "If moral support
will not do, we must give immoral support to Greece,"
as Bismarck once remarked. And we have certainly
helped our cause by all possible means, open or secret,
lawful or unlawful, moral or immoral—there is no
xxi


## p. xxi (#32) #############################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
land; it is in order to excuse us, the Nietzscheans, for
the manner in which it was accomplished.
This manner of our campaign has very often been
blamed in private conversations as well as in public
utterances, and, let me say it at once, not without
some shadow of justice. Our publications have been
very loud, our lectures aggressive, our conversations
"conceited. " I myself have openly indulged in sneers
and sarcasms of a most hearty calibre, as the Preface
to this very edition and all the prefaces I wrote to the
books of my friends will prove. I have likewise, I con-
fess, encouraged some of my contributors to indulge
in a similar language—a languagewhich is both jar-
ring and discomfiting to the ordinary inhabitant of
this island, accustomed as he is to have the more
polite forms of parliamentary discussion preserved
even in his literature. I know it, and I confess it; but,
let me say at once, I do not at all regret it. The
reason for all this extraordinary behaviour is only
too plain: we were an insignificant minority in a state
of war with a vast majority, whose arrows, as the
Persian ambassador once upon a time said to the
Spartans, would well have been able to darken the
sun.
We were a hopelessly small garrison in the midst
of alarmingly hostile surroundings. Everybody was
against us: not openly, to be sure, but, what is worse,
silently, sullenly, instinctively. In front of us stood
a most powerful phalanx composed of everything
thatdirectstheintellect of this country—a phalanxof
priestsandprofessors,politiciansand petticoats. One
might have thought that some solitaries, a few of the
independent thinkers, or some of the literary cele-

xx


## p. xxi (#33) #############################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
brities of modern England would have come to our
rescue; but, apart from a misunderstanding of our
cause and a very private and secret encouragement,
not a soul stirred, not a mouth opened, not a finger
was moved in our favour. Add to this that we were
really a beaten crew, that England had stated before
she would have nothing to do with Nietzsche. Re-
member that we were likewise a terribly decimated
crew. Of the older Nietzscheans, of those who stood
sponsor for the first edition, only two, Mr. Thomas
Common and Mr. William Haussmann. have remain-
ed faithful to the cause. Some have left the flag,others
have disappeared, one has become a Catholic. John
Davidson, a true Nietzschean likewise, though one
more intoxicated than inspired by Nietzsche, has
even taken his own life. What wonder! The battle-
field of thought has its dead, its wounded, and its
deserters as well as any other—and only the com-
fortable citizen who has no idea of what this higher
warfare is like will shrug his shoulders at those who
come to grief during their noble but dangerous enter-
prise.
In other words: it was a case of "now or never,"
and of at least one of our army I know for a certainty
that he would not have survived a "never. " One fights
well with broken bridges behind one's back, one fights
rather ruthlessly, one isconsequently not very particu-
lar about the means. "Je riaimepas la guerre a Feau
de rose" as Napoleon used to say. "If moral support
will not do, we must give immoral support to Greece,"
as Bismarck once remarked. And we have certainly
helped our cause by all possible means, open or secret,
lawful or unlawful, moral or immoral—there is no
xxi


## p. xxi (#34) #############################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
doubt about it, I openly confess it, and I even say it
with pride. For our doing was not without danger to
ourselves, and our want of caution proves at least
one thing: that we had a real purpose, a real aim in
view—an aim that made us forget the ordinary laws
of prudence and circumspection which are otherwise
so dear to the literary world.
Butthoughwe have nodoubt used immoral means,
let no one think that we have used them for an im-
moral end. I know that the popular opinion is still
to the contrary; I know that Nietzsche's teaching is
still considered as thatof a pitiless monster. or as that
of a weak man trying to pose as a strong one, or, at
its best. as the dream of a romanticand feverish brain.
No one, I fear. except myself. has ever pointed out the
deep piety and religious feeling(seemy Editorial Note
to Thoughts out of Season, vol. i. p. viii) underlying his
cause. And now, after the longyears during which my
thought has occupied itself with his work, this opinion
of mine, that Nietzsche's doctrine is not, as it appears
to be, the negation of Christianity, but rather its per-
fectly logical outcome, has grown within me to an
almost invincible conviction.
Tostate it as shortly as possible: Nietzsche's attack
on Judaism and Christianity is caused by his honest
intellectuality. But where, it may be asked, does this
honesty originate—this intellectual honesty which
forbids itself not only the belief in the Supernatural,
but also, what is much more important, the belief in the
current Christian values of good and evilrlBy what
means have we found out that good and evil are not
different moral shades, like black and white, but that
all good qualities are in reality refined evil ones, that
/

xxii


## p. xxi (#35) #############################################

J-
A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
evil is the root of all good, and that he who cuts up the
rootwilltherebydestroythefruit? Whohasultimate-
ly taught us that all is egotism, that all must be egot-
ism, that one must be "evil," that one must take root,
that one must be firm on one's evil legs to be "good,"
and that the goodness of the non-evil man is merely
weakness, if not a cautious request from others to be
good tohim^Who brought this truth home to us; by
what extraordinary power did we moderns obtain an
insightintothevery nature of things? Did Nietzsche's
much vaunted pagans have any idea of this profound
psychology? No, they did not—Nietzsche himself is
obliged to ask: "What did the Greeks know of the
soul? " But who, then, I beg to ask again, made us a
gift of this extraordinaryinsight, which no doubt con-
stitutes the most important discovery the world has
ever made?
The answer is a very simple one: it is a gift from the
chosen race. it is the Semitic idea itself. it is the Chris-
tian conscience, which has allowed us to see the root
of our very being, which has lit up the abyss within us—
an abyss that no pagan searchlight could ever have
illuminated. ItistheJudaeo-Christiandoctrineofsin
thathas forced everyone of us to turn his eyes towards
himself, to descend into himself, to scrutinise himself,
to get to know himself, and that with a discipline
growing more severe from generation to generation.
And in fact wehave learned to know ourselves,and to
know ourselves to such an extent that we cannot be-
lieve any longer in these Semitic ideas,that wecannot
believe any more in sin and in the wickedness of egot-
ism, that we cannot believe any more in the Jewish
distinction between good and evil. Andnotonlyhave
xxiii


## p. xxii (#36) ############################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
doubt about it, I openly confess it, and I even say it
with pride. For our doing was not without danger to
ourselves, and our want of caution proves at least
one thing: that we had a real purpose, a real aim in
view—an aim that made us forget the ordinary laws
of prudence and circumspection which are otherwise
so dear to the literary world.
But though we have no doubt used immoral means,
let no one think that we have used them for an im-
moral end. I know that the popular opinion is still
to the contrary; I know that Nietzsche's teaching is
stillconsidered as thatof a pitiless monster. or as that
of a weak man trying to pose as a strong one, or, at
its best. as the dream of a romanticand feverish brain.
No one, I fear, except myself, has ever pointed out the
deep piety and religious feeling (see my Editorial Note
to Thoughts out of Season, vol. i. p. viii) underlying his
cause. Andnow. after the long years during which my
thought has occupied itself with hiswork. this opinion
of mine, that Nietzsche's doctrine is not, as it appears
to be, the negation of Christianity, but rather its per-
fectly logical outcome, has grown within me to an
almost invincible conviction.
To state it as shortly as possible: Nietzsche's attack
on Judaism and Christianity is caused by his honest
intellectuality. But where, it may be asked, does this
honesty originate—this intellectual honesty which
forbids itself not only the belief in the Supernatural,
but also, what is much more important, the belief in the
current Christian values of good and evilpfBy what
means have we found out that good and evil are not
different moral shades, like black and white, but that
all good qualities are in reality refined evil ones, that
xxii (


## p. xxiii (#37) ###########################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
evil is the root of all good, and that he who cuts up the
root will thereby destroy the fruit? Who has ultimate-
ly taught us that all is egotism, that all must be egot-
ism, that one must be "evil," that one must take root,
that one must be firm on one's evil legs to be "good,"
and that the goodness of the non-evil man is merely
weakness, if not a cautious request from others to be
good to him J Who brought this truth home to us; by
what extraordinary power did we moderns obtain an
insightintothevery nature of things? Did Nietzsche's
much vaunted pagans have any idea of this profound
psychology? No, they did not—Nietzsche himself is
obliged to ask: "What did the Greeks know of the
soul? " But who, then, I beg to ask again, made us a
gift of this extraordinary insight, which no doubt con-
stitutes the most important discovery the world has
ever made?
The answer is a very simple one: it is a gift from the
chosen race. it is the Semitic idea itself. it is the Chris-
tian conscience, which has allowed us to see the root
of ourvery being, which haslituptheabysswithin us—
an abyss that no pagan searchlight could ever have
illuminated. ItistheJudaeo-Christiandoctrineofsin
that has forced every one of us to turn his eyes towards
himself, to descend into himself, to scrutinise himself,
to get to know himself, and that with a discipline
growing more severe from generation to generation.
And in fact wehave learned to know ourselves,and to
know ourselves to such an extent that we cannot be-
lieve any longer in these Semitic ideas,that wecannot
believe any more in sin and in the wickedness of egot-
ism, that we cannot believe any more in the Jewish
distinction between good and evil. And not only have
I
xxiii


## p. xxiv (#38) ############################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
we got to know ourselves, but we have likewise gained
knowledgeof others. oureyes have been opened to the
human origin of all history and religion, so that the
only interesting question about any religion for us
now is this: "Cui bono? For whose advantage, for
the benefit of what type of man, was this religion
invented? " All this has been taught to us by the
Judaeo-Christian conscience; but the same consci-
ence and the same conscientiousness which made us
search and find out our innermost heart, now, after the
discovery of the real state of things, force us into dis-
carding this very conscience with all its errors and
wrong conclusions. I n other words: it is our religion
which forbids us any further belief in our religion,
it is our morality which gave the death-blow to our
morality.
We cannot help ourselves. We must dismiss this
old morality; we must try to find another, a higher, a
more natural form of morality, but, let me repeat it,
out 0/morality, out of piety, out of honesty. We can-
not pretend to be altruists any longer! We cannot
be liars! Our parents have been decent, law-abiding,
religious people; and we have inherited their sense
of honour and truthfulness, we have it in our blood!
fAway with lies, away with the babble of brotherhood,
away with all the poisonous hypocrisy of to-day ! 1
f "One sees what has really gained the victory over
the Christian God—Christian morality itself, the con-
ception of veracity taken ever more strictly, the con-
fessional subtlety of the Christian conscience, trans-
lated and sublimated to the scientific conscience, to
intellectual purity at any price," says Nietzsche him-
self in \hc Joyful Wisdom {Aph. 357). . . . Are these
xxiv


## p. xxv (#39) #############################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
the words of an irreligious person? Is this the voice
of a real immoralist—the speech of a despairing an-
archist? This then is the much-dreaded and self-
styled Antichrist? Why, if there ever was a true son
of the Semitic idea, a noble defender of that ancient
faith and its Christian supplement, it is Friedrich
Nietzsche. If there ever was a true Christian, it was
he. Not only is he not the Antichrist; he is the very
opposite of it, he is what Goethe said of Spinoza:
Christianissimus. It is his enemies' faith, the faith of
those people in whom the religious consciencehas not
yet blossomed out into the intellectual conscience, that
ought to be questioned; it is they who, compared with
him, are only wavering sceptics and cowardly idealists,
or at best backward Christians, undeveloped Chris-
tians, Christians on a lower plane. Ah—what a car-
nival of shame will seize upon modern Europe when
the full significance of Friedrich Nietzsche's thought
dawns upon her, when she realises at last what a noble,
brave, and truly religious character has been exposed
by her to neglect, misunderstanding, and ridicule! )
But I am carried away by my subject, and I did not
wish to be carried away; I wished to be gentle and
"dignified" at this important juncture of the Niet-
zschean propaganda. Let metherefore fall back upon
a less intense and more literary note and say a few
calmer words to those for whom Nietzsche, though
perhaps they do not yet know it, will soon become an
indispensable friend and guide. And I would mention
here—amongst the first—the artists, though I have
my doubts whether my recommendation of Nietzsche
to them is not superfluous. For artists were the first
to welcome Nietzsche and have even honoured him
XXV


## p. xxvi (#40) ############################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
with the flattering name of " our philosopher," while,
on the other hand, it may safely be predicted that
scholars, schoolmasters, and clergymen will be the
last to do homage to him—and that for the simple
reason that the latter have an easy and the former a
difficult life to live. Qt will be seen that by " artist"
here is meant a man who, in whatever direction. has to
break new ground,has to create new values, to destroy
old errors, and to pay the bill for such daring—that is
to say, to live a lonely life, and such men, by nature
healthier, prouder, braver than others (for otherwise
they would not have undertaken a great task), are
likewise more sensitive and vulnerable (for otherwise
they would not see new things), and therefore urgent-
ly require the cheerfulness, the joyful wisdom, the
honest optimism, that speaks out of the pages of our
philosopher. )
fThey must likewise learn from Nietzsche, what
every leader ought to learn, but what is most difficult
to sensuous artists, and that is a certain simple, nay
ascetic, way of living, not for the benefit of their souls
like the Christian, not out of poverty of spirit and body
like the Philistine, but for the benefit of their object,
their art, their aim, their aspirations and desires. ) It
was a hard life that Nietzsche lived himself, it is a
hard life that he recommends to his followers. And
as ideas to thecontrary still prevail in England, and as
(tomygreat regret) thenameof Nietzschenowthreat-
ens to become popular, all-too-popular, I would only
mention as a warning to would-be disciples, and as a
proof of my statement, the case of Mr. Ernest Horn-to-
effer. Mr. Horneffer, one of the foremost German '.
Nietzscheans. of late openly proclaimed his conversion
'V!
xxvi


## p. xxvii (#41) ###########################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
to monism (in Englandbestknown as the naturalistic
philosophy of Ernest Haeckel), giving as his reason
for doing so that Nietzsche "expected too much from
human beings. " That was at least right and honest:
"riestpas diable qui veut" as the French say, and
n'est pas Nietzschten non plus qui veut. (Let unholy
hands keep aloof from inspired writings/let the laity
believe in their old religions and their new philoso-
phies, and let Nietzsche be the philosopher for those
only who have to stand alone, but who for this very
reason need an example and perhaps a guide more
than any other. J
It is, then, to the pioneers of science, to those who
have left the safe shore of religion and are now ex-
plorers upon a treacherous and unknown sea, that
Nietzsche should be most urgently recommended, all
the more as they have neglected and ignored him too
much in the past, (ft is not good to neglect one's best
friends; it is all the worse if one stands in urgent need
of them. But to ignore one's enemies is the greatest
danger of all—a danger, however, into which men of
science, who are far too busy with the smallest and re-
motest things to see the nearest and greatest, are only
too apt to fall Jit is a strange thing that those who ex-
clusively rely upon the senses are as a rule not sensitive
people, that those who ought to see best see nothing,
and are, for instance,quite capable of cheerfully laying
out their garden near the edge of a volcano that is by
no means extinct. Scientists have no idea that all can
again be swamped and killed in a night. They have no
suspicion even of a volcano, for it does not spit fire and
brimstone any more, but only murmurs "love " and
sweet persuasion. It nolongerroarsandthunders. it no
xxvii


## p. xxviii (#42) ##########################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
longer slays thousands in one furious eruption; it has
become quite gentle, quite a drawing-room, a lecture-
room volcano, and the only sign that it is a volcano is,
that it still produces plenty of smoke. Let scientists
beware of the smoke-producing metaphysicians, of
the fog-loving, fog-favouring obscurantists, who no
longer look like theologians, but walk about dressed
like gentlemen and know how to hide their spiritual
cloven hoof under scientific apparel. Thomas Aqui-
nas and Immanuel Kant are by no means dead yet,
but very much alive and easily recognised by connois-
seurs in spite of their new and modernised garment:
they still preach the " faith " to intellectual audiences,
though they no longer call it "faith "; they still re-
commend " morality " to their innocent flock, though
they now call it" intuition " and " instinct"; they still
win their honorary degree at a mediaeval university
like Oxford, though—subtle wisdom ! —it is no more
what it used and ought to be: the doctorate of divin-
ity. Let scientists beware of their holy enemies.
Let them become aware of their danger, and let
them not believe that a negative agnosticism is a safe
protection against a positive, powerful, and ancient
religion. The assumption of Christian morality pre-
supposes a moral order of the universe, and any fur-
ther inquiry into the laws of this universe becomes
useless, this order being once and for all fixed by re-
ligion. In other words: only that truth will be ad-
mitted which does not interfere with our prejudices
—the Pragmatist would say "which is useful"—yet
what has truth to do with moral, religious or prag-
matic prejudices? But—and here comes the most im -
portant question for science—is there any truth with-
xxviii


## p. xxix (#43) ############################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
out prejudices;(does not all truth depend upon the
brain of the man who perceives it ? J Is not man by his
very nature a " prejudiced animal," the only impor-
tant question being the nature of these prejudices,
whether they are prejudices making for ascending or
descending life, whether they make for a brave or a
contemptible type of man? Of course man is and
must be prejudiced, and the great danger of the scien-
tist who believes in absolute, unprejudiced truth is
this, that without knowing it he will always fall back
upon moral truth, upon the truth we have been accus-
tomed to see for more than two thousand years. For
the scientific spirit is merely, as Nietzsche rightly per-
ceived, a higher development of the religious spirit,
and the scientist of to-day, in spite of his professed
agnosticism, is still a very religious personality: how
much religion—unconscious religion, I mean—was
there not even in Huxley, Darwin, and Spencer?
Darwin was even buried in Westminster Abbey, the
Church, no doubt, trying to reward him for his (and
his disciples') truly Christian sermon on the necessity
of adaptation to environment and the goodly reward
of such " fitness ": the preference given to such fine
fellows by the females and their subsequent "survi-
val " in the midst of a happy and numerous family.
And when it comes to the application of Science
to Sociology, when scientists—as, for instance, that
young and promising Eugenic Party—now wish to
take, nay, even have to take upon their shoulders the
heavy responsibilities of command and government
—responsibilities which were once the privileges of
the highest class of human beings—then the guid-
ance of reason and philosophy really becomes absol-
r
xxix


## p. xxx (#44) #############################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
utely indispensable. Now it may safely be prophesied
that these truly progressive men of science will meet
with the most hopeless of failures if they persist in
taking their duties lightly, if they ignore the magni-
tude of their task, if they continue to apply their bio-
logical laws to human society without any enlight-
enment as to their significance. It has been rightly
objected to them that they wish to apply to human
beings the laws of the stud-farm; rightly, I say, be-
cause they have quite overlooked the fact that man
—if I may say so without being suspected of religi-
osity—is above all a moral animal. It is values that
create and mould men, it is the mind that improves
matter, it is matter impressed with high ideas for
generations upon generations that in the end brings
forward a healthy, happy, brave, and proud type of
man.
Tin other words: the successful "breeding" of men
can only be brought about by religious or philoso-
phic faith. Unfortunately,though,our religion, Chris-
tianity, had from its very beginning a low type of man
in view; it has, with an exclusiveness peculiar to
all strong movements, never even tolerated a higher
type amongst its followers. Arising from among the
scum and the dregs of the Roman Empire, this re-
ligion stood for the needs of the lower classes: it had
an urgent desire for love, peace, charity, benevolence,
brotherhood, justice, but likewise a spite against all
those who did not require such sugary virtues, an im-
mortal hatred of all those imbued with active ideals,
against all those who hold that charity, love, benevo-
lence, and justice might be the attributes of the strong,
but should never be the impudent demand of the
XXX


## p. xxxi (#45) ############################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
weak. Now—Tstrange to say—the weak, after a battle
of two thousand years, have actually won; they have
gained ground especially from the French Revolu-
tion onwards, and, pampered by a century of love,
charity, and benevolence, the actual Christian ideal,
the ideal of the beginning of Christianity, has taken
flesh again everywhere around us, and that in pain-
fully strong numbers. We need only look around us:
ecce Christianii What a company it is, to be sure,
and how well we now begin to understand the Ro-
mans, who despised, nay, actually loathed this rabble)
of later Jews and early Christians!
What now are the duties of the Eugenic Party, of
all those who have combined in order to counter-
balance the predominance of a low type of man in
our midst? Their first and principal duty is only too
plain: they must learn to know the cause of our pres-
ent-day conditions, they must recognise that not our
unbelief but our belief, not our immorality but our
morality, not our heathenism but our Christianity,
has driven us towards the abyss of a humanity grow-
ing more and more worthless. And they must not
only blame our present-day Christianity and our pre-
sent generation for the calamitous state existing a-
round us; they must likewise accuse our ancestors,
not of their sins and vices, to be sure, but of their
very virtues, which are now terribly visited upon us,
their children, and make us too gnash our teeth and
mutter the words of the prophet Jeremiah: "The
fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's
teeth are set on edge" (Jeremiah, xxxi. 29). "Shall
we too eat that sour grape, shall we too swallow the
old faith? " such is the first question which all be-
xxxi


## p. xxxii (#46) ###########################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
lievers in Race-regeneration will have to put to them-
selves—the question to be answered first, before they
should even think of action. If they do eat it, if they
do continue to walk humbly and comfortably in the
ways of their fathers, they will be cursed by their
very children—for their endeavours will fail; if they
do not, if they succeed in forcing their conscience out
of the old religious groove, they will be praised by
all succeeding generations—a praise and a success,
however, only to be won by a sure knowledge and an
open confession of their religious position. A believer
in race is no longer a Christian in the old sense of the
word. On the contrary, he that interferes with the
humble, the miserable, the bungled, the botched, the
feeble-minded and their offspring is a most deadly
sinner against the spirit of a religion that was in-
vented, and stood, and still stands for the survival of
all the lower types of humanity.
Our friends ought further to consider that it is not
enough to repudiate the Christian ideal and its type
of man, that it is not enough to be negative, that
leaders and creators must have positive aims and de-
sires, that navigators upon the sea must know to which
portthey are steering. Eugenists,therefore,above all
must learn to know the type of man, or the types of
man, they do want. Now a scientific Eugenist has
given up his Christian values, but he has not acquired
any new values of his own. How, then, is he going to
judge who is fit or unfit? He is quite unable to do so:
he will either have to fall back upon Christianity and
have the old type of man over again or—which would
be much worse than falling back upon an old and by
no means stupid religion—he will "sterilise in the
xxxii


## p. xxxiii (#47) ##########################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
dark. " * What a terrible mischief they might be able
to do—and ought the knife to be entrusted to people
who wish to operate upon humanity in the dark, who
judgefit or unfit from their own narrowpoint of view?
Do they really imagine that all those who have sur-
vived in fairly good circumstances to-day are the
"fittest,"that there is not above them as well as below
them a class that is " unfit," that is badly adapted to
the " requirements of progress," a class that comes to
grief under the wheels of our civilisation as easily as,
nay, more easily than, the really unfit, the wastrels?
A silent class that nobody thinks of or takes care of, a
class that even refuses to be taken care of, but a deeply
sufferingclass nevertheless,which has been protected
up to now,together with its direct opposites,the wast-
rels, by the mildnessofChristianity? Howaretheygo-
ing to distinguish those who are ill-adapted to modern
life through their strength, their courage, their intel-
lectual honesty, their higher ambition, their superior
sensibility from those who are at the opposite end of
the social ladder, if they have no reason to guide them,
except a grocer's reason, if fitness only means "civic
worth "—that is to say, fitness for the tame require-
ments of a commercial and mechanical civilisation?
May not the same thing happen to them that has hap-
pened to the Jews, might they not crucify a God be-
tween two criminals,nay, may noteven criminals. who
* The Mental Deficiency Bill, dropped for the time being,'
proposed sterilisation of the unfit under certain circumstances.
Sterilisation of abnormal persons is actually carried out to-day
in Switzerland and some American States. See on the sub-
ject, Juristisch-psychiatrische Grem/ragen, viii. Bd. Heft 1-3.
Halle a. S. (Carl Marhold). 1911.
c xxxiii


## p. xxxiv (#48) ###########################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
occasionally possess great strength of character, be
of more real value than the " gods" and the "fit" of
such middle-class Reformers? And to people who
have lost the moral values of their religion and have
acquired no new ones, to people who have thus fallen
even below Christianity, we are to entrust power over
humanity and its future, to them and to their police-
men! Is it not under these circumstances high time
to ask the question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodesf In
plain English: Who sterilises the sterilisers?
There is no otherway for our social scientists: they
must either return to the old creed or learn a new
one, they must either fall back upon the old morality
or learn to revalue their valuesij Science by itself is
no guide whatever in questions of the highest import-
ance in state and government: science is merely
clever, intelligent, like a woman; she can see and ob-
serve well, like a woman, but she is likewise near-
sighted,she cannot generalise, she lacks imagination,
she needs a purpose and a safe direction. Science,
therefore, above all requires guidance and reinforce-
ment from philosophy, all the more so if it is an im-
portantscience,the scienceof the future,asthe Science
of Race and Eugenics promises to become one day. I
Now men who cultivate this most importantbranchof
knowledge, men who have to decide our future, must
be equipped with the highest currentwisdom. If they
fail to acquire such wisdom, or if they are incapable
of distinguishing real from spurious wisdom, they
should become more modest, they should not aspire
to a position that is above their insight, they should
leave the direction of affairs to the religious man who,
after all, has some knowledge of the human heart.
xxxiv


## p. xxxv (#49) ############################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
They should be all the more cautious and modest,
as their failure will compromise not only themselves
but us as well, for, though they themselves do not
know it, one day it will be known that the greatest
and truest advocate of Eugenics was not Sir Francis
Galton, but Friedrich Nietzsche. We may then ex-
perience the pleasure of being hanged in their com-
pany, and it will be clamorously asserted by the
Socialists and other religious sectarians that now,
once and for all, it has been proved that the ideas of
Nietzsche are wholly impracticable. But, honourable
as it may be to be hanged in such learned and scien-
tific company, we beg to protest beforehand against
such possible miscarriage of justice. In one of Edgar
Allan Poe's stories a monkey sees his master shaving;
he escapes one day with the razor in his hand, breaks
into a house, forces an old lady into a chair, soaps her,
flourishes the razor about her face, and then promptly
cuts her throat—but is this master responsible for his
caricature, especially as these caricatures have never
seen us shaving? Are we to be held responsible for
the foolhardiness of scientific Boeotians who know
nothing of Nietzsche, nothing of our work in Eng-
land, a work that was done specially for them and
their instruction, a work of twenty years' assiduous
labour. done under the most adverse of circumstances
by a little band of outsiders?
But as I am again losing my "dignity," let me
come to an end and say a few words in conclusion, now
that our ways may possibly lie apart, to those out-
siders, those friends of mine who have done so much
to bring this translation to a successful termination.
Their support of the cause during the long years of
XXXV


## p. xxxvi (#50) ###########################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
occasionally possess great strength of character, be
of more real value than the "gods" and the " fit" of
such middle-class Reformers? And to people who
have lost the moral values of their religion and have
acquired no new ones, to people who have thus fallen
even below Christianity, we are to entrust power over
humanity and its future, to them and to their police-
men! Is it not under these circumstances high time
to ask the question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodest In
plain English: Who sterilises the sterilisers?
There is no otherway for our social scientists: they
must either return to the old creed or learn a new
one, they must either fall back upon the old morality
or learn to revalue their values/Science by itself is
no guide whatever in questions of the highest import-
ance in state and government: science is merely
clever, intelligent, like a woman; she can see and ob-
serve well, like a woman, but she is likewise near-
sighted,she cannot generalise, she lacks imagination,
she needs a purpose and a safe direction. Science,
therefore, above all requires guidance and reinforce-
ment from philosophy, all the more so if it is an im-
portantscience, the scienceof the future. as the Science
of Race and Eugenics promises to become one day. I
Now men who cultivate this most importantbranchof
knowledge, men who have to decide our future, must
be equipped with the highest current wisdom. If they
fail to acquire such wisdom, or if they are incapable
of distinguishing real from spurious wisdom, they
should become more modest, they should not aspire
to a position that is above their insight, they should
leave the direction of affairs to the religious man who,
after all, has some knowledge of the human heart.
xxxiv


## p. xxxvii (#51) ##########################################

A RETROSPECT, A CONFESSION, AND A PROSPECT
They should be all the more cautious and modest,
as their failure will compromise not only themselves
but us as well, for, though they themselves do not
know it, one day it will be known that the greatest
and truest advocate of Eugenics was not Sir Francis
Galton, but Friedrich Nietzsche. We may then ex-
perience the pleasure of being hanged in their com-
pany, and it will be clamorously asserted by the
Socialists and other religious sectarians that now,
once and for all, it has been proved that the ideas of
Nietzsche arewhollyimpracticable. But, honourable
as it may be to be hanged in such learned and scien-
tific company, we beg to protest beforehand against
such possible miscarriage of justice. In one of Edgar
Allan Poe'sstoriesa monkey sees his master shaving;
he escapes one day with the razor in his hand, breaks
into a house. forces an old lady into a chair, soaps her,
flourishes the razor about her face, and then promptly
cuts her throat—but is this master responsible for his
caricature, especially as these caricatures have never
seen us shaving? Are we to be held responsible for
the foolhardiness of scientific Boeotians who know
nothing of Nietzsche, nothing of our work in Eng-
land, a work that was done specially for them and
their instruction, a work of twenty years' assiduous
labour, done under the most adverse of circumstances
by a little band of outsiders?
But as I am again losing my "dignity," let me
come to an end and say a few words in conclusion, now
that our ways may possibly lie apart, to those out-
siders, those friends of mine who have done so much
to bring this translation to a successful termination.
Their support of the cause during the long years of
XXXV


## p. xxxviii (#52) #########################################

THE NIETZSCHE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
preparation and publication has been a most able, a
most generous, a most unswerving one. Without any
desire or hope of praise, they have steadily worked on
and accomplished a well-nigh impossible task. For
many of them this labour has been one of love: this very
index is a contribution from an admirer of Nietzsche,
who—just asthedevout in the Middle Ages all wished
to share in building their Gothic cathedrals—desired
to add his stone (and a very good coping-stone too) to
the edifice we were rearing. Much trouble, much lov-
ing care has been spent on this edition, and that by
people who are still considered strangers to all loving
cares, nay, to all human emotions. Let this truth be
known, that it may counteract some of the falsehoods
current about us, and let my friends console them-
selves for painful misunderstandings by the predic-
tion of a member of a prophetic race, that one day it
will be an honour to have been a first translator of
Nietzsche, thatone day it will be recognised that they,
by bravely facing injustice and unpopularity, have in
reality deserved well of their country.
Oscar Levy.


## p. xxxix (#53) ###########################################

INDEX.
Absolute, the, an absurd concept, xv. 82.
Absolute music, comes last in line of development, ii. 30;
makes itself felt above words, 41.
— denned, vi. 193; the development of, 194.
Accident as a clashing of creative impulses, xv. 144.
See also "Chance. "
Accusation, underlying notions of, vii. 44.
Accusers, public and private, ix. 303.
Achilles, the Greek trait of cruelty as exemplified in, ii. 51.
— the case of, and Homer, vi. 189.
Action, the relation between greatness and the proper
amount of, iv. 102.
— calmness in, vi. 356.
— authoritative morals and the right to act, ix. 103;
the illusion that we have any knowledge con-
cerning the originating of human action, 120.
— our doing determines what we leave undone, x. 238;
on distinguishing between two kinds of causes
of an action, 317.
The volumes referred to under numbers are as follow:—I, Birth
of Tragedy. II, Early Greek Philosophy. Ill, Future of Educa-
tional Institutions. IV, Thoughts out of Season, i. V, Thoughts out
of Season, ii. VI, Human, all-too-Human, i. VII, Human, ail-too-
Human, ii. VIII, Case of Wagner. IX, Dawn of Day. X, Joyful
Wisdom. XI, Zarathusire*. XII, Beyond Good and Evil. XIII,
Genealogy of Morals. XIV, Will to Power, i. XV, Will to Power,
ii. XVI, Antichrist. XVII, Ecce Homo.
A I


## p. xl (#54) ##############################################

INDEX—NIETZSCHE
Action, in what the decisive value of action lies, xii. 46.
— difficulties presented by the concept "reprehensible
action," xiv. 241.
Action, the man of, v. 12; history necessary to, 16;
Polybius and, 17.
Actions, the everyday standard of, vi. 83; on evil actions,
97-9; man's actions always right, 101; good
and evil actions, 108.
— on balancing consequences of, ix. 132; the combat of
motives, 132 ; the value of egoistic actions, 159;
of little unconventional actions, 161; on pene-
trating to see what they conceal, 358; withheld,
through fear of being misunderstood, 359-60.
— the dangerous view of, x, 202; judged, but never
understood, 208; the way judgments are given
on, 259; the part played by consciousness in de-
ciding actions, 260; as the sources of moral
judgments, 261; their impenetrable nature, 262;
on new tables of value, based on physics, 263.
— beyond good and evil, xii. 98; the consequences of,
101; determined by different moralities, 160.
— the criterion of moral actions, xiv. 217; wherein their
value lies, 240; on reprehensible actions, 241.
— the intention and purpose in, xv. 138; the impulsion
to will actions, 140.
Active, the, defined, xv. 131.
Actor, the, psychology of, ix. 274.