Excerpt from Nietzsche's *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is Nietzsche's philosophical work, written under the name of Zarathustra. It can be considered a collection of Zarathustra's teachings or a record of his life, somewhat resembling a biography of a saint. However, this saint is not a religious figure, and unlike typical religious texts, it is not dry and tedious, but rather a collection of prose poems of high literary value. Like Marx and Freud, Nietzsche was one of the thinkers who had the greatest influence on 20th-century intellectual life. Thus Spoke Zarathustra is Nietzsche's groundbreaking masterpiece and an introductory text for understanding his aesthetics and philosophy. Nietzsche himself described it as a book written for artists with analytical and reflective abilities, full of psychological insights and artistic mysteries, "a youthful work filled with youthful courage and youthful sorrow." Thus Spoke Zarathustra is also a landmark work for Nietzsche, encompassing almost all of his thought. Written entirely in a free-flowing poetic style, the book blends the frenzied madness of Dionysus with the lucidity of Apollo, proclaiming revelations about the future world through the voice of the "Superman," Zarathustra. It holds a unique and immortal place in the history of world philosophy and poetry, exerting a profound influence on later philosophy, literature, art, and aesthetics. This masterpiece, written in prose poetry, proclaims the "philosophy of the Superman" and the "will to power" with its striking and insightful observations and groundbreaking wisdom. In this book, "God is dead," and the "Superman" is born, thus casting a strange rainbow that shines for millennia in the sky of modern human thought. It is a book for all yet not for any one person, Nietzsche's most representative and groundbreaking work. The book is both a representative of beautiful German prose and utterly bizarre and barbaric, unacceptable to tradition. It was not accepted upon its publication, but Nietzsche himself regarded it as a "poem" comparable to Shakespeare and a "Fifth Gospel" on par with the Bible.
1. He who does not wish to die of thirst among men must learn to drink deeply from every cup; he who wishes to remain clean among men must know that even dirty water can be used to cleanse himself.—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
2. All living beings are constantly surpassing themselves. And what have you, humankind, done?
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
3. He who does not believe in himself is always lying.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
4. Man is a rope tied between animals and the Superman. It is a rope over the abyss. It is dangerous to cross it, dangerous to stop halfway, dangerous to tremble, dangerous to remain still.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
5. Indeed, man is a filthy stream. To contain a filthy stream without being polluted, you must be the sea. Listen! I teach you with the Superman, who is this sea, in whom your great contempt will be absorbed.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
6. Man's greatness lies in being a bridge, not an end. Man is worthy of love—because he is a transition, a decline.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
7. He who cannot obey himself must obey others. This is the nature of living beings.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
8. In truth, man is the same as the tree. The more
he seeks to rise into the height and light, the more vigorously do his roots struggle earthward, downward, into the dark, the deep—into evil.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
9. This is true: we love life not because we are accustomed to life, but because we are accustomed to love. There is always an element of madness in love, but the same madness also contains an element of reason.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
10. People must harbor chaos in their hearts in order to create a dancing new star.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
11. All happiness desires everything to last forever; it desires honey, it desires dregs, it desires a drunken midnight, it desires a grave, it desires the comfort of tears at the graveside, it desires a gilded sunset.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
12. Whom does a woman hate most? —Thus says iron to a magnet: “I hate you most, because you have attraction, but you are not strong enough to attract me.”
13. I am the sun!
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
14. I must fence off my thoughts and words to prevent pigs and wanderers from entering my garden.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
15. Giving orders is harder than receiving them. Not only does the one who gives orders bear the burden of all those who obey, but these burdens can easily crush him.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
16. O sun! Where would your glory be without those you shine upon?
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
17. We often try to mask jealousy with love.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
18. Emotion tries to kill the lonely; if it fails, if it fails, then emotion itself dies! But can you be the murderer?
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
19. I love those who do not seek reasons for decline and sacrifice beyond the stars, but dedicate themselves only to the earth.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
20. I will tell them how the spirit becomes a camel, how the camel becomes a lion, and finally, why the lion becomes a child… Childhood is innocence and forgetting, a new beginning, a self-rotating wheel, a primal action, a divine affirmation.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
21. No interpersonal relationship can hide loneliness. All interpersonal relationships are so fragile and vulnerable. Deep down you know: even when you are among a crowd, you are with a group of strangers. You are a stranger to yourself.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
22. To be awake is to sleep. Truly, if life has no meaning, if I have to choose to talk nonsense, then I think this is the most worthwhile kind of nonsense.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
23. Those who seek externally often easily lose themselves.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
24. Almost everyone thinks they are virtuous. Are you virtuous because you give some help to a beggar? Have you ever wondered why beggars existed in the first place? You exploit others, then create beggars, then you give only a small portion—and then you become the most virtuous person.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
25. God is a thought that makes everything straight crooked, everything upright turn.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
26. What is the greatest thing you can experience? It is extraordinary contempt. At that time, you will even feel disgusted with your own happiness, and so will reason and morality.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
27. Eyes are very symbolic. They are part of your body, but they are also the windows to your soul. When your soul becomes calm, peaceful, and joyful, your eyes have a depth, clarity, purity, and innocence. They become so transparent that you can see into a person's soul. —Nietzsche, *
Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
28. What is the greatest thing you can experience? It is extraordinary contempt. At that time, you will even feel disgusted with your own happiness, and so will reason and morality.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
29. Wisdom is essentially innocence. Knowledge is the self, while wisdom is the disappearance of the self. Knowledge fills you with information. Wisdom makes you absolutely empty, but that emptiness is a new kind of fullness. It is a kind of spatiality.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
30. Life is the path to knowledge.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
31. My brother, listen to me: if possible, try to possess only one virtue; that is enough. Do not be greedy, seeking and searching for more. Travel light, and when you cross the bridge, it will be much easier. Admittedly, possessing multiple moral virtues simultaneously is enviable, but it's not a fate everyone can endure; when different morals clash, chaos reigns, and many, unable to bear the suffering, willingly take their own lives.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
32. Humanity poisoned Socrates. Perhaps they didn't know why, but I can see that Socrates' existence troubled them. Socrates' height, insight, intelligence—his superiority in every aspect was intolerable. He made many feel inferior. You suddenly feel like a dwarf.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
33. How I love everyone with whom I can have deep conversations!
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
34. My brothers: I do not urge you to love your neighbor, but to love the most distant future man.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
35. I dislike those philanthropists who take pleasure in pitying others—they lack shame. If I truly wish to sympathize with someone, I will do so from a distance.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
36. All interpersonal relationships are, in some way, constraints—they enslave you and others. Friendliness is simply the joy of sharing; it carries no constraints, no expectations, no desire for reward—not even gratitude. Friendliness is the purest form of love.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
37. One must first learn how to love oneself, so that one can live peacefully with oneself without being distracted by external things.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
38. The most important thing is not when we are most boisterous, but when we are most silent.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
39. Only one who can be alone can become a friend. Friendship is not a need, but a joy; it is not a hunger, but a rich love that one wishes to share.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
40. You should always be prepared to be consumed by your own flames; how can you be reborn if you do not first turn to ashes?
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
41. They themselves do not want to love, yet they depend on love to live.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
42. Human beings are fundamentally unequal, and moreover, they should not be equal. (Demanding unconditional equality is simply a dimensional attack; all of humanity would be dragged into the mire.)
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
43. Silvery, nimble, like a fish, my little boat sails into the distance.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
44. The life of freedom still awaits great souls to enjoy. Those who possess less are less burdened by material things and less enslaved by worldly affairs—moderate poverty is happiness.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
45. Everything decisive arises from confrontation.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
46. Happiness pursues me. This is because I do not pursue women, and happiness is a woman. (Incest with his sister, ambiguous relationships with high-society women, heartbreak; he has never overcome his fear of sex, so seeing similar comments makes people want to laugh at his weaknesses.)
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
47. You must meet with your emptiness. You must live it, you must accept it. In your acceptance lies a great revolution, a great revelation. The moment you accept your solitude, your emptiness, that quality of acceptance will change you. It will become the opposite—it will become a richness, a satisfaction, an overflow of energy and joy.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
48. Beware of those who are kind and just! They love to crucify those who create their own moral standards—they hate the lonely.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
49. He who desires to create something beyond himself, I consider to possess the purest will.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
50. I find it far more dangerous among people than among animals.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
51. A wise man asked a fool, "What is the path to happiness?" The fool, without hesitation, as if asked the way to the nearest city, replied, "Self-admiration, and wandering aimlessly." The wise man exclaimed, "Shut up! You ask for too much! Self-admiration is enough!" The fool replied, "How can one constantly admire without consistent contempt?"
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
52. You walk your path of greatness; here, no one secretly follows behind you! Your feet wear away the road behind you, and the road reads: Impossible.
—Nietzsche
, Thus Spoke Zarathustra 53. Your silent arrogance always goes against their taste; once you are humble enough to appear shallow, they gloat.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
54. The desire for friends exposes our weakness.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
55. Only when this extraordinary person becomes weary and disgusted with his own extraordinary nature does his beauty begin to unfold.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
56. When the soul lacks the capacity to give, that is the beginning of degeneration.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
57. Unless you can enjoy this moment, this place, you will never be able to enjoy anything anywhere, because the next moment will be born from this moment. Another world—if there is another world—will also be an extension and continuation of this world.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
58. Loneliness is a hunger for others. Therefore, everyone wants to be among the crowd, and then weave various interpersonal relationships around themselves, just to deceive themselves and forget that they are lonely. But loneliness will resurface again and again. No interpersonal relationship can hide it.
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
59. Do not abandon your love and hope!
—Nietzsche, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*
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