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THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA

A BOOK FOR ALL AND NONE

By Friedrich Nietzsche

Translated By Thomas Common

ZARATHUSTRA’S PROLOGUE.

When Zarathustra was thirty years old he left his home and the lake of his home, and went into the mountains. There he enjoyed his spirit and his solitude, and for ten years did not weary thereof. But at last his heart changed, and one morning he rose with the sun, stood before the face of his sun, and spake thus:

“Thou great star! What were thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shinest!

“My sun! My happiness! I should have to go under if I had not those to whom I shine!

“Shine then, for my abundance, thou great star! Shine upon your highest peak and your highest happiness!

“Shine down into the depths, you too, you deep abysses! For even they that are deepest below need your light!

“Love your fate as I love mine! For that which befalls you is only that which you yourself have willed.

“For how could I will to be other than I am, or to be, or to have been other than I have been?

“So must I desire it! So must I will it! So must I have willed it hitherto!

“And all that is not healed I wish to be the wound that heals itself—a wound that I myself inflicted upon myself—a wound that I inflicted upon myself—a wound that I shall one day heal myself of!”

Thus began Zarathustra’s descent.

He came down from the mountains, into the valleys, and met the old hermit.

The old hermit spake thus to Zarathustra: “When thou goest down among them, as thou preparest to do, then preach not to them of my solitude! I have sought their company too long; for I have become weary of my solitude. They have not remained as I was; I have not remained as I was. I have become different, and they too have become different!”

Zarathustra answered: “My soul is a miser; it is afraid of losing itself when it gives itself away. It has accumulated much that is precious, and it wishes to keep it. Ah! that is also a passion.

“But a desire for giving has come unto me, a thirst to bestow, that it may shine again!

“A desire to give away my virtue, that it may shine again in the eyes of those who are remote, and that it may light up their night!

“For light, which is the greatest possession, must go forth from me!

“I must go down; as these suns go down, I too wish to go down, that men may have light for their evening!

“I must go down, as this earth goes down, that it may shine in the night!

“I must go down, that I may bestow upon men what is most precious in me!”

Thus spake Zarathustra. He went on his way, and the old hermit marvelled.

ZARATHUSTRA’S DISCOURSES.

I. THE THREE METAMORPHOSES.

Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?

Your spirit, a prisoner in the cave of the old ways, and mistrustful, stirs itself: it wishes to break out.

I teach you the three metamorphoses of the spirit.

The spirit becomes a camel; the camel is the spirit that burdens itself with duty, and would bear the heaviest loads.

But in the loneliest wilderness it changes itself again: here it becomes a lion; for the lion desires freedom, and to be master of itself, and to be lord in its own wilderness.

But I tell you, my brethren, the lion must also become a child!

The child is innocence and forgetfulness, a new beginning, a game, a self-propelled wheel, a first movement, a sacred ‘Yes’ before all going and becoming.

I will. The spirit now wills happiness, the spirit now wills its own will, the spirit that has won freedom for itself, and now wills a new freedom, more sublime, and to teach the herd to dance!

II. THE ACADEMIC CHAIRS OF VIRTUE.

Where are the greatest liars? I saw them in the academy of the academicians.

They have made of virtue a heap of dust and dry bones, and have called it “The Good and the True”!

They have dried up all the flowing, all the living, and have hardened it into stone, and called it “The True”!

They have hammered their prejudices into tables, and called them “The Virtuous”!

Oh, my brethren, I pray you, turn aside from the dry dust of the academicians!

Turn aside from the pale thinkers, who are pale because they have no blood!

Turn aside from those who speak with the mouth of the serpent, from those who say: “All truth is hard; for truth has its home in the ice!”

No! Truth is not hard! Truth is not distant!

It is a child that speaks, it is the bubbling spring, it is the laughter of the dancers!

III. BACKWORLDSMEN.

Ye preachers of a future life, ye redeemers! I saw you when you were preaching.

Ye wish to redeem men from labour, and from suffering, and from time.

But ye redeem them to nothingness!

Ye preach of a life beyond, but ye are yourselves beyond the pale of life!

Ye are the great haters of this earth, and the great despisers of this earth!

Ye have no knowledge of joy, ye have not tasted the pure, clear joy of the earth!

The earth is rich, and bountiful, and ye have made it poor with your preaching!

IV. THE DESPISERS OF THE BODY.

I have seen you when you have spoken of the body, ye knowers!

Ye have spoken of it as a prison, as a fetter, as a sham!

Ye sigh and speak of the weary wings of the soul, that would soar beyond the earth.

Ah! even your words were weary of the earth!

I have seen you when ye have done your austerities, and have made your bodies thin.

Ye wished to make of your body a sacrifice, a scaffolding for a God!

I say unto you: Your spirit is your body! A great reason lives in your body!

There is more reason in your body than in your spirit!

V. JOYS AND PASSIONS.

I would fain speak to my soul in whispers, that it may hear me!

I would fain speak to my soul, that it may hear my heart!

My soul! My soul! Thou art the garden where I have sown my joy!

Thou art the garden where I have hidden my harvest!

Thou art the stage where my delights play their eternal play!

VI. THE PALE CRIMINAL.

There are those who have something in their conscience, and this something is so strong that it makes them pale: they are the criminals!

But there are others whose conscience is so pale that they themselves become pale, and are mistaken for criminals: these are the impotent!

They have no strength to commit a sin, and they call their weakness “Goodness”!

VII. READING AND WRITING.

The most spiritual people have the sharpest teeth, and the finest nails!

The scholar is the dullest of all animals, he has lost all that is sharp about him!

Reading and writing! The wise man’s scribblings upon his own wall!

VIII. THE TREE ON THE HILL.

I beheld a lonely tree upon a hill, which was still barren in the midst of summer.

It stood there stiffly, and reached its crooked arms to the heavens, and nobody would believe it could blossom!

But lo! one day it bloomed, and all the birds of the air assembled themselves about it, and sang to it!

And the tree spake thus: “Behold! I have overcome myself!

“Behold! My happiness has come! Behold! My sun has risen!

“Behold! My hour is here! Behold! Thus shall it be with men!

“Behold! Thus shall the Superman come!”

IX. THE PREACHERS OF DEATH.

I saw men who preached of death, and they were the most alive!

They were the zealous preachers of death, and yet they clung to life!

They sat by the water and preached of death; but they were afraid of drowning!

They preached of the last hour, and yet they waited for the morning!

X. WAR AND WARRIORS.

I have heard of a new will among men, and this will is called “Peace”: but the warriors say: “We will war!”

And if ye ask them: “Why war?” they answer: “Because we are warriors!”

And if ye ask them: “Why must ye be warriors?” they answer: “Because we must war!”

XI. THE NEW IDOL.

Ye have created a new idol, my brethren, and ye call it the “State”!

Ye call it the State, and ye have set it upon the highest pedestal, and ye have covered it with the coverlet of the State!

XII. THE FLIES IN THE MARKET-PLACE.

I saw men in the market-place who were like flies in the marketplace: they buzzed and swarmed about the marketplace, and sang “We are all equal!”

But when the evening came, and the sun went down, then they went home to their wives and children, and they were no longer equal!

XIII. CHASTITY.

I have seen many young men who desired chastity, and who thought that thereby they would conquer themselves.

But they did not conquer themselves; they conquered only their world!

XIV. THE FRIEND.

A friend is one soul dwelling in two bodies.

XV. THE THOUSAND AND ONE GOALS.

Man is a cord, fastened between beast and Superman—a cord over an abyss.

A pleasant passing-over, a dangerous lingering, a looking-backward, a shuddering and stopping, a halting, a playing with the abyss.

XVI. NEIGHBOUR-LOVE.

If ye love your neighbour, love him as yourselves! But if ye love yourselves, love him as yourselves!

XVII. THE WAY OF THE CREATING ONE.

A creator! He goes forth, and seeks that for which he can create!

XVIII. OLD AND YOUNG WOMEN.

The old woman cries: “Give me a man to love me!”

The young woman cries: “Give me a man to love!”

XIX. THE BITE OF THE ADDER.

If a man has done a thing, it is the adder that bites him in the end.

XX. CHILD AND MARRIAGE.

If you want to create a child, be yourselves a bridge, and not a goal!

XXI. VOLUNTARY DEATH.

I say unto you: The best are those who die voluntarily, who die at the right time, they who are overcome, and who step down, smiling!

XXII. THE BESTOWING VIRTUE.

I will give to the wind all that I have, and all that I have learned; let it blow away my wealth, and all that I have learned!

I will give to the wind all that I have!

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