122. To rejoice on account of praise is in many cases merely politeness

1. Chapter 1 2. CHAPTER IX: WHAT IS NOBLE? 3. 1. The Will to Truth, which is to tempt us to many a hazardous 4. 2. "HOW COULD anything originate out of its opposite? For example, truth 5. 3. Having kept a sharp eye on philosophers, and having read between 6. 4. The falseness of an opinion is not for us any objection to it: it is 7. 5. That which causes philosophers to be regarded half-distrustfully 8. 6. It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy up 9. 7. How malicious philosophers can be! I know of nothing more stinging 10. 8. There is a point in every philosophy at which the "conviction" of 11. 9. You desire to LIVE "according to Nature"? Oh, you noble Stoics, what 12. 10. The eagerness and subtlety, I should even say craftiness, with 13. 11. It seems to me that there is everywhere an attempt at present to 14. 12. As regards materialistic atomism, it is one of the best-refuted 15. 13. Psychologists should bethink themselves before putting down the 16. 14. It is perhaps just dawning on five or six minds that natural 17. 15. To study physiology with a clear conscience, one must insist on 18. 16. There are still harmless self-observers who believe that there are 19. 17. With regard to the superstitions of logicians, I shall never tire 20. 18. It is certainly not the least charm of a theory that it is 21. 19. Philosophers are accustomed to speak of the will as though it were 22. 20. That the separate philosophical ideas are not anything optional or 23. 21. The CAUSA SUI is the best self-contradiction that has yet been 24. 22. Let me be pardoned, as an old philologist who cannot desist from 25. 23. All psychology hitherto has run aground on moral prejudices and 26. 24. O sancta simplicitas! In what strange simplification and 27. 25. After such a cheerful commencement, a serious word would fain be 28. 26. Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, 29. 27. It is difficult to be understood, especially when one thinks and 30. 28. What is most difficult to render from one language into another 31. 29. It is the business of the very few to be independent; it is a 32. 30. Our deepest insights must--and should--appear as follies, and under 33. 31. In our youthful years we still venerate and despise without the art 34. 32. Throughout the longest period of human history--one calls it the 35. 33. It cannot be helped: the sentiment of surrender, of sacrifice for 36. 34. At whatever standpoint of philosophy one may place oneself nowadays, 37. 35. O Voltaire! O humanity! O idiocy! There is something ticklish in 38. 36. Supposing that nothing else is "given" as real but our world of 39. 37. "What? Does not that mean in popular language: God is disproved, but 40. 38. As happened finally in all the enlightenment of modern times with 41. 39. Nobody will very readily regard a doctrine as true merely because 42. 40. Everything that is profound loves the mask: the profoundest things 43. 41. One must subject oneself to one's own tests that one is destined 44. 42. A new order of philosophers is appearing; I shall venture to baptize 45. 43. Will they be new friends of "truth," these coming philosophers? Very 46. 44. Need I say expressly after all this that they will be free, VERY 47. 45. The human soul and its limits, the range of man's inner experiences 48. 46. Faith, such as early Christianity desired, and not infrequently 49. 47. Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, 50. 48. It seems that the Latin races are far more deeply attached to their 51. 49. That which is so astonishing in the religious life of the ancient 52. 50. The passion for God: there are churlish, honest-hearted, and 53. 51. The mightiest men have hitherto always bowed reverently before 54. 52. In the Jewish "Old Testament," the book of divine justice, there are 55. 53. Why Atheism nowadays? "The father" in God is thoroughly refuted; 56. 54. What does all modern philosophy mainly do? Since Descartes--and 57. 55. There is a great ladder of religious cruelty, with many rounds; but 58. 56. Whoever, like myself, prompted by some enigmatical desire, has long 59. 57. The distance, and as it were the space around man, grows with the 60. 58. Has it been observed to what extent outward idleness, or 61. 59. Whoever has seen deeply into the world has doubtless divined what 62. 60. To love mankind FOR GOD'S SAKE--this has so far been the noblest and 63. 61. The philosopher, as WE free spirits understand him--as the man of 64. 62. To be sure--to make also the bad counter-reckoning against such 65. 63. He who is a thorough teacher takes things seriously--and even 66. 64. "Knowledge for its own sake"--that is the last snare laid by 67. 65. The charm of knowledge would be small, were it not so much shame has 68. 66. The tendency of a person to allow himself to be degraded, robbed, 69. 67. Love to one only is a barbarity, for it is exercised at the expense 70. 68. "I did that," says my memory. "I could not have done that," says my 71. 69. One has regarded life carelessly, if one has failed to see the hand 72. 70. If a man has character, he has also his typical experience, which 73. 71. THE SAGE AS ASTRONOMER.--So long as thou feelest the stars as an 74. 72. It is not the strength, but the duration of great sentiments that 75. 73. He who attains his ideal, precisely thereby surpasses it. 76. 74. A man of genius is unbearable, unless he possess at least two things 77. 75. The degree and nature of a man's sensuality extends to the highest 78. 77. With his principles a man seeks either to dominate, or justify, 79. 78. He who despises himself, nevertheless esteems himself thereby, as a 80. 79. A soul which knows that it is loved, but does not itself love, 81. 80. A thing that is explained ceases to concern us--What did the God 82. 81. It is terrible to die of thirst at sea. Is it necessary that you 83. 82. "Sympathy for all"--would be harshness and tyranny for THEE, my good 84. 83. INSTINCT--When the house is on fire one forgets even the 85. 85. The same emotions are in man and woman, but in different TEMPO, on 86. 86. In the background of all their personal vanity, women themselves 87. 87. FETTERED HEART, FREE SPIRIT--When one firmly fetters one's heart 88. 88. One begins to distrust very clever persons when they become 89. 89. Dreadful experiences raise the question whether he who experiences 90. 90. Heavy, melancholy men turn lighter, and come temporarily to their 91. 91. So cold, so icy, that one burns one's finger at the touch of him! 92. 92. Who has not, at one time or another--sacrificed himself for the sake 93. 93. In affability there is no hatred of men, but precisely on that 94. 94. The maturity of man--that means, to have reacquired the seriousness 95. 95. To be ashamed of one's immorality is a step on the ladder at the end 96. 96. One should part from life as Ulysses parted from Nausicaa--blessing 97. 97. What? A great man? I always see merely the play-actor of his own 98. 99. THE DISAPPOINTED ONE SPEAKS--"I listened for the echo and I heard 99. 100. We all feign to ourselves that we are simpler than we are, we thus 100. 101. A discerning one might easily regard himself at present as the 101. 102. Discovering reciprocal love should really disenchant the lover with 102. 103. THE DANGER IN HAPPINESS.--"Everything now turns out best for me, I 103. 104. Not their love of humanity, but the impotence of their love, 104. 105. The pia fraus is still more repugnant to the taste (the "piety") 105. 107. A sign of strong character, when once the resolution has been 106. 108. There is no such thing as moral phenomena, but only a moral 107. 109. The criminal is often enough not equal to his deed: he extenuates 108. 110. The advocates of a criminal are seldom artists enough to turn the 109. 111. Our vanity is most difficult to wound just when our pride has been 110. 112. To him who feels himself preordained to contemplation and not to 111. 113. "You want to prepossess him in your favour? Then you must be 112. 114. The immense expectation with regard to sexual love, and the coyness 113. 115. Where there is neither love nor hatred in the game, woman's play is 114. 116. The great epochs of our life are at the points when we gain courage 115. 117. The will to overcome an emotion, is ultimately only the will of 116. 118. There is an innocence of admiration: it is possessed by him to whom 117. 119. Our loathing of dirt may be so great as to prevent our cleaning 118. 120. Sensuality often forces the growth of love too much, so that its 119. 121. It is a curious thing that God learned Greek when he wished to turn 120. 122. To rejoice on account of praise is in many cases merely politeness 121. 124. He who exults at the stake, does not triumph over pain, but because 122. 125. When we have to change an opinion about any one, we charge heavily 123. 126. A nation is a detour of nature to arrive at six or seven great 124. 127. In the eyes of all true women science is hostile to the sense of 125. 128. The more abstract the truth you wish to teach, the more must you 126. 129. The devil has the most extensive perspectives for God; on that 127. 130. What a person IS begins to betray itself when his talent 128. 131. The sexes deceive themselves about each other: the reason is that 129. 133. He who cannot find the way to HIS ideal, lives more frivolously and 130. 134. From the senses originate all trustworthiness, all good conscience, 131. 135. Pharisaism is not a deterioration of the good man; a considerable 132. 136. The one seeks an accoucheur for his thoughts, the other seeks some 133. 137. In intercourse with scholars and artists one readily makes mistakes 134. 138. We do the same when awake as when dreaming: we only invent and 135. 140. ADVICE AS A RIDDLE.--"If the band is not to break, bite it 136. 141. The belly is the reason why man does not so readily take himself 137. 142. The chastest utterance I ever heard: "Dans le veritable amour c'est 138. 143. Our vanity would like what we do best to pass precisely for what is 139. 144. When a woman has scholarly inclinations there is generally 140. 145. Comparing man and woman generally, one may say that woman would 141. 146. He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby 142. 147. From old Florentine novels--moreover, from life: Buona femmina e 143. 148. To seduce their neighbour to a favourable opinion, and afterwards 144. 149. That which an age considers evil is usually an unseasonable echo of 145. 150. Around the hero everything becomes a tragedy; around the 146. 151. It is not enough to possess a talent: one must also have your 147. 152. "Where there is the tree of knowledge, there is always Paradise": 148. 154. Objection, evasion, joyous distrust, and love of irony are signs of 149. 156. Insanity in individuals is something rare--but in groups, parties, 150. 157. The thought of suicide is a great consolation: by means of it one 151. 158. Not only our reason, but also our conscience, truckles to our 152. 159. One MUST repay good and ill; but why just to the person who did us 153. 160. One no longer loves one's knowledge sufficiently after one has 154. 162. "Our fellow-creature is not our neighbour, but our neighbour's 155. 163. Love brings to light the noble and hidden qualities of a lover--his 156. 164. Jesus said to his Jews: "The law was for servants;--love God as I 157. 165. IN SIGHT OF EVERY PARTY.--A shepherd has always need of a 158. 166. One may indeed lie with the mouth; but with the accompanying 159. 167. To vigorous men intimacy is a matter of shame--and something 160. 168. Christianity gave Eros poison to drink; he did not die of it, 161. 169. To talk much about oneself may also be a means of concealing 162. 171. Pity has an almost ludicrous effect on a man of knowledge, like 163. 172. One occasionally embraces some one or other, out of love to mankind 164. 173. One does not hate as long as one disesteems, but only when one 165. 174. Ye Utilitarians--ye, too, love the UTILE only as a VEHICLE for 166. 176. The vanity of others is only counter to our taste when it is 167. 177. With regard to what "truthfulness" is, perhaps nobody has ever been 168. 178. One does not believe in the follies of clever men: what a 169. 179. The consequences of our actions seize us by the forelock, very 170. 180. There is an innocence in lying which is the sign of good faith in a 171. 182. The familiarity of superiors embitters one, because it may not be 172. 183. "I am affected, not because you have deceived me, but because I can 173. 184. There is a haughtiness of kindness which has the appearance of 174. 185. "I dislike him."--Why?--"I am not a match for him."--Did any one 175. 186. The moral sentiment in Europe at present is perhaps as subtle, 176. 187. Apart from the value of such assertions as "there is a categorical 177. 188. In contrast to laisser-aller, every system of morals is a sort of 178. 189. Industrious races find it a great hardship to be idle: it was a 179. 190. There is something in the morality of Plato which does not really 180. 191. The old theological problem of "Faith" and "Knowledge," or more 181. 192. Whoever has followed the history of a single science, finds in 182. 193. Quidquid luce fuit, tenebris agit: but also contrariwise. What we 183. 194. The difference among men does not manifest itself only in the 184. 195. The Jews--a people "born for slavery," as Tacitus and the whole 185. 196. It is to be INFERRED that there are countless dark bodies near the 186. 197. The beast of prey and the man of prey (for instance, Caesar Borgia) 187. 198. All the systems of morals which address themselves with a view to 188. 199. Inasmuch as in all ages, as long as mankind has existed, there have 189. 200. The man of an age of dissolution which mixes the races with 190. 201. As long as the utility which determines moral estimates is only 191. 202. Let us at once say again what we have already said a hundred 192. 203. We, who hold a different belief--we, who regard the democratic 193. 204. At the risk that moralizing may also reveal itself here as that 194. 205. The dangers that beset the evolution of the philosopher are, in 195. 206. In relation to the genius, that is to say, a being who either 196. 207. However gratefully one may welcome the OBJECTIVE spirit--and 197. 208. When a philosopher nowadays makes known that he is not a skeptic--I 198. 209. As to how far the new warlike age on which we Europeans have 199. 210. Supposing, then, that in the picture of the philosophers of the 200. 211. I insist upon it that people finally cease confounding 201. 212. It is always more obvious to me that the philosopher, as a man 202. 213. It is difficult to learn what a philosopher is, because it cannot 203. 214. OUR Virtues?--It is probable that we, too, have still our virtues, 204. 215. As in the stellar firmament there are sometimes two suns which 205. 216. To love one's enemies? I think that has been well learnt: it takes 206. 217. Let us be careful in dealing with those who attach great importance 207. 218. The psychologists of France--and where else are there still 208. 219. The practice of judging and condemning morally, is the favourite 209. 220. Now that the praise of the "disinterested person" is so popular 210. 221. "It sometimes happens," said a moralistic pedant and 211. 222. Wherever sympathy (fellow-suffering) is preached nowadays--and, 212. 223. The hybrid European--a tolerably ugly plebeian, taken all in 213. 224. The historical sense (or the capacity for divining quickly 214. 225. Whether it be hedonism, pessimism, utilitarianism, or eudaemonism, 215. 226. WE IMMORALISTS.--This world with which WE are concerned, in which 216. 227. Honesty, granting that it is the virtue of which we cannot rid 217. 228. I hope to be forgiven for discovering that all moral philosophy 218. 229. In these later ages, which may be proud of their humanity, there 219. 230. Perhaps what I have said here about a "fundamental will of the 220. 231. Learning alters us, it does what all nourishment does that does not 221. 232. Woman wishes to be independent, and therefore she begins to 222. 233. It betrays corruption of the instincts--apart from the fact that 223. 234. Stupidity in the kitchen; woman as cook; the terrible 224. 235. There are turns and casts of fancy, there are sentences, little 225. 236. I have no doubt that every noble woman will oppose what Dante and 226. 238. To be mistaken in the fundamental problem of "man and woman," to 227. 239. The weaker sex has in no previous age been treated with so 228. 240. I HEARD, once again for the first time, Richard Wagner's overture 229. 241. We "good Europeans," we also have hours when we allow ourselves a 230. 242. Whether we call it "civilization," or "humanising," or "progress," 231. 243. I hear with pleasure that our sun is moving rapidly towards the 232. 244. There was a time when it was customary to call Germans "deep" 233. 245. The "good old" time is past, it sang itself out in Mozart--how 234. EPISODE of German music. But with regard to Robert Schumann, who took 235. 246. What a torture are books written in German to a reader who has a 236. 247. How little the German style has to do with harmony and with the 237. 248. There are two kinds of geniuses: one which above all engenders and 238. 249. Every nation has its own "Tartuffery," and calls that its 239. 250. What Europe owes to the Jews?--Many things, good and bad, and above 240. 251. It must be taken into the bargain, if various clouds and 241. 252. They are not a philosophical race--the English: Bacon represents an 242. 253. There are truths which are best recognized by mediocre minds, 243. 254. Even at present France is still the seat of the most intellectual 244. 255. I hold that many precautions should be taken against German music. 245. 256. Owing to the morbid estrangement which the nationality-craze has 246. 257. EVERY elevation of the type "man," has hitherto been the work of an 247. 258. Corruption--as the indication that anarchy threatens to break out 248. 259. To refrain mutually from injury, from violence, from exploitation, 249. 260. In a tour through the many finer and coarser moralities which have 250. 261. Vanity is one of the things which are perhaps most difficult for 251. 262. A SPECIES originates, and a type becomes established and strong in 252. 263. There is an INSTINCT FOR RANK, which more than anything else is 253. 264. It cannot be effaced from a man's soul what his ancestors have 254. 265. At the risk of displeasing innocent ears, I submit that egoism 255. 266. "One can only truly esteem him who does not LOOK OUT FOR 256. 267. The Chinese have a proverb which mothers even teach their children: 257. 268. What, after all, is ignobleness?--Words are vocal symbols for 258. 269. The more a psychologist--a born, an unavoidable psychologist 259. 270. The intellectual haughtiness and loathing of every man who has 260. 271. That which separates two men most profoundly is a different sense 261. 272. Signs of nobility: never to think of lowering our duties to the 262. 273. A man who strives after great things, looks upon every one whom 263. 274. THE PROBLEM OF THOSE WHO WAIT.--Happy chances are necessary, and 264. 275. He who does not WISH to see the height of a man, looks all the 265. 276. In all kinds of injury and loss the lower and coarser soul is 266. 277. It is too bad! Always the old story! When a man has finished 267. 279. Men of profound sadness betray themselves when they are happy: they 268. 280. "Bad! Bad! What? Does he not--go back?" Yes! But you misunderstand 269. 283. If one wishes to praise at all, it is a delicate and at the 270. 284. To live in a vast and proud tranquility; always beyond... To have, 271. 285. The greatest events and thoughts--the greatest thoughts, however, 272. 286. "Here is the prospect free, the mind exalted." [FOOTNOTE: Goethe's 273. 287. What is noble? What does the word "noble" still mean for us 274. 288. There are men who are unavoidably intellectual, let them turn 275. 289. In the writings of a recluse one always hears something of the echo 276. 290. Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being 277. 291. Man, a COMPLEX, mendacious, artful, and inscrutable animal, uncanny 278. 292. A philosopher: that is a man who constantly experiences, sees, 279. 293. A man who says: "I like that, I take it for my own, and mean to 280. 294. THE OLYMPIAN VICE.--Despite the philosopher who, as a genuine 281. 295. The genius of the heart, as that great mysterious one possesses 282. 296. Alas! what are you, after all, my written and painted thoughts! Not