Fenrir's Fangs

 73. The Higher Man

                            1.

  WHEN I came unto men for the first time, then did I commit the
anchorite folly, the great folly: I appeared on the market-place.
  And when I spake unto all, I spake unto none. In the evening,
however, rope-dancers were my companions, and corpses; and I myself
almost a corpse.
  With the new morning, however, there came unto me a new truth:
then did I learn to say: "Of what account to me are market-place and
populace and populace-noise and long populace-cars!"
  Ye higher men, learn this from me: On the market-place no one
believeth in higher men. But if ye will speak there, very well! The
populace, however, blinketh: "We are all equal."
  "Ye higher men,"- so blinketh the populace- "there are no higher
men, we are all equal; man is man, before God- we are all equal!"
  Before God!- Now, however, this God hath died. Before the
populace, however, we will not be equal. Ye higher men, away from
the market-place!

                            2.

  Before God!- Now however this God hath died! Ye higher men, this God
was your greatest danger.
  Only since he lay in the grave have ye again arisen. Now only cometh
the great noontide, now only doth the higher man become- master!
  Have ye understood this word, O my brethren? Ye are frightened: do
your hearts turn giddy? Doth the abyss here yawn for you? Doth the
hell-hound here yelp at you?
  Well! Take heart! ye higher men! Now only travaileth the mountain of
the human future. God hath died: now do we desire- the Superman to
live.

                            3.

  The most careful ask to-day: "How is man to be maintained?"
Zarathustra however asketh, as the first and only one: "How is man
to be surpassed?"
  The Superman, I have at heart; that is the first and only thing to
me- and not man: not the neighbour, not the poorest, not the sorriest,
not the best.-
  O my brethren, what I can love in man is that he is an over-going
and a down-going. And also in you there is much that maketh me love
and hope.
  In that ye have despised, ye higher men, that maketh me hope. For
the great despisers are the great reverers.
  In that ye have despaired, there is much to honour. For ye have
not learned to submit yourselves, ye have not learned petty policy.
  For to-day have the petty people become master: they all preach
submission and humility and policy and diligence and consideration and
the long et cetera of petty virtues.
  Whatever is of the effeminate type, whatever originateth from the
servile type, and especially the populace-mishmash:- that wisheth
now to be master of all human destiny- O disgust! Disgust! Disgust!
  That asketh and asketh and never tireth: "How is man to maintain
himself best, longest, most pleasantly?" Thereby- are they the masters
of today.
  These masters of today- surpass them, O my brethren- these petty
people: they are the Superman's greatest danger!
  Surpass, ye higher men, the petty virtues, the petty policy, the
sand-grain considerateness, the ant-hill trumpery, the pitiable
comfortableness, the "happiness of the greatest number"-!
  And rather despair than submit yourselves. And verily, I love you,
because ye know not today how to live, ye higher men! For thus do ye
live- best!

                            4.

  Have ye courage, O my brethren? Are ye stout-hearted? Not the
courage before witnesses, but anchorite and eagle courage, which not
even a God any longer beholdeth?
  Cold souls, mules, the blind and the drunken, I do not call
stout-hearted. He hath heart who knoweth fear, but vanquisheth it; who
seeth the abyss, but with pride.
  He who seeth the abyss, but with eagle's eyes,- he who with
eagle's talons graspeth the abyss: he hath courage.- -

                            5.

  "Man is evil"- so said to me for consolation, all the wisest ones.
Ah, if only it be still true today! For the evil is man's best force.
  "Man must become better and eviler"- so do I teach. The evilest is
necessary for the Superman's best.
  It may have been well for the preacher of the petty people to suffer
and be burdened by men's sin. I, however, rejoice in great sin as my
great consolation.-
  Such things, however, are not said for long ears. Every word,
also, is not suited for every mouth. These are fine far-away things:
at them sheep's claws shall not grasp!

                            6.

  Ye higher men, think ye that I am here to put right what ye have put
wrong?
  Or that I wished henceforth to make snugger couches for you
sufferers? Or show you restless, miswandering, misclimbing ones, new
and easier footpaths?
  Nay! Nay! Three times Nay! Always more, always better ones of your
type shall succumb,- for ye shall always have it worse and harder.
Thus only-
  -Thus only groweth man aloft to the height where the lightning
striketh and shattereth him: high enough for the lightning!
  Towards the few, the long, the remote go forth my soul and my
seeking: of what account to me are your many little, short miseries!
  Ye do not yet suffer enough for me! For ye suffer from yourselves,
ye have not yet suffered from man. Ye would lie if ye spake otherwise!
None of you suffereth from what I have suffered.- -

                            7.

  It is not enough for me that the lightning no longer doeth harm. I
do not wish to conduct it away: it shall learn- to work for me.-
  My wisdom hath accumulated long like a cloud, it becometh stiller
and darker. So doeth all wisdom which shall one day bear lightnings.-
  Unto these men of today will I not be light, nor be called light.
Them- will I blind: lightning of my wisdom! put out their eyes!

                            8.

  Do not will anything beyond your power: there is a bad falseness
in those who will beyond their power.
  Especially when they will great things! For they awaken distrust
in great things, these subtle false-coiners and stage-players:-
  -Until at last they are false towards themselves, squint-eyed,
whited cankers, glossed over with strong words, parade virtues and
brilliant false deeds.
  Take good care there, ye higher men! For nothing is more precious to
me, and rarer, than honesty.
  Is this today not that of the populace? The populace however knoweth
not what is great and what is small, what is straight and what is
honest: it is innocently crooked, it ever lieth.

                            9.

  Have a good distrust today ye, higher men, ye enheartened ones! Ye
open-hearted ones! And keep your reasons secret! For this today is
that of the populace.
  What the populace once learned to believe without reasons, who
could- refute it to them by means of reasons?
  And on the market-place one convinceth with gestures. But reasons
make the populace distrustful.
  And when truth hath once triumphed there, then ask yourselves with
good distrust: "What strong error hath fought for it?"
  Be on your guard also against the learned! They hate you, because
they are unproductive! They have cold, withered eyes before which
every bird is unplumed.
  Such persons vaunt about not lying: but inability to lie is still
far from being love to truth. Be on your guard!
  Freedom from fever is still far from being knowledge! Refrigerated
spirits I do not believe in. He who cannot lie, doth not know what
truth is.

                            10.

  If ye would go up high, then use your own legs! Do not get
yourselves carried aloft; do not seat yourselves on other people's
backs and heads!
  Thou hast mounted, however, on horseback? Thou now ridest briskly up
to thy goal? Well, my friend! But thy lame foot is also with thee on
horseback!
  When thou reachest thy goal, when thou alightest from thy horse:
precisely on thy height, thou higher man,- then wilt thou stumble!

                            11.

  Ye creating ones, ye higher men! One is only pregnant with one's own
child.
  Do not let yourselves be imposed upon or put upon! Who then is
your neighbour? Even if ye act "for your neighbour"- ye still do not
create for him!
  Unlearn, I pray you, this "for," ye creating ones: your very
virtue wisheth you to have naught to do with "for" and "on account of"
and "because." Against these false little words shall ye stop your
ears.
  "For one's neighbour," is the virtue only of the petty people: there
it is said "like and like," and "hand washeth hand":- they have
neither the right nor the power for your self-seeking!
  In your self-seeking, ye creating ones, there is the foresight and
foreseeing of the pregnant! What no one's eye hath yet seen, namely,
the fruit- this, sheltereth and saveth and nourisheth your entire
love.
  Where your entire love is, namely, with your child, there is also
your entire virtue! Your work, your will is your "neighbour": let no
false values impose upon you!

                            12.

  Ye creating ones, ye higher men! Whoever hath to give birth is sick;
whoever hath given birth, however, is unclean.
  Ask women: one giveth birth, not because it giveth pleasure. The
pain maketh hens and poets cackle.
  Ye creating ones, in you there is much uncleanliness. That is
because ye have had to be mothers.
  A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also come into the world!
Go apart! He who hath given birth shall wash his soul!

                            13.

  Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek nothing from yourselves
opposed to probability!
  Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers' virtue hath already
walked! How would ye rise high, if your fathers' will should not
rise with you?
  He, however, who would be a firstling, let him take care lest he
also become a lastling! And where the vices of your fathers are, there
should ye not set up as saints!
  He whose fathers were inclined for women, and for strong wine and
flesh of wildboar swine; what would it be if he demanded chastity of
himself?
  A folly would it be! Much, verily, doth it seem to me for such a
one, if he should be the husband of one or of two or of three women.
  And if he founded monasteries, and inscribed over their portals:
"The way to holiness,"- I should still say: What good is it! it is a
new folly!
  He hath founded for himself a penance-house and refuge-house: much
good may it do! But I do not believe in it.
  In solitude there groweth what any one bringeth into it- also the
brute in one's nature. Thus is solitude inadvisable unto many.
  Hath there ever been anything filthier on earth than the saints of
the wilderness? Around them was not only the devil loose- but also the
swine.

                            14.

  Shy, ashamed, awkward, like the tiger whose spring hath failed-
thus, ye higher men, have I often seen you slink aside. A cast which
ye made had failed.
  But what doth it matter, ye dice-players! Ye had not learned to play
and mock, as one must play and mock! Do we not ever sit at a great
table of mocking and playing?
  And if great things have been a failure with you, have ye yourselves
therefore- been a failure? And if ye yourselves have been a failure,
hath man therefore- been a failure? If man, however, hath been a
failure: well then! never mind!

                            15.

  The higher its type, always the seldomer doth a thing succeed. Ye
higher men here, have ye not all- been failures?
  Be of good cheer; what doth it matter? How much is still possible!
Learn to laugh at yourselves, as ye ought to laugh!
  What wonder even that ye have failed and only half-succeeded, ye
half-shattered ones! Doth not- man's future strive and struggle in
you?
  Man's furthest, profoundest, star-highest issues, his prodigious
powers- do not all these foam through one another in your vessel?
  What wonder that many a vessel shattereth! Learn to laugh at
yourselves, as ye ought to laugh! Ye higher men, Oh, how much is still
possible!
  And verily, how much hath already succeeded! How rich is this
earth in small, good, perfect things, in well-constituted things!
  Set around you small, good, perfect things, ye higher men. Their
golden maturity healeth the heart. The perfect teacheth one to hope.

                            16.

  What hath hitherto been the greatest sin here on earth? Was it not
the word of him who said: "Woe unto them that laugh now!"
  Did he himself find no cause for laughter on the earth? Then he
sought badly. A child even findeth cause for it.
  He- did not love sufficiently: otherwise would he also have loved
us, the laughing ones! But he hated and hooted us; wailing and
teeth-gnashing did he promise us.
  Must one then curse immediately, when one doth not love? That-
seemeth to me bad taste. Thus did he, however, this absolute one. He
sprang from the populace.
  And he himself just did not love sufficiently; otherwise would he
have raged less because people did not love him. All great love doth
not seek love:- it seeketh more.
  Go out of the way of all such absolute ones! They are a poor
sickly type, a populace-type: they look at this life with ill-will,
they have an evil eye for this earth.
  Go out of the way of all such absolute ones! They have heavy feet
and sultry hearts:- they do not know how to dance. How could the earth
be light to such ones!

                            17.

  Tortuously do all good things come nigh to their goal. Like cats
they curve their backs, they purr inwardly with their approaching
happiness,- all good things laugh.
  His step betrayeth whether a person already walketh on his own path:
just see me walk! He, however, who cometh nigh to his goal, danceth.
  And verily, a statue have I not become, not yet do I stand there
stiff, stupid and stony, like a pillar; I love fast racing.
  And though there be on earth fens and dense afflictions, he who hath
light feet runneth even across the mud, and danceth, as upon
well-swept ice.
  Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher! And do not forget
your legs! Lift up also your legs, ye good dancers, and better
still, if ye stand upon your heads!

                            18.

  This crown of the laughter, this rose-garland crown: I myself have
put on this crown, I myself have consecrated my laughter. No one
else have I found to-day potent enough for this.
  Zarathustra the dancer, Zarathustra the light one, who beckoneth
with his pinions, one ready for flight, beckoning unto all birds,
ready and prepared, a blissfully light-spirited one:-
  Zarathustra the soothsayer, Zarathustra the sooth-laugher, no
impatient one, no absolute one, one who loveth leaps and side-leaps; I
myself have put on this crown!

                            19.

  Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher! And do not forget
your legs! Lift up also your legs, ye good dancers, and better still
if ye stand upon your heads!
  There are also heavy animals in a state of happiness, there are
club-footed ones from the beginning. Curiously do they exert
themselves, like an elephant which endeavoureth to stand upon its
head.
  Better, however, to be foolish with happiness than foolish with
misfortune, better to dance awkwardly than walk lamely. So learn, I
pray you, my wisdom, ye higher men: even the worst thing hath two good
reverse sides,-
  -Even the worst thing hath good dancing-legs: so learn, I pray
you, ye higher men, to put yourselves on your proper legs!
  So unlearn, I pray you, the sorrow-sighing, and all the
populace-sadness! Oh, how sad the buffoons of the populace seem to
me today! This today, however, is that of the populace.

                            20.

  Do like unto the wind when it rusheth forth from its mountain-caves:
unto its own piping will it dance; the seas tremble and leap under its
footsteps.
  That which giveth wings to asses, that which milketh the lionesses:-
praised be that good, unruly spirit, which cometh like a hurricane
unto all the present and unto all the populace,-
  -Which is hostile to thistle-heads and puzzle-heads, and to all
withered leaves and weeds:- praised be this wild, good, free spirit of
the storm, which danceth upon fens and afflictions, as upon meadows!
  Which hateth the consumptive populace-dogs, and all the
ill-constituted, sullen brood:- praised be this spirit of all free
spirits, the laughing storm, which bloweth dust into the eyes of all
the melanopic and melancholic!
  Ye higher men, the worst thing in you is that ye have none of you
learned to dance as ye ought to dance- to dance beyond yourselves!
What doth it matter that ye have failed!
  How many things are still possible! So learn to laugh beyond
yourselves! Lift up your hearts, ye good dancers, high! higher! And do
not forget the good laughter!
  This crown of the laughter, this rose-garland crown: to you, my
brethren, do I cast this crown! Laughing have I consecrated; ye higher
men, learn, I pray you- to laugh!