VII. Reading and Writing

Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with his blood.

Zarathustra declares that he values only writing done with one's own blood.

Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with his blood. Write with blood, and thou wilt find that blood is spirit. It is no easy task to understand unfamiliar blood; I hate the reading idlers. He…

Zarathustra says he loves only what is written with blood. He hates the reading idlers, warns that universal literacy ruins writing and thinking, and says the one who writes in blood and proverbs wants to be learnt by heart.

In the mountains the shortest way is from peak to peak, but for that route thou must have long legs. Proverbs should be peaks, and those spoken to should be big and tall. The atmosphere rare and pure, danger near and…

Proverbs are peaks that need long legs and tall listeners. On the heights Zarathustra feels courage and a joyful wickedness, and he laughs at the black cloud that others take for their thunder-cloud. He asks who can laugh and be exalted at once.

Ye tell me, “Life is hard to bear.” But for what purpose should ye have your pride in the morning and your resignation in the evening? Life is hard to bear: but do not affect to be so delicate! We are all of us fine…

Zarathustra answers those who say life is hard to bear: we are all sumpter asses and should not pose as delicate. We love life from habit of loving, and the butterflies and soap-bubbles move him to tears and songs.

I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance.

Zarathustra says he would believe only in a God who could dance.

And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity—through him all things fall. Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity! I…

Zarathustra names his devil as the spirit of gravity and calls for it to be killed with laughter. He ends by saying he has learned to walk, run and fly, and that a God now dances in him.

Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay.

Zarathustra says we slay by laughter, not wrath, and calls on his hearers to slay the spirit of gravity.