doctrine Passions become virtues; one's own virtue is unnamable and earthly; the jealousy among virtues.
Respect and modesty in presence of sleep! That is the first thing! And to go out of the way of all who sleep badly and keep awake at night! Modest is even the thief in presence of sleep: he always stealeth softly…
Virtues are treated as a means to good sleep and are themselves sent to sleep so they will not quarrel.
Read in the book →And even if one have all the virtues, there is still one thing needful: to send the virtues themselves to sleep at the right time.
Virtue is here tamed and put to bed, the opposite of passions growing into living virtues.
Read in the book →My brother, when thou hast a virtue, and it is thine own virtue, thou hast it in common with no one. To be sure, thou wouldst call it by name and caress it; thou wouldst pull its ears and amuse thyself with it. And lo!…
A virtue that is truly one's own has no common name; naming it makes it the property of the people and the herd.
Read in the book →Once hadst thou passions and calledst them evil. But now hast thou only thy virtues: they grew out of thy passions. Thou implantedst thy highest aim into the heart of those passions: then became they thy virtues and…
Passions once called evil became virtues and joys when the highest aim was set in their hearts.
Read in the book →My brother, if thou be fortunate, then wilt thou have one virtue and no more: thus goest thou easier over the bridge. Illustrious is it to have many virtues, but a hard lot; and many a one hath gone into the wilderness…
Many virtues mean a battlefield inside one man, and each virtue is jealous and wants the highest place.
Read in the book →Ye shall love peace as a means to new wars—and the short peace more than the long. You I advise not to work, but to fight. You I advise not to peace, but to victory. Let your work be a fight, let your peace be a…
'What is good?' is answered with 'To be brave', against pity and prettiness.
Read in the book →Upward soareth our sense: thus is it a simile of our body, a simile of an elevation. Such similes of elevations are the names of the virtues. Thus goeth the body through history, a becomer and fighter. And the…
Virtue originates in hours when the spirit speaks in similes of the body's elevation.
Read in the book →Ye love your virtue as a mother loveth her child; but when did one hear of a mother wanting to be paid for her love?
Virtue is one's dearest Self, not an outward skin or cloak.
Read in the book →But sure enough there are those to whom virtue meaneth writhing under the lash: and ye have hearkened too much unto their crying! And others are there who call virtue the slothfulness of their vices; and when once their…
Each type mistakes a vice, weakness or pose for virtue.
Read in the book →For they are moderate also in virtue,—because they want comfort. With comfort, however, moderate virtue only is compatible. To be sure, they also learn in their way to stride on and stride forward: that, I call their…
Virtues are unmasked as cowardice, hobbling and mediocrity under better names.
Read in the book →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…
One should not demand of oneself virtues, such as chastity, that run against one's inherited nature.
Read in the book →This is an experiment in interactive reading, and in using AI to help you grow. Thus Spake Zarathustra is notoriously difficult for a modern reader; yet taken as a set of mental exercises, it is guaranteed to transform your thinking by the time you reach the end. Along the way you will have help from the companion, who is always beside the book.
Do you accept the challenge?