Second Part · XXXVIII. Scholars

Walking above their heads

And when I lived with them, then did I live above them. Therefore did they take a dislike to me.

They want to hear nothing of any one walking above their heads; and so they put wood and earth and rubbish betwixt me and their heads.

Thus did they deafen the sound of my tread: and least have I hitherto been heard by the most learned.

All mankind’s faults and weaknesses did they put betwixt themselves and me:—they call it “false ceiling” in their houses.

But nevertheless I walk with my thoughts ABOVE their heads; and even should I walk on mine own errors, still would I be above them and their heads.

When he lived among them he lived above them, so they disliked him. They put wood, earth and rubbish between his steps and their heads. He still walks above them, even on his own errors.

SolitudeLiving above others earns Zarathustra their dislike and leaves him isolated.
Scholars, poets and the knowersThe scholars muffle his tread with rubbish, the 'false ceiling', so as not to hear him above them.