This precept, however, give I unto thee, in parting, thou fool: Where one can no longer love, there should one—PASS BY!—
Zarathustra gives the fool his parting precept and walks past both the fool and the great city.
- Friendship, neighbour-love and love of the farthestLove is made the criterion for engagement; where it fails, the right response is to pass by.
- SolitudeZarathustra passes by the city and continues his way home.
What the critics said
Brandes summarises Zarathustra's disgust with the petty virtues that make men smaller, his being called godless, the apostasy of his former companions, and his loathing of the great city and of the State.
Ludovici argues that the fool of 'On Passing-by' is Nietzsche's extreme opposite and his imitator, the iconoclast who destroys out of resentment and revenge, with whom the public confuses Nietzsche, who destroys out of love; Zarathustra's rebuke of him should warn readers against associating Nietzsche with noisy revolutionists.
Ludovici argues that the fool of 'On Passing-by' is Nietzsche's extreme opposite and his imitator, the iconoclast who destroys out of resentment and revenge, with whom the public confuses Nietzsche, who destroys out of love; Zarathustra's rebuke of him should warn readers against associating Nietzsche with noisy revolutionists.