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Thus Spake ZarathustraIdeasLibrary

Then did Life answer me thus, and kept thereby her fine ears closed:

“O Zarathustra! Crack not so terribly with thy whip! Thou knowest surely that noise killeth thought,—and just now there came to me such delicate thoughts.

We are both of us genuine ne’er-do-wells and ne’er-do-ills. Beyond good and evil found we our island and our green meadow—we two alone! Therefore must we be friendly to each other!

And even should we not love each other from the bottom of our hearts,—must we then have a grudge against each other if we do not love each other perfectly?

And that I am friendly to thee, and often too friendly, that knowest thou: and the reason is that I am envious of thy Wisdom. Ah, this mad old fool, Wisdom!

If thy Wisdom should one day run away from thee, ah! then would also my love run away from thee quickly.”—

Life replies with her ears closed against the whip. She asks for friendliness, admits she is envious of his Wisdom, and says her love would leave him if his Wisdom did.

Commentary on this chapter

What the critics said

What dance means in NietzscheGeorg Brandes · Aristocratic Radicalism, 1889interpretation

Brandes defines dance in Nietzsche's language as the lofty lightness of mind exalted above the gravity of earth and all stupid seriousness, introducing the Second Dance Song in which Zarathustra dances with Life as a woman.

The midnight song as esoteric doctrineGeorg Brandes · Aristocratic Radicalism, 1889interpretation

Brandes says that the midnight clock's song closing the Second Dance Song, interpreted line by line in Part IV, concentrates Nietzsche's esoteric doctrine in its shortest formula: joy and woe are inseparable, saying Yea to one joy is saying Yea to all woe, and all joy wants deep eternity.

The midnight song as esoteric doctrineGeorg Brandes · Aristocratic Radicalism, 1889interpretation

Brandes says that the midnight clock's song closing the Second Dance Song, interpreted line by line in Part IV, concentrates Nietzsche's esoteric doctrine in its shortest formula: joy and woe are inseparable, saying Yea to one joy is saying Yea to all woe, and all joy wants deep eternity.