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Thus Spake ZarathustraIdeasLibrary
First Part · VII. Reading and Writing

Write with blood, not for idle readers

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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 who knoweth the reader, doeth nothing more for the reader. Another century of readers—and spirit itself will stink.

Every one being allowed to learn to read, ruineth in the long run not only writing but also thinking.

Once spirit was God, then it became man, and now it even becometh populace.

He that writeth in blood and proverbs doth not want to be read, but learnt by heart.

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.