Thou art young, and desirest child and marriage. But I ask thee: Art
thou a man entitled to desire a child? Art thou the victorious one, the
self-conqueror, the ruler of thy passions, the master of thy virtues?
Thus do I ask thee.
Or doth the animal speak in thy wish, and necessity? Or isolation? Or
discord in thee?
I would have thy victory and freedom long for a child. Living monuments
shalt thou build to thy victory and emancipation.
Beyond thyself shalt thou build. But first of all must thou be built
thyself, rectangular in body and soul. 79
Marriage: so call I the will of the twain to create the one that is
more than those who created it. 80
That which the many-too-many call marriage, those superfluous ones--ah,
what shall I call it?
Ah, the poverty of soul in the twain! Ah, the filth of soul in the
twain! Ah, the pitiable self-complacency in the twain!
Marriage they call it all; and they say their marriages are made in
heaven.
Well, I do not like it, that heaven of the superfluous; No, I do not
like them, those animals tangled in the heavenly toils!
Far from me also be the God who limpeth thither to bless what he hath
not matched!
Laugh not at such marriages! What child hath not had reason to weep
over its parents? 80
Every one regardeth dying as a great matter: but as yet death is not
a festival. Not yet have people learned to inaugurate the finest
festivals. 82
My death, praise I unto you, the voluntary death, which cometh unto me
because I want it.
And when shall I want it?--He that hath a goal and an heir, wanteth
death at the right time for the goal and the heir. 83
It is your thirst to become sacrifices and gifts yourselves: and
therefore have ye the thirst to accumulate all riches in your soul.
Insatiably striveth your soul for treasures and jewels, because your
virtue is insatiable in desiring to bestow.
Ye constrain all things to flow towards you and into you, so that they
shall flow back again out of your fountain as the gifts of your love.
Verily, an appropriator of all values must such bestowing love become;
but healthy and holy, call I this selfishness. 86
When ye are exalted above praise and blame, and your will would command
all things, as a loving one's will: there is the origin of your virtue.
87
Remain true to the earth, my brethren, with the power of your virtue!
Let your bestowing love and your knowledge be devoted to be the meaning
of the earth! Thus do I pray and conjure you.
Let it not fly away from the earthly and beat against eternal walls
with its wings! 88
The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies, but
also to hate his friends. 90
Once did people say God, when they looked out upon distant seas; now,
however, have I taught you to say, Superman. 98
Could ye _conceive_ a God?--But let this mean Will to Truth unto you,
that everything be transformed into the humanly conceivable, the
humanly visible, the humanly sensible! Your own discernment shall ye
follow out to the end! 99
Creating--that is the great salvation from suffering, and life's
alleviation. But for the creator to appear, suffering itself is needed,
and much transformation. 100