"The will to power" is so loathed in democratic ages that the whole of
the psychology of these ages seems directed towards its belittlement
and slander. 205
I am opposed to Socialism because it dreams ingenuously of "goodness,
truth, beauty, and equal rights" (anarchy pursues the same ideal, but
in a more brutal fashion).
I am opposed to parliamentary government and the power of the press,
because they are the means whereby cattle become masters. 206
The idea of a higher order of man is hated much more profoundly than
monarchs themselves. Hatred of aristocracy always uses hatred of
monarchy as a mask. 207
Utility and pleasure are slave theories of life. "The blessing of work"
is an ennobling phrase for slaves. Incapacity for leisure. 208
There is no such thing as a right to live, a right to work, or a right
to be happy: in this respect man is no different from the meanest worm.
208
_Fundamental errors:_ to regard the herd as an aim instead of the
individual! The herd is only a means and nothing _more! _ But
nowadays people are trying to understand _the herd_ as they would an
individual, and to confer higher rights upon it than upon isolated
personalities. In addition to this, all that makes for gregariousness,
_e.g.,_ sympathy, is regarded as the _more valuable_ side of our
natures. 214-215
_The will to power_ appears:--
(a) Among the oppressed and slaves of all kinds, in the form
of will to _"freedom":_ the mere fact of breaking loose from
something seems to be an end in itself (in a religio-moral
sense: "One is only answerable to one's own conscience";
"evangelical freedom," etc., etc.).
(b) In the case of a stronger species, ascending to power,
in the form of the will to overpower. If this fails, then
it shrinks to the "will to justice"--that is to say, to
the will to the same measure of rights as the ruling caste
possesses.
(c) In the case of the strongest, richest, most independent,
and most courageous, in the form of "love of humanity," of
"love of the people," of the "gospel," of "truth," of "God,"
of "pity," of "self-sacrifice," etc., etc.; in the form of
overpowering, of deeds of capture, of imposing service on
some one, of an instinctive reckoning of one's self as part
of a great mass of power to which one attempts to give a
direction: the hero, the prophet, the Cæsar, the Saviour,
the bell-wether. 220-221
_Individualism_ is a modest and still unconscious form of will to
power; with it a single human unit seems to think it sufficient to free
himself from the preponderating power of society (or of the State or
Church). He does not set himself up in opposition as a _personality,_
but merely as a unit; he represents the rights of all other individuals
as against the whole. That is to say, he instinctively places himself
on a level with every other unit: what he combats he does not combat as
a person, but as a representative of units against a mass. 227
There are no such things as moral actions: they are purely imaginary.
Not only is it impossible to demonstrate their existence (a fact
which Kant and Christianity, for instance, both acknowledge)--but
they are not even possible. Owing to psychological misunderstanding,
man invented an _opposite_ to the instinctive impulses of life, and
believed that a new species of instinct was thereby discovered: a
_primum mobile_ was postulated which does not exist at all. According
to the valuation which gave rise to the antithesis "moral" and
"immoral," one should say: _There is nothing else on earth but immoral
intentions and actions._
The whole differentiation, "moral" and "immoral," arises from the
assumption that both moral and immoral actions are the result of a
spontaneous will--in short, that such a will exists; or in other words,
that moral judgments can only hold good with regard to intuitions and
actions _that are free._ But this whole order of actions and intentions
is purely imaginary: the only world to which the moral standard could
be applied does not exist at all: _there is no such thing as a moral or
an immoral action._ 230-231
There are two conditions in which art manifests itself in man even as
a force of nature, and disposes of him whether he consent or not: it
may be as a constraint to visionary states, or it may be an orgiastic
impulse. 240
_Sexuality, intoxication, cruelty;_ all these belong to the oldest
_festal joys_ of mankind, they also preponderate in budding artists. 243
The desire for art and beauty is an indirect longing for the ecstasy
of sexual desire, which gets communicated to the brain. 248
All art works as a _tonic;_ it increases strength, it kindles desire
(_i.e.,_ the feeling of strength), it excites all the more subtle
recollections of intoxication.... 252
The inartistic states are: objectivity, reflection, suspension of the
will.... The inartistic states are: those which impoverish, which
subtract, which bleach, under which life suffers--the Christian. 257
Would any link be missing in the whole chain of science and art, if
woman, if woman's work, were excluded from it? Let us acknowledge the
exception--it proves the rule--that woman is capable of perfection in
everything which does not constitute a work: in letters, in memoirs, in
the most intricate handiwork--in short, in everything which is not a
craft.... 260-261
A man is an artist to the extent to which he regards everything
that inartistic people call "form" as the actual substance, as the
"principal" thing. 261
The essential feature in art is its power of perfecting existence,
its production of perfection and plenitude; art is essentially the
affirmation, the blessing, and the deification of existence.... 263
The greatness of an artist is not to be measured by the beautiful
feelings which he evokes: let this belief be left to the girls. It
should be measured according to the extent to which he approaches the
grand style, according to the extent to which he is capable of the
grand style. This style and great passion have this in common--that
they scorn to please; that they forget to persuade: that they command;
that they will.... To become master of the chaos which is in one; to
compel one's inner chaos to assume form; to become consistent, simple,
unequivocal, mathematical, law--this is the great ambition here. 277
A preference for questionable and terrible things is a symptom of
strength; whereas the taste for pretty and charming trifles is
characteristic of the weak and the delicate. 287
Art is the great means of making life possible, the great seducer to
life, the great stimulus of life.
Art is the only superior counter-agent to all will to the denial of
life; it is _par excellence_ the anti-Christian, the anti-Buddhistic,
the anti-Nihilistic force. 290
Quanta of power alone determine rank and distinguish rank: nothing else
does. 295
It is necessary for _higher_ men to declare war upon the masses! In
all directions mediocre people are joining hands in order to make
themselves masters. Everything that pampers, that softens, and that
brings the "people" or "woman" to the front, operates in favour of
universal suffrage--that is to say, the dominion of _inferior_ men. 297
Woman has always conspired with decadent types,--the priests, for
instance,--against the "mighty," against the "strong," against _men._
Women avail themselves of children for the cult of piety, pity, and
love:--the _mother_ stands as the symbol of _convincing_ altruism. 300
It is _necessary_ to show _that a counter-movement is inevitably
associated_ with any increasingly economical consumption of men
and mankind, and with an ever more closely involved "machinery" of
interests and services. I call this counter-movement the _separation
of the luxurious surplus of mankind:_ by means of it a stronger kind,
a higher type, must come to light, which has other conditions for its
origin and for its maintenance than the average man. My concept, my
metaphor for this type is, as you know, the word "Superman." 305
Readers are beginning to see what I am combating--namely, _economic_
optimism: as if the general welfare of everybody must necessarily
increase with the growing self-sacrifice of everybody. The very reverse
seems to me to be the case, _the self-sacrifice of everybody amounts to
a collective loss;_ man becomes _inferior_--so that nobody knows what
end this monstrous purpose has served. 306-307
_The root of all evil:_ that the slave morality of modesty, chastity,
selfishness, and absolute obedience should have triumphed. Dominating
natures were thus condemned (1) to hypocrisy, (2) to qualms of
conscience,--creative natures regarded themselves as rebels against
God, uncertain and hemmed in by eternal values. 309
That which _men of power and will are able to demand of themselves_
gives them the standard for what they may also allow themselves. Such
natures are the very opposite of the _vicious_ and the _unbridled:_
although under certain circumstances they may perpetrate deeds for
which an inferior man would be convicted of vice and intemperance.
In this respect the concept, _"all men are equal before God"_ does
an extraordinary amount of harm; actions and attitudes of mind were
forbidden which belonged to the prerogative of the strong alone, just
as if they were in themselves unworthy of man. All the tendencies of
strong men were brought into disrepute by the fact that the defensive
weapons of the most weak (even of those who were weakest towards
themselves) were established as a standard of valuation. 311
_The degeneration of the ruler and of the ruling classes_ has been the
cause of all the great disorders in history! 312
The solitary type should not be valued from the standpoint of the
gregarious type, or _vice versa._ 320
Who would dare to disgust the mediocre of their mediocrity! As
you observe, I do precisely the reverse: every step away from
mediocrity--thus do I teach--leads to _immorality._ 324
What I combat: that an exceptional form should make war upon the
rule--instead of understanding that the continued existence of the rule
is the first condition of the value of the exception. 325
One should not suppose the mission of a higher species to be the
_leading_ of inferior men (as Comte does, for instance); but the
inferior should be regarded as the _foundation_ upon which a higher
species may live their higher life--upon which alone they _can stand._
329
My consolation is, that the nature of man is _evil,_ and this
guarantees his _strength!_ 332
There is no true scholar who has not the instincts of a true soldier
in his veins. To be able to command and to be able to obey in a proud
fashion; to keep one's place in rank and file, and yet to be ready at
any moment to lead; to prefer danger to comfort; not to weigh what is
permitted and what is forbidden in a tradesman's balance; to be more
hostile to pettiness, slyness, and parasitism than to wickedness. What
is it that one _learns_ in a hard school?--to _obey_ and to _command._
335
_The means by which a strong species maintains itself:--_
It grants itself the right of exceptional actions, as a test of the
power of self-control and of freedom.
It abandons itself to states in which a man is not allowed to be
anything else than a barbarian.
It tries to acquire strength of will by every kind of asceticism.
It is not expansive; it practises silence; it is cautious in regard to
all charms.
It learns to obey in such a way that obedience provides a test of
self-maintenance. Casuistry is carried to its highest pitch in regard
to points of honour.
It never argues, "What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the
gander"--but conversely! it regards reward, and the ability to repay,
as a privilege, as a distinction.