The _blind yielding_ to a passion, whether it be generosity, pity, or
hostility, is the cause of the greatest evil. Greatness of character
does not consist in not possessing these passions--on the contrary, a
man should possess them to a terrible degree: but he should lead them
by the bridle.... 346
Education: essentially a means of _ruining_ exceptions in favour of the
rule. Culture: essentially the means of directing taste against the
exceptions in favour of the mediocre. 349
_What is noble?_--The fact that one is constantly forced to be playing
a part. That one is constantly searching for situations in which one
is forced to put on airs. That one leaves happiness to the _greatest
number:_ the happiness which consists of inner peacefulness, of virtue,
of comfort, and of Anglo-angelic-back-parlour-smugness, à la Spencer.
That one instinctively seeks for heavy responsibilities. That one knows
how to create enemies everywhere, at a pinch even in one's self. That
one contradicts the _greatest number,_ not in words at all, but by
continually behaving differently from them. 357
The first thing that must be done is to rear a _new kind_ of man in
whom the duration of the necessary will and the necessary instincts
is guaranteed for many generations. This must be a new kind of ruling
species and caste--this ought to be quite as clear as the somewhat
lengthy and not easily expressed consequences of this thought. The aim
should be to prepare a _transvaluation of values_ for a particularly
strong kind of man, most highly gifted in intellect and will, and,
to his end, slowly and cautiously to liberate in him a whole host of
slandered instincts hitherto held in check.... 363-364
The revolution, confusion, and distress of whole peoples is in my
opinion of less importance than _the misfortunes which attend great
individuals in their development._ We must not allow ourselves to be
deceived: the many misfortunes of all these small folk do not together
constitute a sum-total, except in the feelings of _mighty_ men. 369
The greatest men may also perhaps have great virtues, but then they
also have the opposites of these virtues. I believe that it is
precisely out of the presence of these opposites and of the feelings
they suscitate, that the great man arises,--for the great man is the
broad arch which spans two banks lying far apart. 370
In _great men_ we find the specific qualities of life in their highest
manifestation: injustice, falsehood, exploitation. But inasmuch as
their effect has always been _overwhelming,_ their essential nature has
been most thoroughly misunderstood, and interpreted as goodness. 370-371
We must _not_ make men "better," we must _not_ talk to them about
morality in any form as if "morality in itself," or an ideal kind
of man in general, could be taken for granted; but we must _create
circumstances_ in which _stronger men are necessary,_ such as for
their part will require a morality (or, better still: a bodily and
spiritual discipline) which makes men strong, and upon which they will
consequently insist! 379
We must not separate greatness of soul from intellectual greatness.
For the former involves _independence;_ but without intellectual
greatness independence should not be allowed; all it does is to create
disasters even in its lust of well-doing and of practising "justice."
Inferior spirits _must_ obey, consequently they cannot be possessed of
greatness. 380
I teach that there are higher and lower men, and that a single
individual may under certain circumstances justify whole millenniums of
existence--that is to say, a wealthier, more gifted, greater, and more
complete man, as compared with innumerable imperfect and fragmentary
men. 386
He who _determines_ values and leads the will of millenniums, and does
this by leading the highest natures--he _is the highest man._ 386
We should attain to such a height, to such a lofty eagle's ledge, in
our observation, as to be able to understand that everything happens,
_just as it ought to happen:_ and that all "imperfection," and the pain
it brings, belong to all that which is most eminently desirable. 389
_Pleasure_ appears with the feeling of power.
_Happiness_ means that power and triumph have entered into our
consciousness.
_Progress_ is the strengthening of the type, the ability to exercise
great will-power: everything else is a misunderstanding and a danger.
403
Man is a combination of the _beast and the superbeast:_ higher man a
combination of the monster and the superman: these opposites belong
to each other. With every degree of a man's growth towards greatness
and loftiness, he also grows downwards into the depths and into the
terrible:... 405
The word _"Dionysian"_ expresses: a constraint to unity, a soaring
above personality, the commonplace, society, reality, and above the
abyss of the _ephemeral;_ the passionately painful sensation of
superabundance, in darker, fuller, and more fluctuating conditions;
an ecstatic saying of yea to the collective character of existence,
as that which remains the same, and equally mighty and blissful
throughout all change; the great pantheistic sympathy with pleasure
and pain, which declares even the most terrible and most questionable
qualities of existence good, and sanctifies them; the eternal will to
procreation, to fruitfulness, and to recurrence; the feeling of unity
in regard to the necessity of creating and annihilating. 415-416
At this point I set up the Dionysus of the Greeks: the religious
affirmation of Life, of the whole of Life, not of denied and partial
Life.... 420
God on the Cross is a curse upon Life, a signpost directing people to
deliver themselves from it;--Dionysus cut into pieces is a promise of
Life: it will be for ever born anew, and rise afresh from destruction.
421