passage from Thus Spoke Zarathustra

One of my favorite quotes from good ol' Friedrich Nietzsche's masterpiece Also Sprach Zarathustra as translated by Adrain Del Caro and Robert Pippin.

(excerpt from speech "On Apostates" located in Part Three)

"Indeed, this will be the death of me, that I choke from laughter when I see asses drunk and hear night watchmen doubting God's existence like this.

Has the time not long since past even for all such doubting? Who is allowed anymore to wake up such old, sleeping, shade-loving things!

It has been over for the old gods for a long time now -- and truly, they had a good cheerful gods' end!

They did not "twilight" themselves to death -- that is surely a lie! Instead they just one day up and laughed themselves to death!

This happened when the most godless words were uttered by a god himself -- the words: 'There is one god. Thou shalt have no other god before me!' --
--an old grim-beard of a god, a jealous one forgot himself in this way:

And all the gods laughed then and rocked in their chairs and cried: 'Is not godliness precisely that there are gods but no God?'

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.--"

it's aight.

i was in a bookstore in Baltimore a few weeks ago (this huge Barnes and Noble built out of a 100 year old factory) and just browsing to see if they had any of the books i have on the little personal reading list i got right now and i came across this crazy weird but intriguing book on Nietzsche that was illustrated in black and white, crazy comic-book style art on every page..it was so weird that i couldn't help it, i had to buy it...i figured if i didnt buy it right then and there, i never would

it's called Introducing Nietzsche and it covered his whole life and his works and philosophies..

i read the whole thing in like 2 days and i loved it..definitely recommend it to everybody..its so easy to read and it's extremely entertaining..and if you never read Nietzsche stuff before, you should...he's deep and really thought-provoking

http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Ni...5857908&sr=8-1

Quote:

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Originally Posted by the silencer

i was in a bookstore in Baltimore a few weeks ago (this huge Barnes and Noble built out of a 100 year old factory) and just browsing to see if they had any of the books i have on the little personal reading list i got right now and i came across this crazy weird but intriguing book on Nietzsche that was illustrated in black and white, crazy comic-book style art on every page..it was so weird that i couldn't help it, i had to buy it...i figured if i didnt buy it right then and there, i never would

it's called Introducing Nietzsche and it covered his whole life and his works and philosophies..

i read the whole thing in like 2 days and i loved it..definitely recommend it to everybody..its so easy to read and it's extremely entertaining..and if you never read Nietzsche stuff before, you should...he's deep and really thought-provoking

http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Ni...5857908&sr=8-1

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You ought to just go and read his actual stuff. Sadly, I've only read one so far, but I intend to read more. Thus Spoke Zarathustra is very good. What I've read from the Gay Science and Genealogy of Morals is also good, but I didn't read those the whole way through.

That quote is very good. I quite like this one on virtues:

"My brother, if you have a virtue and she is your virtue, then you have her in common with nobody. To be sure, you want to call her by name and pet her; you want to pull her ear and have fun with her. And behold, now you have her name in common with the people and have become one of the people and herd with your virtue.
You would do better to say, Inexpressible and nameless is that which gives my soul agony and sweetness and is even the hunger of my entrails.
May your virtue be too exalted for the familiarity of names: and if you must speak of her, then do not be ashamed to stammer of her. Then speak and stammer, This is my good; this I love; it pleases me wholly; thus alone do I want the good. I do not want it as divine law; I do not want it as human statute and need: it shall not be a signpost for me to overearths and paradises. It is an earthly virtue that I love: there is little prudence in it, and least of all the reason of all men. But this bird built its nest with me: therefore I love and caress it; now it dwells with me, sitting on its golden eggs. Thus you shall stammer and praise your virtue.
Once you suffered passions and called them evil. But now you have only your virtues left: they grew out of your passions. You commended your highest goal to the heart of these passions: then they become your virtues and passions you enjoyed.
And whether you came from the tribe of the choleric or of the voluptuous or of the fanatic or of the vengeful, in the end all your passions became virtues and all your devils, angels. Once you had wild dogs in your cellar, but in the end they turned into birds and lovely singers. Out of your poisons you brewed your balsam. You milked your cow, melancholy; now you drink the sweet milk of her udder.
And nothing evil grows out of you henceforth, unless it be the evil that grows out of the fight among your virtues. My brother, if you are fortunate you have only one virtue and no more: then you will pass over the bridge more easily. It is a distinction to have many virtues, but a hard lot; and many have gone into the desert and taken their lives because they had wearied of being the battle and battlefield of virtues.
My brother, are war and battle evil? But this evil is necessary; necessary are the envy and mistrust and calumny among your virtues. Behold how each of your virtues covets what is highest: each wants your whole spirit that it might become her herald; each wants your whole strength in wrath, hatred, and love. Each virtue is jealous of the others, and jealousy is a terrible thing. Virtues too can perish of jealousy. Surrounded by the flame of jealousy, one will in the end, like the scorpion, turn one's poisonous sting against oneself. Alas, my brother, have you never yet seen a virtue deny and stab herself? Man is something that must be overcome; and therefore you shall love your virtues, for you will perish of them."

Apologies for the length.