The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza)
Friedrich Nietzsche
1,346 passages indexed from The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza) (Friedrich Nietzsche) — Page 26 of 27
License: Public Domain
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1147
The Jew also, as a born literary man, as the actual ruler of the European press, exercises this power on the basis of his histrionic capacity: for the literary man is essentially an actor,—he plays the part of "expert," of "specialist."—Finally _women_. If we consider the whole history of women, are they not _obliged_ first of all, and above all to be actresses?
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 4
The translation of Nietzsche's poetry has proved to be a more embarrassing problem than that of his prose. Not only has there been a difficulty in finding adequate translators—a difficulty overcome, it is hoped, by the choice of Miss Petre and Mr Cohn,—but it cannot be denied that even in the original the poems are of unequal merit. By the side of such masterpieces as "To the Mistral" are several verses of comparatively little value. The Editor, however, did not feel justified in making a selection, as it was intended that the edition should be complete. The heading, "Jest, Ruse and Revenge," of the "Prelude in Rhyme" is borrowed from Goethe.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 173
_The Theory of the Sense of Power._—We exercise our power over others by doing them good or by doing them ill—that is all we care for! _Doing ill_ to those on whom we have to make our power felt; for pain is a far more sensitive means for that purpose than pleasure:—pain always asks concerning the cause, while pleasure is inclined to keep within itself and not look backward.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 104
I no longer know, my dear fellow-man and neighbour, if thou _canst_ at all live to the disadvantage of the race, and therefore, "unreasonably" and "badly"; that which could have injured the race has perhaps died out many millenniums ago, and now belongs to the things which are no longer possible even to God.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1027
(In passing we may remark that in respect to logical thinking, in respect to _cleaner_ intellectual habits, Europe is not a little indebted to the Jews; above all the Germans, as being a lamentably _déraisonnable_ race, who, even at the present day, must always have their "heads washed"[11] in the first place.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 593
_Christianity and Suicide._—Christianity made use of the excessive longing for suicide at the time of its origin as a lever for its power: it left only two forms of suicide, invested them with the highest dignity and the highest hopes, and forbade all others in a dreadful manner. But martyrdom and the slow self-annihilation of the ascetic were permitted.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 439
Not to take Goethe into account, for he is reasonably claimed by the century that produced him, I look only on Giacomo Leopardi, Prosper Mérimée, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walter Savage Landor, the author of _Imaginary Conversations_, as worthy to be called masters of prose.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 610
_Colour of the Passions._—Natures such as the apostle Paul, have an evil eye for the passions; they learn to know only the filthy, the distorting, and the heart-breaking in them,—their ideal aim, therefore, is the annihilation of the passions; in the divine they see complete purification from passion. The Greeks, quite otherwise than Paul and the Jews, directed their ideal aim precisely to the passions, and loved, elevated, embellished and deified them: in passion they evidently not only felt themselves happier, but also purer and diviner than otherwise.—And now the Christians? Have they wished to become Jews in this respect? Have they perhaps become Jews!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1022
If one has trained one's glance to some extent to recognise in a learned book or scientific treatise the intellectual _idiosyncrasy_ of the learned man—all of them have such idiosyncrasy,—and if we take it by surprise, we shall almost always get a glimpse behind it of the "antecedent history" of the learned man and his family, especially of the nature of their callings and occupations.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 511
How could we dispense with Art for that purpose, how could we dispense with the fool?—And as long as you are still _ashamed_ of yourselves in any way, you still do not belong to us!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1006
We take good care not to say that the world is of _less_ value: it seems to us at present absolutely ridiculous when man claims to devise values _to surpass_ the values of the actual world,—it is precisely from that point that we have retraced our steps; as from an extravagant error of human conceit and irrationality, which for a long period has not been recognised as such.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 528
From that moment, not only belief and conviction, but also examination, denial, distrust and contradiction became _forces_; all "evil" instincts were subordinated to knowledge, were placed in its service, and acquired the prestige of the permitted, the honoured, the useful, and finally the appearance and innocence of the _good_.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 715
_The "Plodders."_—Persons slow of apprehension think that slowness forms part of knowledge.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1061
Granted that this observation is correct, I may proceed further to the conjecture that _consciousness generally has only been developed under the pressure of the necessity for communication_,—that from the first it has been necessary and useful only between man and man (especially between those commanding and those obeying), and has only developed in proportion to its utility.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 938
But to bear this immense sum of grief of all kinds, to be able to bear it, and yet still be the hero who at the commencement of a second day of battle greets the dawn and his happiness, as one who has an horizon of centuries before and behind him, as the heir of all nobility, of all past intellect, and the obligatory heir (as the noblest) of all the old nobles; while at the same time the first of a new nobility, the equal of which has never been seen nor even dreamt of: to take all this upon his soul, the oldest, the newest, the losses, hopes, conquests, and victories of mankind: to have all this at last in one soul, and to comprise it in one feeling:—this would necessarily furnish a happiness which man has not hitherto known,—a God's happiness, full of power and love, full of tears and laughter, a happiness which, like the sun in the evening, continually gives of its inexhaustible riches and empties into the sea,—and like the sun, too, feels itself richest when even the poorest fisherman rows with golden oars!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 169
The Stoics at least believed it was so, and they were consistent when they wished to have the least possible pleasure, in order to have the least possible pain from life.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 990
_Morality as a Problem._—A defect in personality revenges itself everywhere: an enfeebled, lank, obliterated, self-disavowing and disowning personality is no longer fit for anything good—it is least of all fit for philosophy. "Selflessness" has no value either in heaven or on earth; the great problems all demand _great love_, and it is only the strong, well-rounded, secure spirits, those who have a solid basis, that are qualified for them.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 995
With difficulty I have discovered some scanty data for the purpose of furnishing a _history of the origin_ of these feelings and estimates of value (which is something different from a criticism of them, and also something different from a history of ethical systems). In an individual case, I have done everything to encourage the inclination and talent for this kind of history—in vain, as it would seem to me at present.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1119
The Lutheran Reformation in all its length and breadth was the indignation of the simple against something "complicated." To speak cautiously, it was a coarse, honest misunderstanding, in which much is to be forgiven,—people did not understand the mode of expression of a _victorious_ Church, and only saw corruption; they misunderstood the noble scepticism, the _luxury_ of scepticism and toleration which every victorious, self-confident power permits....
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 789
Such intellects—they may be intellects of the first rank—are always concerned with fashioning or interpreting themselves and their surroundings as _free_ nature—wild, arbitrary, fantastic, confused and surprising: and it is well for them to do so, because only in this manner can they please themselves! For one thing is needful: namely, that man should _attain to_ satisfaction with himself—be it but through this or that fable and artifice: it is only then that man's aspect is at all endurable!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 236
I wish people also to submit to my fancies, and to take it quite as a simple matter, if I should indulge in this or that diversion." Thus spoke Napoleon once to his wife, when she had reasons for calling in question the fidelity of her husband.—The times of corruption are the seasons when the apples fall from the tree: I mean the individuals, the seed-bearers of the future, the pioneers of the spiritual colonisation and of a new construction of national and social unions.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1331
Wildly rushing, clouds outleaping, Care-destroying, Heaven sweeping, Mistral wind, thou art my friend! Surely 'twas one womb did bear us, Surely 'twas one fate did pair us, Fellows for a common end.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 217
His Majesty may perhaps even be sick: we shall give the last good news of the evening at breakfast, the arrival of M. Montaigne, who knows how to joke so pleasantly about his sickness,—he suffers from stone. We shall receive several persons (persons!—what would that old inflated frog, who will be among them, say, if he heard this word!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1320
No, I retract, 'Tis cold—I hear the rain importune— Fever, I'll soften, show my tact: Here's gold—a coin—see it gleam! Shall I with blessings on you beam, Call you "good fortune"?
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 869
_New Domestic Animals._—I want to have my lion and my eagle about me, that I may always have hints and premonitions concerning the amount of my strength or weakness. Must I look down on them to-day, and be afraid of them? And will the hour come once more when they will look up to me, and tremble?—
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 377
_The Charm of Imperfection._—I see here a poet, who, like so many men, exercises a higher charm by his imperfections than by all that is rounded off and takes perfect shape under his hands,—indeed, he derives his advantage and reputation far more from his actual limitations than from his abundant powers.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 222
_The Characteristics of Corruption._—Let us observe the following characteristics in that condition of society from time to time necessary, which is designated by the word "corruption." Immediately upon the appearance of corruption anywhere, a motley _superstition_ gets the upper hand, and the hitherto universal belief of a people becomes colourless and impotent in comparison with it; for superstition is freethinking of the second rank,—he who gives himself over to it selects certain forms and formulæ which appeal to him, and permits himself a right of choice.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 78
Renown you're quite resolved to earn? My thought about it Is this: you need not fame, must learn To do without it!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1308
Pinching sore, in devil's mood, Love doth plague my crupper: Truly I can eat no food: Farewell, onion-supper!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1186
No one takes his finest taste in art into the theatre with him, not even the artist who works for the theatre: there one is people, public, herd, woman, Pharisee, voting animal, democrat, neighbour, and fellow-creature; there even the most personal conscience succumbs to the levelling charm of the 'great multitude'; there stupidity operates as wantonness and contagion; there the neighbour rules, there one _becomes_ a neighbour...." (I have forgotten to mention what my enlightened Wagnerian answered to my physiological objections: "So the fact is that you are really not healthy enough for our music?"—)
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1335
Saw you from your chariot swinging, So that swifter downward springing Like an arrow you might go Straight into the deep abysses, As a sunbeam falls and kisses Roses in the morning glow.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 698
_Faith Saves._—Virtue gives happiness and a state of blessedness only to those who have a strong faith in their virtue:—not, however, to the more refined souls whose virtue consists of a profound distrust of themselves and of all virtue. After all, therefore, it is "faith that saves" here also!—and be it well observed, _not_ virtue!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 832
There is certainly _vis contemplativa_, and re-examination of his work peculiar to him as poet, but at the same time, and first and foremost, he has the _vis creativa_, which the practical man or doer _lacks_, whatever appearance and current belief may say to the contrary.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 336
Then, suddenly, as if born out of nothingness, there appears before the portal of this hellish labyrinth, only a few fathoms distant,—a great sailing-ship gliding silently along like a ghost. Oh, this ghostly beauty! With what enchantment it seizes me! What? Has all the repose and silence in the world embarked here? Does my happiness itself sit in this quiet place, my happier ego, my second immortalised self? Still not dead, yet also no longer living?
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 532
Whoever, for example, could not discern the "like" often enough with regard to food, and with regard to animals dangerous to him, whoever, therefore, deduced too slowly, or was too circumspect in his deductions, had smaller probability of survival than he who in all similar things immediately divined the equality. The preponderating inclination, however, to deal with the similar as the equal—an illogical inclination, for there is nothing equal in itself—first created the whole basis of logic.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1019
For in fact fanaticism is the sole "volitional strength" to which the weak and irresolute can be excited, as a sort of hypnotising of the entire sensory-intellectual system, in favour of the over-abundant nutrition (hypertrophy) of a particular point of view and a particular sentiment, which then dominates—the Christian calls it his _faith_.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 585
Thirdly, it is only in an intellectual being that there is pleasure, displeasure and Will; the immense majority of organisms have nothing of the kind.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 708
_Animal Criticism._—I fear the animals regard man as a being like themselves, very seriously endangered by a loss of sound animal understanding;—they regard him perhaps as the absurd animal, the laughing animal, the crying animal, the unfortunate animal.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1161
First principle: to stake one's courage as in a misfortune, to seize boldly, to admire oneself at the same time, to take one's repugnance between one's teeth, to cram down one's disgust. Second principle: to "improve" one's fellow-man, by praise for example, so that he may begin to sweat out his self-complacency; or to seize a tuft of his good or "interesting" qualities, and pull at it till one gets his whole virtue out, and can put him under the folds of it. Third principle: self-hypnotism.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 590
All that religion wants with such persons is that they should _keep still_ with their eyes, hands, legs, and all their organs: they thereby become temporarily beautified and—more human-looking!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 385
As they constructed the stage as narrow as possible and dispensed with all the effect of deep backgrounds, as they made pantomime and easy motion impossible to the actor, and transformed him into a solemn, stiff, masked bogey, so they have also deprived passion itself of its deep background, and have dictated to it a law of fine talk; indeed, they have really done everything to counteract the elementary effect of representations that inspire pity and terror: _they did not want pity and terror_,—with due deference, with the highest deference to Aristotle!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 35
We at last know better what is first of all necessary _for it_—namely, cheerfulness, _every_ kind of cheerfulness, my friends! also as artists:—I should like to prove it. We now know something too well, we men of knowledge: oh, how well we are now learning to forget and _not_ know, as artists!
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 293
_The Suppression of the Passions._—When one continually prohibits the expression of the passions as something to be left to the "vulgar," to coarser, bourgeois, and peasant natures—that is, when one does not want to suppress the passions themselves, but only their language and demeanour, one nevertheless realises _therewith_ just what one does not want: the suppression of the passions themselves, or at least their weakening and alteration,—as the court of Louis XIV.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 348
All human beings are innocent of their existence, women, however, are doubly innocent; who could have enough of salve and gentleness for them!"—"What about salve! What about gentleness!" called out another person in the crowd, "we must educate women better!"—"We must educate men better," said the wise man, and made a sign to the youth to follow him.—The youth, however, did not follow him.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 275
It is probable that the manufacturers and great magnates of commerce have hitherto lacked too much all those forms and attributes of a _superior race_, which alone make persons interesting; if they had had the nobility of the nobly-born in their looks and bearing, there would perhaps have been no socialism in the masses of the people.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 485
It is not music like that of Goethe's musician at the gate, which was pleasing also "in the hall," and to the king as well; it is not here said: "The knights looked on with martial air; with bashful eyes the ladies." Even the Graces are not allowed in German music without a touch of remorse; it is only with Pleasantness, the country sister of the Graces that the German begins to feel morally at ease—and from this point up to his enthusiastic, learned, and often gruff "sublimity" (the Beethoven-like sublimity), he feels more and more so.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 598
_Origin of Sin._—Sin, as it is at present felt wherever Christianity prevails or has prevailed, is a Jewish feeling and a Jewish invention; and in respect to this background of all Christian morality, Christianity has in fact aimed at "Judaising" the whole world.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 406
There was a still more wonderful idea, and it has perhaps operated most powerfully of all in the originating of poetry. Among the Pythagoreans it made its appearance as a philosophical doctrine and as an artifice of teaching: but long before there were philosophers music was acknowledged to possess the power of unburdening the emotions, of purifying the soul, of soothing the _ferocia animi_—and this was owing to the rhythmical element in music.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 208
Blindly furious diligence, for example, the typical virtue of an instrument, is represented as the way to riches and honour, and as the most beneficial antidote to tedium and passion: but people are silent concerning its danger, its greatest dangerousness.
The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza), passage 1302
Oh albatross, great bird, Speeding me upward ever through the blue! I thought of her, was stirred To tears unending—yea, I love her true!