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‹Better GutenbergThus Spake ZarathustraChapter XXXIII — The Grave-Song — Chapter XXXIV — Self-Surpassing · 99 of 141Contents›

Thus Spake Zarathustra

by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

99 of 141 · Contents · Download EPUB

Chapter XXXIII The Grave-Song

Here Zarathustra sings about the ideals and friendships of his youth. Verses 27 to 31 undoubtedly refer to Richard Wagner (see Note on Chapter LXV.).

Chapter XXXIV Self-Surpassing

In this discourse we get the best exposition in the whole book of Nietzsche’s doctrine of the Will to Power. I go into this question thoroughly in the Note on Chapter LVII.

Nietzsche was not an iconoclast from choice. Those who hastily class him with the anarchists (or the Progressivists of the last century) fail to understand the high esteem in which he always held both law and discipline. In verse 41 of this most decisive discourse he truly explains his position when he says: “...he who hath to be a creator in good and evil—verily he hath first to be a destroyer, and break values in pieces.” This teaching in regard to self-control is evidence enough of his reverence for law.

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