“ There are books which have an inverse value for the soul and the health according as the inferior soul and the lower vitality, or the higher and more powerful, make use of them. ”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1886). copy citation
| Author | Friedrich Nietzsche |
|---|---|
| Source | Beyond Good and Evil |
| Topic | health value |
| Date | 1886 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Helen Zimmern |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363-h/4363-h.htm |
Context
“The virtues of the common man would perhaps mean vice and weakness in a philosopher; it might be possible for a highly developed man, supposing him to degenerate and go to ruin, to acquire qualities thereby alone, for the sake of which he would have to be honoured as a saint in the lower world into which he had sunk. There are books which have an inverse value for the soul and the health according as the inferior soul and the lower vitality, or the higher and more powerful, make use of them. In the former case they are dangerous, disturbing, unsettling books, in the latter case they are herald-calls which summon the bravest to THEIR bravery. Books for the general reader are always ill-smelling books, the odour of paltry people clings to them.”
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