“ One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure. ”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1891). copy citation
| Author | Friedrich Nietzsche |
|---|---|
| Source | Thus Spoke Zarathustra |
| Topic | purity sea pollution |
| Date | 1891 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated By Thomas Common |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1998/1998-h/1998-h.htm |
Context
“Oh, that soul was itself meagre, ghastly, and famished; and cruelty was the delight of that soul!
But ye, also, my brethren, tell me: What doth your body say about your soul? Is your soul not poverty and pollution and wretched self-complacency?
Verily, a polluted stream is man. One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure.
Lo, I teach you the Superman: he is that sea; in him can your great contempt be submerged.
What is the greatest thing ye can experience? It is the hour of great contempt. The hour in which even your happiness becometh loathsome unto you, and so also your reason and virtue.” source
But ye, also, my brethren, tell me: What doth your body say about your soul? Is your soul not poverty and pollution and wretched self-complacency?
Verily, a polluted stream is man. One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure.
Lo, I teach you the Superman: he is that sea; in him can your great contempt be submerged.
What is the greatest thing ye can experience? It is the hour of great contempt. The hour in which even your happiness becometh loathsome unto you, and so also your reason and virtue.” source
Meaning and analysis
