Birthday Reflection
Original German
An diesem vollkommnen Tage, wo Alles reift und nicht nur die Traube braun wird, fiel mir eben ein Sonnenblick auf mein Leben: ich sah rückwärts, ich sah hinaus, ich sah nie so viel und so gute Dinge auf einmal. Nicht umsonst begrub ich heute mein vierundvierzigstes Jahr, ich durfte es begraben, – was in ihm Leben war, ist gerettet, ist unsterblich. Das erste Buch der Umwerthung aller Werthe, die Lieder Zarathustra’s, die Götzen-Dämmerung, mein Versuch, mit dem Hammer zu philosophiren – Alles Geschenke dieses Jahrs, sogar seines letzten Vierteljahrs! Wie sollte ich nicht meinem ganzen Leben dankbar sein? –
Und so erzähle ich mirmein Leben.
Musean translation
A complete machine-assisted Musean translation directly from the German of the 1908 Insel edition, including its concluding poem. This early edition's readings and omissions are retained, not replaced with later critical restorations.
On this perfect day, when everything ripens and not only the grape turns brown, a shaft of sunlight has just fallen upon my life: I looked back, I looked out: never have I seen such an abundance of things, and such good ones, all at once. Not in vain have I buried my forty-fourth year today; I was permitted to bury it—what was life in it is saved, is immortal. The first book of the Revaluation of All Values, the Songs of Zarathustra, the Twilight of the Idols, my attempt to philosophize with a hammer—all gifts of this year, even of its final quarter! How could I fail to be grateful to my whole life?—
And so I tell myselfmy life.
Plain English translation
A complete machine-assisted Plain English translation made independently and directly from the same German edition, including its concluding poem. This is the 1908 text, not a modern critical edition.
On this perfect day, when everything is ripening and not just the grapes are turning brown, a ray of sunlight just fell on my life. I looked back, I looked outward; I'd never seen that many things at once, and never things that good. It wasn't for nothing that I buried my forty-fourth year today. I was allowed to bury it: whatever was alive in it has been saved and is immortal. The first book of the Revaluation of All Values, the Songs of Zarathustra, Twilight of the Idols, my attempt to philosophize with a hammer—all gifts from this year, even from its last three months! How could I not be grateful for my whole life?—
And so I tell myselfthe story of my life.
About this section
Birthday Reflection is part of Ecce Homo by Friedrich Nietzsche. This page sets the German original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is chapter 2 of 17 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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