The Hammer Speaks
Original German
Also sprach Zarathustra - 3, 90.
"Warum so hart! - sprach zum Diamanten einst die Küchen-Kohle: sind wir denn nicht Nah-Verwandte?"
Warum so weich? Oh meine Brüder, also frage ich euch: seid ihr denn nicht - meine Brüder?
Warum so weich, so weichend und nachgebend? Warum ist so vielLeugnung, Verleugnung in eurem Herzen? so wenig Schicksal in euremBlicke?
Und wollt ihr nicht Schicksale sein und Unerbittliche: wie könntet ihr einst mit mir - siegen?
Und wenn eure Härte nicht blitzen und schneiden und zerschneiden will: wie könntet ihr einst mit mir - schaffen?
Alle Schaffenden nämlich sind hart. Und Seligkeit muss es euch dünken, eure Hand auf Jahrtausende zu drücken wie auf Wachs, -
- Seligkeit, auf dem Willen von Jahrtausenden zu schreiben wie aufErz, - härter als Erz, edler als Erz. Ganz hart allein ist dasEdelste.
Diese neue Tafel, oh meine Brüder, stelle ich über euch: werdet hart! - -
Musean translation
A complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the German in independent chapter tasks. Includes all 44 Maxims and Arrows and The Hammer Speaks.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra—3, 90.
“Why so hard!” the kitchen charcoal once said to the diamond. “Aren’t we close relatives?”
Why so soft? Oh, my brothers, this is what I ask you: aren’t you—my brothers?
Why so soft, so yielding and giving way? Why is there so muchdenial, disavowal in your hearts? So little destiny in yourgaze?
And if you do not want to be destinies and inexorable ones, how could you one day—triumph with me?
And if your hardness will not flash and cut and cut through, how could you one day—create with me?
For all creators are hard. And it must seem bliss to you to press your hand upon millennia as upon wax—
—bliss to write upon the will of millennia as uponbronze—harder than bronze, nobler than bronze. Only the utterly hard issupremely noble.
This new tablet, oh my brothers, I set above you: become hard!—
Plain English translation
A complete machine-assisted Plain English translation made independently and directly from the German, not from the Musean edition or an existing English translation.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 3, 90.
“Why so hard!” the kitchen coal once said to the diamond. “Aren’t we close relatives, after all?”
Why so soft? Oh, my brothers, this is what I ask you: aren’t you—my brothers?
Why so soft, so yielding and giving way? Why is there so much denying, so much disowning in your hearts? So little fate in your eyes?
And if you do not want to be fates and relentless ones, how could you one day win with me?
And if your hardness does not want to flash and cut and cut to pieces, how could you one day create with me?
For all creators are hard. And it must seem bliss to you to press your hand on thousands of years as on wax—
—bliss, to write on the will of thousands of years as on bronze—harder than bronze, nobler than bronze. Only what is completely hard is noblest.
I set this new tablet over you, oh, my brothers: become hard!——
About this section
The Hammer Speaks is part of Twilight of the Idols 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 12 of 12 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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