Maxims and Arrows
Original German
1 Müssiggang ist aller Psychologie Anfang. Wie? wäre Psychologie ein -Laster?
2 Auch der Muthigste von uns hat nur selten den Muth zu dem, was er eigentlich weiss…
3 Um allein zu leben, muss man ein Thier oder ein Gott sein - sagt Aristoteles. Fehlt der dritte Fall: man muss Beides sein - Philosoph…
4 "Alle Wahrheit ist einfach." - Ist das nicht zwiefach eine Lüge? -
5 Ich will, ein für alle Mal, Vieles nicht wissen. - Die Weisheit zieht auch der Erkenntniss Grenzen.
6 Man erholt sich in seiner wilden Natur am besten von seiner Unnatur, von seiner Geistigkeit…
7 Wie? ist der Mensch nur ein Fehlgriff Gottes? Oder Gott nur einFehlgriff des Menschen? -
8 Aus der Kriegsschule des Lebens. - Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.
9 Hilf dir selber: dann hilft dir noch Jedermann. Princip derNächstenliebe.
10 Dass man gegen seine Handlungen keine Feigheit begeht! dass man sie nicht hinterdrein im Stiche lässt! - Der Gewissensbiss ist unanständig.
11 Kann ein Esel tragisch sein? - Dass man unter einer Last zu Grunde geht, die man weder tragen, noch abwerfen kann?… Der Fall des Philosophen.
12 Hat man sein warum? des Lebens, so verträgt man sich fast mit jedem wie? - Der Mensch strebt nicht nach Glück; nur der Engländer thut das.
13 Der Mann hat das Weib geschaffen - woraus doch? Aus einer Rippe seinesGottes, - seines "Ideals"…
14 Was? du suchst? du möchtest dich verzehnfachen, verhundertfachen? du suchst Anhänger? - Suche Nullen.
15 Posthume Menschen - ich zum Beispiel - werden schlechter verstanden als zeitgemässe, aber besser gehört. Strenger: wir werden nie verstanden - und daher unsre Autorität…
16 Unter Frauen. - "Die Wahrheit? Oh Sie kennen die Wahrheit nicht! Ist sie nicht ein Attentat auf alle unsre pudeurs?" -
17 Das ist ein Künstler, wie ich Künstler liebe, bescheiden in seinenBedürfnissen: er will eigentlich nur Zweierlei, sein Brod und seineKunst, - panem et Circen…
18 Wer seinen Willen nicht in die Dinge zu legen weiss, der legt wenigstens einen Sinn noch hinein: das heisst, er glaubt, dass ein Wille bereits darin sei (Princip des "Glaubens").
19 Wie? ihr wähltet die Tugend und den gehobenen Busen und seht zugleich scheel nach den Vortheilen der Unbedenklichen? - Aber mit der Tugend verzichtet man auf "Vortheile"… (einem Antisemiten an die Hausthür.)
20 Das vollkommene Weib begeht Litteratur, wie es eine kleine Sünde begeht: zum Versuch, im Vorübergehn, sich umblickend, ob es Jemand bemerkt und dass es Jemand bemerkt…
21 Sich in lauter Lagen begeben, wo man keine Scheintugenden haben darf, wo man vielmehr, wie der Seiltänzer auf seinem Seile, entweder stürzt oder steht - oder davon kommt…
22 "Böse Menschen haben keine Lieder." - Wie kommt es, dass die RussenLieder haben?
23 "Deutscher Geist": seit achtzehn Jahren eine contradictio in adjecto.
24 Damit, dass man nach den Anfängen sucht, wird man Krebs. DerHistoriker sieht rückwärts; endlich glaubt er auch rückwärts.
25 Zufriedenheit schützt selbst vor Erkältung. Hat je sich ein Weib, das sich gut bekleidet wusste, erkältet? - Ich setze den Fall, das es kaum bekleidet war.
26 Ich misstraue allen Systematikern und gehe ihnen aus dem Weg. DerWille zum System ist ein Mangel an Rechtschaffenheit.
27 Man hält das Weib für tief - warum? weil man nie bei ihm auf den Grund kommt. Das Weib ist noch nicht einmal flach.
28 Wenn das Weib männliche Tugenden hat, so ist es zum Davonlaufen; und wenn es keine männlichen Tugenden hat, so läuft es selbst davon.
29 "Wie viel hatte ehemals das Gewissen zu beissen? welche guten Zähne hatte es? - Und heute? woran fehlt es?" - Frage eines Zahnarztes.
30 Man begeht selten eine Übereilung allein. In der ersten Übereilung thut man immer zu viel. Eben darum begeht man gewöhnlich noch eine zweite - und nunmehr thut man zu wenig…
31 Der getretene Wurm krümmt sich. So ist es klug. Er verringert damit die Wahrscheinlichkeit, von Neuem getreten zu werden. In der Sprache der Moral: Demuth. -
32 Es giebt einen Hass auf Lüge und Verstellung aus einem reizbaren Ehrbegriff; es giebt einen ebensolchen Hass aus Feigheit, insofern die Lüge, durch ein göttliches Gebot, verboten ist. Zu feige, um zu lügen…
33 Wie wenig gehört zum Glücke! Der Ton eines Dudelsacks. - Ohne Musik wäre das Leben ein Irrthum. Der Deutsche denkt sich selbst Gott liedersingend.
34 On ne peut penser et écrire qu'assis (G. Flaubert). - Damit habe ich dich, Nihilist! Das Sitzfleisch ist gerade die Sünde wider den heiligen Geist. Nur die ergangenen Gedanken haben Werth.
35 Es giebt Fälle, wo wir wie Pferde sind, wir Psychologen, und in Unruhe gerathen: wir sehen unsren eignen Schatten vor uns auf und niederschwanken. Der Psychologe muss von sich absehn, um überhaupt zu sehn.
36 Ob wir Immoralisten der Tugend Schaden thun? - Eben so wenig, als die Anarchisten den Fürsten. Erst seitdem diese angeschossen werden, sitzen sie wieder fest auf ihrem Thron. Moral: man muss die Moral anschiessen.
37 Du läufst voran? - Thust du das als Hirt? oder als Ausnahme? Ein dritter Fall wäre der Entlaufene… Erste Gewissensfrage.
38 Bist du echt? oder nur ein Schauspieler? Ein Vertreter? oder dasVertretene selbst? - Zuletzt bist du gar bloss ein nachgemachterSchauspieler… Zweite Gewissensfrage.
39 Der Enttäuschte spricht. - Ich suchte nach grossen Menschen, ich fand immer nur die Affen ihres Ideals.
40 Bist du Einer, der zusieht? oder der Hand anlegt? - oder der wegsieht, bei Seite geht?… Dritte Gewissensfrage.
41 Willst du mitgehn? oder vorangehn? oder für dich gehn?… Man muss wissen, was man will und dass man will. Vierte Gewissensfrage.
42 Das waren Stufen für mich ich bin über sie hinaufgestiegen, - dazu musste ich über sie hinweg. Aber sie meinten, ich wollte mich auf ihnen zur Ruhe setzen…
43 Was liegt daran, das ich Recht behalte! Ich habe zu viel Recht. - Und wer heute am besten lacht, lacht auch zuletzt.
44 Formel meines Glücks: ein Ja, ein Nein, eine gerade Linie ein Ziel…
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.
1 Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Could psychology be a—vice?
2 Even the bravest among us rarely has the courage to face what he actually knows…
3 To live alone, you must be an animal or a god—says Aristotle. The third case is missing: you must be both—a philosopher…
4 “All truth is simple.”—Isn’t that a lie twice over?—
5 There is much I want, once and for all, not to know.—Wisdom sets limits even to knowledge.
6 In your wild nature you recover best from your unnaturalness, from your intellectuality…
7 What? Is humanity merely a blunder of God’s? Or God merely a blunder of humanity’s?—
8 From life’s school of war.—What does not kill me makes me stronger.
9 Help yourself: then everyone else will help you too. The principle of loving your neighbor.
10 No cowardice toward your own actions! No abandoning them after the fact!—Remorse is indecent.
11 Can a donkey be tragic?—Perishing beneath a burden you can neither carry nor throw off?… The philosopher’s predicament.
12 Once you have your why of life, you can bear almost any how.—Human beings do not strive for happiness; only the English do that.
13 Man created woman—but out of what? Out of a rib of his God—his “ideal”…
14 What? You are searching? You would like to multiply yourself tenfold, a hundredfold? You are looking for followers?—Look for zeros.
15 Posthumous people—I, for example—are understood less well than timely ones, but heard better. More strictly: we are never understood—and that is the source of our authority…
16 Among women.—“The truth? Oh, you do not know the truth! Isn’t it an assault on all our modesties?”—
17 Here is an artist of the kind I love, modest in his needs: he really wants only two things, his bread and his art—bread and Circe…
18 Whoever does not know how to put his will into things at least puts a meaning into them: that is, he believes a will is already there (the principle of “faith”).
19 What? You chose virtue and a proudly swelling chest, yet cast envious glances at the advantages of the unscrupulous?—But with virtue you renounce “advantages”… (For an anti-Semite’s front door.)
20 The perfect woman commits literature as she commits a little sin: as an experiment, in passing, looking around to see whether anyone notices and to make sure someone does…
21 To put yourself only in situations where sham virtues are out of the question, where instead, like a tightrope walker on his rope, you either fall or stand—or get away…
22 “Evil people have no songs.”—How is it, then, that the Russians have songs?
23 “German spirit”: for eighteen years now, a contradiction in terms.
24 When you search for beginnings, you become a crab. The historian looks backward; at last he believes backward too.
25 Contentment even protects against catching cold. Has a woman who knew she was well dressed ever caught cold?—I am supposing she was barely dressed at all.
26 I distrust all system-builders and keep out of their way. The will to a system is a lack of integrity.
27 Woman is considered deep—why? Because no one ever gets to the bottom of her. Woman is not even shallow yet.
28 When a woman has masculine virtues, she makes you want to run away; when she has no masculine virtues, she runs away herself.
29 “How much did the conscience once have to bite into! What good teeth it had!—And today? What is it lacking?”—A dentist’s question.
30 We rarely commit just one rash act. In the first, we always do too much. That is precisely why we usually commit a second—and now we do too little…
31 A worm that has been stepped on curls up. That is wise. It thereby reduces the chance of being stepped on again. In the language of morality: humility.—
32 There is a hatred of lies and dissimulation born of a touchy sense of honor; there is the same hatred born of cowardice, insofar as a divine commandment forbids lying. Too cowardly to lie…
33 How little it takes to be happy! The sound of a bagpipe.—Without music, life would be a mistake. The German imagines even God singing songs.
34 One can think and write only while sitting (G. Flaubert).—Now I have you, nihilist! Sitting power is precisely the sin against the Holy Spirit. Only thoughts reached by walking have value.
35 There are times when we psychologists are like horses and grow restless: we see our own shadow swaying up and down ahead of us. The psychologist must look away from himself to see at all.
36 Do we immoralists harm virtue?—No more than anarchists harm princes. Only since people began shooting at them have they sat firmly on their thrones again. Moral: one must shoot at morality.
37 You run ahead?—Do you do so as a shepherd? Or as an exception? A third case would be the runaway… First question of conscience.
38 Are you genuine? Or merely an actor? A representative? Or the very thing represented?—In the end you may even be only an imitation actor… Second question of conscience.
39 The disillusioned man speaks.—I searched for great human beings; I always found only the apes of their ideal.
40 Are you someone who watches? Or lends a hand?—Or looks away, steps aside?… Third question of conscience.
41 Do you want to go along? Or go ahead? Or go your own way?… You must know what you want and that you want. Fourth question of conscience.
42 Those were steps for me; I climbed up over them—to do that, I had to pass over them. But they thought I wanted to settle down on them…
43 What does it matter if I am proved right! I am right too often.—And whoever laughs best today will also laugh last.
44 Formula for my happiness: a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal…
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.
1 Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Could psychology be a—vice?
2 Even the bravest of us rarely has the courage to face what he actually knows…
3 To live alone, you have to be an animal or a god—says Aristotle. He leaves out the third case: you have to be both—a philosopher…
4 “All truth is simple.”—Isn’t that a double lie?—
5 Once and for all, there are many things I do not want to know.—Wisdom puts limits on knowledge too.
6 In your wild nature you recover best from your unnaturalness, from your intellectual life…
7 What? Is the human being just a mistake God made? Or is God just amistake human beings made?—
8 From life’s school of war.—What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.
9 Help yourself: then everyone else will help you too. The principle ofloving your neighbor.
10 Don’t be a coward toward your own actions! Don’t abandon them afterward!—Remorse is indecent.
11 Can a donkey be tragic?—To go under beneath a load you can neither carry nor throw off?… The philosopher’s situation.
12 If you have your why of life, you can put up with almost any how.—Human beings do not seek happiness; only the Englishman does that.
13 Man created woman—but out of what? Out of a rib of hisGod—his “ideal”…
14 What? You’re looking? You want to multiply yourself by ten, by a hundred? You’re looking for followers?—Look for zeros.
15 Posthumous people—me, for example—are understood less well than people who fit their times, but get a better hearing. More strictly: we are never understood—and that is the source of our authority…
16 Among women.—“The truth? Oh, you don’t know the truth! Isn’t it an assault on all our feelings of modesty?”—
17 This is the kind of artist I love, modest in hisneeds: he really wants only two things, his bread and hisart—bread and Circe…
18 Anyone who cannot put his will into things at least puts a meaning into them: that is, he believes a will is already in them (the principle of “faith”).
19 What? You chose virtue and a proudly lifted chest, and at the same time you look with envy at the advantages of people with no scruples?—But choosing virtue means giving up “advantages”… (For an antisemite’s front door.)
20 The perfect woman commits literature as she commits a little sin: to try it out, in passing, looking around to see if anyone notices, and to make sure someone notices…
21 Put yourself only in situations where you cannot have pretend virtues, where instead, like a tightrope walker on his rope, you either fall or stand—or get away…
22 “Evil people have no songs.”—How is it that the Russianshave songs?
23 “German spirit”: a contradiction in terms for eighteen years.
24 Searching for beginnings turns you into a crab. Thehistorian looks backward; eventually he believes backward too.
25 Contentment even protects you from catching cold. Has a woman who knew she was well dressed ever caught cold?—Even supposing she was barely dressed.
26 I distrust everyone who builds systems, and I keep out of their way. Thewill to build a system is a lack of honesty.
27 People think woman is deep—why? Because they never get to the bottom of her. Woman is not even shallow.
28 When a woman has manly virtues, you want to run away; and when she has no manly virtues, she runs away herself.
29 “How much did the conscience used to have to bite on? What good teeth it had!—And today? What’s missing?”—A dentist’s question.
30 You rarely act too hastily just once. The first time, you always do too much. That is exactly why you usually do it a second time—and now you do too little…
31 A worm curls up when it is stepped on. That is smart. It makes it less likely to be stepped on again. In the language of morality: humility.—
32 There is a hatred of lying and pretending that comes from a touchy sense of honor. There is the same hatred that comes from cowardice, because a divine commandment forbids lying. Too cowardly to lie…
33 How little it takes to be happy! The sound of a bagpipe.—Without music, life would be a mistake. A German even imagines God singing songs.
34 You can think and write only while sitting down (G. Flaubert).—Now I’ve caught you, nihilist! Sitting still is precisely the sin against the Holy Spirit. Only thoughts arrived at by walking have any value.
35 There are times when we psychologists are like horses and grow restless: we see our own shadow swaying up and down in front of us. To see anything at all, a psychologist has to look away from himself.
36 Do we immoralists harm virtue?—No more than anarchists harm princes. Only since people started shooting at them have princes sat firmly on their thrones again. Moral: morality needs to be shot at.
37 You run ahead?—Are you doing it as a shepherd? Or as an exception? A third possibility would be the runaway… First question of conscience.
38 Are you genuine? Or just an actor? A representative? Or thething represented itself?—In the end you may even be just an imitationof an actor… Second question of conscience.
39 The disappointed man speaks.—I looked for great people; all I ever found were apes of their ideal.
40 Are you someone who watches? Or who gets to work?—Or who looks away, steps aside?… Third question of conscience.
41 Do you want to go along? Or go ahead? Or go on your own?… You have to know what you want, and that you want. Fourth question of conscience.
42 Those were steps for me; I climbed up over them—to do that, I had to pass beyond them. But they thought I wanted to settle down on them…
43 What does it matter whether I turn out to be right! I am right about too much.—And whoever laughs best today will also laugh last.
44 My formula for happiness: a yes, a no, a straight line, a goal…
About this section
Maxims and Arrows 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 2 of 12 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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