Thus Spake Zarathustra - Penn State University

Thus Spake Zarathustraknife.VII. READING AND WRITINGHim who now turneth sick, the evil overtaketh which isnow the evil: he seeketh to cause pain with that which OF ALL THAT is written, I love only what a person hathcauseth him pain. But there have been other ages, and written with his blood. Write with blood, and thou wiltanother evil and good.find that blood is spirit.Once was doubt evil, and the will to Self. Then the It is no easy task to understand unfamiliar blood; Iinvalid became a heretic or sorcerer; as heretic or sorcererhe suffered, and sought to cause suffering.He who knoweth the reader, doeth nothing more forhate the reading idlers.But this will not enter your ears; it hurteth your good the reader. Another century of readers—and spirit itselfpeople, ye tell me. But what doth it matter to me about will stink.your good people!Every one being allowed to learn to read, ruineth in theMany things in your good people cause me disgust, long run not only writing but also thinking.and verily, not their evil. I would that they had a madnessby which they succumbed, like this pale criminal! even becometh populace.Once spirit was God, then it became man, and now itVerily, I would that their madness were called truth, or He that writeth in blood and proverbs doth not wantfidelity, or justice: but they have their virtue in order to to be read, but learnt by heart.live long, and in wretched self-complacency.In the mountains the shortest way is from peak to peak,I am a railing alongside the torrent; whoever is able to but for that route thou must have long legs. Proverbsgrasp me may grasp me! Your crutch, however, I am should be peaks, and those spoken to should be big andnot.—tall.Thus spake Zarathustra.The atmosphere rare and pure, danger near and the46