Named after the Persian prophet Zoroaster, who, Nietzsche said, first made morality a cosmic force (good versus evil) — and so must be the first to recognize his error.
Lines to Remember
2 quotationsMan is a rope, tied between beast and overman — a rope over an abyss.
Context & when to use it
Zarathustra’s first speech in the marketplace, while a tightrope-walker performs.
For human beings as unfinished, a transition rather than a goal.
One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.
Context & when to use it
Warning against the Last Man, who has no chaos left.
For creativity out of inner turmoil.
Explore Next
related by shared connections
Macbeth
Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy — a brave soldier, prompted by witches and his wife, murders his king and wades so deep in blood that life becomes “a tale told by an idiot”.
Eternal Recurrence
Nietzsche’s thought-experiment — would you will to live your life again, every moment, infinitely? The supreme test of affirming life.
The Little Clay Cart
Śūdraka’s Sanskrit comedy of love, crime and revolution — a poor Brahmin merchant, a generous courtesan, a burglar with a theory of house-breaking, a vicious royal brother-in-law and a popular uprising — the most realistic and modern-feeling play of ancient India.
The Rebel
Camus’s history of revolt — metaphysical and political — arguing that rebellion that kills for history betrays its own origin. It ended his friendship with Sartre.
The Gay Science
Nietzsche’s most joyful book — where God is first declared dead, the madman runs into the marketplace, and the thought of eternal recurrence first appears.
Cilappatikāram (The Tale of an Anklet)
The great Tamil epic (c. 5th century) by the prince-monk Iḷaṅkō Aṭikaḷ — Kaṇṇaki’s husband is executed on a false charge of stealing the queen’s anklet; she proves his innocence, tears off her breast and burns the city of Madurai, and becomes a goddess.