Reading Nietzsche — On the New Idol

Behold the superfluous!  They steal the works of the inventors and the treasures of the sages for themselves; “education” they call their theft—and everything turns to sickness and misfortune for them.

Behold the superfluous!  They are always sick; they vomit their gall and call it a newspaper.  They devour each other and cannot even digest themselves.

Behold the superfluous!  They gather riches and become poorer with them.  They want power and first the lever of power, much money—the impotent paupers!

The earth is free even now for great souls.  There are still many empty seats for the lonesome and the twosome, fanned by the fragrance of silent seas.

A free life is still free for great souls.  Verily, whoever possesses little is possessed that much less: praised be a little poverty!

Only where the state ends, there begins the human being who is not superfluous: there begins the song of necessity, the unique and inimitable tune.

Where the state ends—look there, my brothers!  Do you not see it, the rainbow and the bridges of the overman?

Thus spoke Zarathustra.

From Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, translation by Walter Kaufmann