Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

159. One MUST repay good and ill; but why just to the person who did us

good or ill?

← Previous Back to Home Next →

Chapter 1 Ch.1
CHAPTER IX: WHAT IS NOBLE? Ch.2
1. The Will to Truth, which is to tempt us to many a hazardous Ch.3
2. "HOW COULD anything originate out of its opposite? For example, truth Ch.4
3. Having kept a sharp eye on philosophers, and having read between Ch.5
4. The falseness of an opinion is not for us any objection to it: it is Ch.6
5. That which causes philosophers to be regarded half-distrustfully Ch.7
6. It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy up Ch.8
7. How malicious philosophers can be! I know of nothing more stinging Ch.9
8. There is a point in every philosophy at which the "conviction" of Ch.10
9. You desire to LIVE "according to Nature"? Oh, you noble Stoics, what Ch.11
10. The eagerness and subtlety, I should even say craftiness, with Ch.12
11. It seems to me that there is everywhere an attempt at present to Ch.13
12. As regards materialistic atomism, it is one of the best-refuted Ch.14
13. Psychologists should bethink themselves before putting down the Ch.15
14. It is perhaps just dawning on five or six minds that natural Ch.16
15. To study physiology with a clear conscience, one must insist on Ch.17
16. There are still harmless self-observers who believe that there are Ch.18
17. With regard to the superstitions of logicians, I shall never tire Ch.19
18. It is certainly not the least charm of a theory that it is Ch.20
19. Philosophers are accustomed to speak of the will as though it were Ch.21
20. That the separate philosophical ideas are not anything optional or Ch.22
21. The CAUSA SUI is the best self-contradiction that has yet been Ch.23
22. Let me be pardoned, as an old philologist who cannot desist from Ch.24
23. All psychology hitherto has run aground on moral prejudices and Ch.25
24. O sancta simplicitas! In what strange simplification and Ch.26
25. After such a cheerful commencement, a serious word would fain be Ch.27
26. Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, Ch.28
27. It is difficult to be understood, especially when one thinks and Ch.29
28. What is most difficult to render from one language into another Ch.30
29. It is the business of the very few to be independent; it is a Ch.31
30. Our deepest insights must--and should--appear as follies, and under Ch.32
31. In our youthful years we still venerate and despise without the art Ch.33
32. Throughout the longest period of human history--one calls it the Ch.34
33. It cannot be helped: the sentiment of surrender, of sacrifice for Ch.35
34. At whatever standpoint of philosophy one may place oneself nowadays, Ch.36
35. O Voltaire! O humanity! O idiocy! There is something ticklish in Ch.37
36. Supposing that nothing else is "given" as real but our world of Ch.38
37. "What? Does not that mean in popular language: God is disproved, but Ch.39
38. As happened finally in all the enlightenment of modern times with Ch.40
39. Nobody will very readily regard a doctrine as true merely because Ch.41
40. Everything that is profound loves the mask: the profoundest things Ch.42
41. One must subject oneself to one's own tests that one is destined Ch.43
42. A new order of philosophers is appearing; I shall venture to baptize Ch.44
43. Will they be new friends of "truth," these coming philosophers? Very Ch.45
44. Need I say expressly after all this that they will be free, VERY Ch.46
45. The human soul and its limits, the range of man's inner experiences Ch.47
46. Faith, such as early Christianity desired, and not infrequently Ch.48
47. Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, Ch.49
48. It seems that the Latin races are far more deeply attached to their Ch.50
49. That which is so astonishing in the religious life of the ancient Ch.51
50. The passion for God: there are churlish, honest-hearted, and Ch.52
51. The mightiest men have hitherto always bowed reverently before Ch.53
52. In the Jewish "Old Testament," the book of divine justice, there are Ch.54
53. Why Atheism nowadays? "The father" in God is thoroughly refuted; Ch.55
54. What does all modern philosophy mainly do? Since Descartes--and Ch.56
55. There is a great ladder of religious cruelty, with many rounds; but Ch.57
56. Whoever, like myself, prompted by some enigmatical desire, has long Ch.58
57. The distance, and as it were the space around man, grows with the Ch.59
58. Has it been observed to what extent outward idleness, or Ch.60
59. Whoever has seen deeply into the world has doubtless divined what Ch.61
60. To love mankind FOR GOD'S SAKE--this has so far been the noblest and Ch.62
61. The philosopher, as WE free spirits understand him--as the man of Ch.63
62. To be sure--to make also the bad counter-reckoning against such Ch.64
63. He who is a thorough teacher takes things seriously--and even Ch.65
64. "Knowledge for its own sake"--that is the last snare laid by Ch.66
65. The charm of knowledge would be small, were it not so much shame has Ch.67
66. The tendency of a person to allow himself to be degraded, robbed, Ch.68
67. Love to one only is a barbarity, for it is exercised at the expense Ch.69
68. "I did that," says my memory. "I could not have done that," says my Ch.70
69. One has regarded life carelessly, if one has failed to see the hand Ch.71
70. If a man has character, he has also his typical experience, which Ch.72
71. THE SAGE AS ASTRONOMER.--So long as thou feelest the stars as an Ch.73
72. It is not the strength, but the duration of great sentiments that Ch.74
73. He who attains his ideal, precisely thereby surpasses it. Ch.75
74. A man of genius is unbearable, unless he possess at least two things Ch.76
75. The degree and nature of a man's sensuality extends to the highest Ch.77
77. With his principles a man seeks either to dominate, or justify, Ch.78
78. He who despises himself, nevertheless esteems himself thereby, as a Ch.79
79. A soul which knows that it is loved, but does not itself love, Ch.80
80. A thing that is explained ceases to concern us--What did the God Ch.81
81. It is terrible to die of thirst at sea. Is it necessary that you Ch.82
82. "Sympathy for all"--would be harshness and tyranny for THEE, my good Ch.83
83. INSTINCT--When the house is on fire one forgets even the Ch.84
85. The same emotions are in man and woman, but in different TEMPO, on Ch.85
86. In the background of all their personal vanity, women themselves Ch.86
87. FETTERED HEART, FREE SPIRIT--When one firmly fetters one's heart Ch.87
88. One begins to distrust very clever persons when they become Ch.88
89. Dreadful experiences raise the question whether he who experiences Ch.89
90. Heavy, melancholy men turn lighter, and come temporarily to their Ch.90
91. So cold, so icy, that one burns one's finger at the touch of him! Ch.91
92. Who has not, at one time or another--sacrificed himself for the sake Ch.92
93. In affability there is no hatred of men, but precisely on that Ch.93
94. The maturity of man--that means, to have reacquired the seriousness Ch.94
95. To be ashamed of one's immorality is a step on the ladder at the end Ch.95
96. One should part from life as Ulysses parted from Nausicaa--blessing Ch.96
97. What? A great man? I always see merely the play-actor of his own Ch.97
99. THE DISAPPOINTED ONE SPEAKS--"I listened for the echo and I heard Ch.98
100. We all feign to ourselves that we are simpler than we are, we thus Ch.99
101. A discerning one might easily regard himself at present as the Ch.100
102. Discovering reciprocal love should really disenchant the lover with Ch.101
103. THE DANGER IN HAPPINESS.--"Everything now turns out best for me, I Ch.102
104. Not their love of humanity, but the impotence of their love, Ch.103
105. The pia fraus is still more repugnant to the taste (the "piety") Ch.104
107. A sign of strong character, when once the resolution has been Ch.105
108. There is no such thing as moral phenomena, but only a moral Ch.106
109. The criminal is often enough not equal to his deed: he extenuates Ch.107
110. The advocates of a criminal are seldom artists enough to turn the Ch.108
111. Our vanity is most difficult to wound just when our pride has been Ch.109
112. To him who feels himself preordained to contemplation and not to Ch.110
113. "You want to prepossess him in your favour? Then you must be Ch.111
114. The immense expectation with regard to sexual love, and the coyness Ch.112
115. Where there is neither love nor hatred in the game, woman's play is Ch.113
116. The great epochs of our life are at the points when we gain courage Ch.114
117. The will to overcome an emotion, is ultimately only the will of Ch.115
118. There is an innocence of admiration: it is possessed by him to whom Ch.116
119. Our loathing of dirt may be so great as to prevent our cleaning Ch.117
120. Sensuality often forces the growth of love too much, so that its Ch.118
121. It is a curious thing that God learned Greek when he wished to turn Ch.119
122. To rejoice on account of praise is in many cases merely politeness Ch.120
124. He who exults at the stake, does not triumph over pain, but because Ch.121
125. When we have to change an opinion about any one, we charge heavily Ch.122
126. A nation is a detour of nature to arrive at six or seven great Ch.123
127. In the eyes of all true women science is hostile to the sense of Ch.124
128. The more abstract the truth you wish to teach, the more must you Ch.125
129. The devil has the most extensive perspectives for God; on that Ch.126
130. What a person IS begins to betray itself when his talent Ch.127
131. The sexes deceive themselves about each other: the reason is that Ch.128
133. He who cannot find the way to HIS ideal, lives more frivolously and Ch.129
134. From the senses originate all trustworthiness, all good conscience, Ch.130
135. Pharisaism is not a deterioration of the good man; a considerable Ch.131
136. The one seeks an accoucheur for his thoughts, the other seeks some Ch.132
137. In intercourse with scholars and artists one readily makes mistakes Ch.133
138. We do the same when awake as when dreaming: we only invent and Ch.134
140. ADVICE AS A RIDDLE.--"If the band is not to break, bite it Ch.135
141. The belly is the reason why man does not so readily take himself Ch.136
142. The chastest utterance I ever heard: "Dans le veritable amour c'est Ch.137
143. Our vanity would like what we do best to pass precisely for what is Ch.138
144. When a woman has scholarly inclinations there is generally Ch.139
145. Comparing man and woman generally, one may say that woman would Ch.140
146. He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby Ch.141
147. From old Florentine novels--moreover, from life: Buona femmina e Ch.142
148. To seduce their neighbour to a favourable opinion, and afterwards Ch.143
149. That which an age considers evil is usually an unseasonable echo of Ch.144
150. Around the hero everything becomes a tragedy; around the Ch.145
151. It is not enough to possess a talent: one must also have your Ch.146
152. "Where there is the tree of knowledge, there is always Paradise": Ch.147
154. Objection, evasion, joyous distrust, and love of irony are signs of Ch.148
156. Insanity in individuals is something rare--but in groups, parties, Ch.149
157. The thought of suicide is a great consolation: by means of it one Ch.150
158. Not only our reason, but also our conscience, truckles to our Ch.151
159. One MUST repay good and ill; but why just to the person who did us Ch.152
160. One no longer loves one's knowledge sufficiently after one has Ch.153
162. "Our fellow-creature is not our neighbour, but our neighbour's Ch.154
163. Love brings to light the noble and hidden qualities of a lover--his Ch.155
164. Jesus said to his Jews: "The law was for servants;--love God as I Ch.156
165. IN SIGHT OF EVERY PARTY.--A shepherd has always need of a Ch.157
166. One may indeed lie with the mouth; but with the accompanying Ch.158
167. To vigorous men intimacy is a matter of shame--and something Ch.159
168. Christianity gave Eros poison to drink; he did not die of it, Ch.160
169. To talk much about oneself may also be a means of concealing Ch.161
171. Pity has an almost ludicrous effect on a man of knowledge, like Ch.162
172. One occasionally embraces some one or other, out of love to mankind Ch.163
173. One does not hate as long as one disesteems, but only when one Ch.164
174. Ye Utilitarians--ye, too, love the UTILE only as a VEHICLE for Ch.165
176. The vanity of others is only counter to our taste when it is Ch.166
177. With regard to what "truthfulness" is, perhaps nobody has ever been Ch.167
178. One does not believe in the follies of clever men: what a Ch.168
179. The consequences of our actions seize us by the forelock, very Ch.169
180. There is an innocence in lying which is the sign of good faith in a Ch.170
182. The familiarity of superiors embitters one, because it may not be Ch.171
183. "I am affected, not because you have deceived me, but because I can Ch.172
184. There is a haughtiness of kindness which has the appearance of Ch.173
185. "I dislike him."--Why?--"I am not a match for him."--Did any one Ch.174
186. The moral sentiment in Europe at present is perhaps as subtle, Ch.175
187. Apart from the value of such assertions as "there is a categorical Ch.176
188. In contrast to laisser-aller, every system of morals is a sort of Ch.177
189. Industrious races find it a great hardship to be idle: it was a Ch.178
190. There is something in the morality of Plato which does not really Ch.179
191. The old theological problem of "Faith" and "Knowledge," or more Ch.180
192. Whoever has followed the history of a single science, finds in Ch.181
193. Quidquid luce fuit, tenebris agit: but also contrariwise. What we Ch.182
194. The difference among men does not manifest itself only in the Ch.183
195. The Jews--a people "born for slavery," as Tacitus and the whole Ch.184
196. It is to be INFERRED that there are countless dark bodies near the Ch.185
197. The beast of prey and the man of prey (for instance, Caesar Borgia) Ch.186
198. All the systems of morals which address themselves with a view to Ch.187
199. Inasmuch as in all ages, as long as mankind has existed, there have Ch.188
200. The man of an age of dissolution which mixes the races with Ch.189
201. As long as the utility which determines moral estimates is only Ch.190
202. Let us at once say again what we have already said a hundred Ch.191
203. We, who hold a different belief--we, who regard the democratic Ch.192
204. At the risk that moralizing may also reveal itself here as that Ch.193
205. The dangers that beset the evolution of the philosopher are, in Ch.194
206. In relation to the genius, that is to say, a being who either Ch.195
207. However gratefully one may welcome the OBJECTIVE spirit--and Ch.196
208. When a philosopher nowadays makes known that he is not a skeptic--I Ch.197
209. As to how far the new warlike age on which we Europeans have Ch.198
210. Supposing, then, that in the picture of the philosophers of the Ch.199
211. I insist upon it that people finally cease confounding Ch.200
212. It is always more obvious to me that the philosopher, as a man Ch.201
213. It is difficult to learn what a philosopher is, because it cannot Ch.202
214. OUR Virtues?--It is probable that we, too, have still our virtues, Ch.203
215. As in the stellar firmament there are sometimes two suns which Ch.204
216. To love one's enemies? I think that has been well learnt: it takes Ch.205
217. Let us be careful in dealing with those who attach great importance Ch.206
218. The psychologists of France--and where else are there still Ch.207
219. The practice of judging and condemning morally, is the favourite Ch.208
220. Now that the praise of the "disinterested person" is so popular Ch.209
221. "It sometimes happens," said a moralistic pedant and Ch.210
222. Wherever sympathy (fellow-suffering) is preached nowadays--and, Ch.211
223. The hybrid European--a tolerably ugly plebeian, taken all in Ch.212
224. The historical sense (or the capacity for divining quickly Ch.213
225. Whether it be hedonism, pessimism, utilitarianism, or eudaemonism, Ch.214
226. WE IMMORALISTS.--This world with which WE are concerned, in which Ch.215
227. Honesty, granting that it is the virtue of which we cannot rid Ch.216
228. I hope to be forgiven for discovering that all moral philosophy Ch.217
229. In these later ages, which may be proud of their humanity, there Ch.218
230. Perhaps what I have said here about a "fundamental will of the Ch.219
231. Learning alters us, it does what all nourishment does that does not Ch.220
232. Woman wishes to be independent, and therefore she begins to Ch.221
233. It betrays corruption of the instincts--apart from the fact that Ch.222
234. Stupidity in the kitchen; woman as cook; the terrible Ch.223
235. There are turns and casts of fancy, there are sentences, little Ch.224
236. I have no doubt that every noble woman will oppose what Dante and Ch.225
238. To be mistaken in the fundamental problem of "man and woman," to Ch.226
239. The weaker sex has in no previous age been treated with so Ch.227
240. I HEARD, once again for the first time, Richard Wagner's overture Ch.228
241. We "good Europeans," we also have hours when we allow ourselves a Ch.229
242. Whether we call it "civilization," or "humanising," or "progress," Ch.230
243. I hear with pleasure that our sun is moving rapidly towards the Ch.231
244. There was a time when it was customary to call Germans "deep" Ch.232
245. The "good old" time is past, it sang itself out in Mozart--how Ch.233
EPISODE of German music. But with regard to Robert Schumann, who took Ch.234
246. What a torture are books written in German to a reader who has a Ch.235
247. How little the German style has to do with harmony and with the Ch.236
248. There are two kinds of geniuses: one which above all engenders and Ch.237
249. Every nation has its own "Tartuffery," and calls that its Ch.238
250. What Europe owes to the Jews?--Many things, good and bad, and above Ch.239
251. It must be taken into the bargain, if various clouds and Ch.240
252. They are not a philosophical race--the English: Bacon represents an Ch.241
253. There are truths which are best recognized by mediocre minds, Ch.242
254. Even at present France is still the seat of the most intellectual Ch.243
255. I hold that many precautions should be taken against German music. Ch.244
256. Owing to the morbid estrangement which the nationality-craze has Ch.245
257. EVERY elevation of the type "man," has hitherto been the work of an Ch.246
258. Corruption--as the indication that anarchy threatens to break out Ch.247
259. To refrain mutually from injury, from violence, from exploitation, Ch.248
260. In a tour through the many finer and coarser moralities which have Ch.249
261. Vanity is one of the things which are perhaps most difficult for Ch.250
262. A SPECIES originates, and a type becomes established and strong in Ch.251
263. There is an INSTINCT FOR RANK, which more than anything else is Ch.252
264. It cannot be effaced from a man's soul what his ancestors have Ch.253
265. At the risk of displeasing innocent ears, I submit that egoism Ch.254
266. "One can only truly esteem him who does not LOOK OUT FOR Ch.255
267. The Chinese have a proverb which mothers even teach their children: Ch.256
268. What, after all, is ignobleness?--Words are vocal symbols for Ch.257
269. The more a psychologist--a born, an unavoidable psychologist Ch.258
270. The intellectual haughtiness and loathing of every man who has Ch.259
271. That which separates two men most profoundly is a different sense Ch.260
272. Signs of nobility: never to think of lowering our duties to the Ch.261
273. A man who strives after great things, looks upon every one whom Ch.262
274. THE PROBLEM OF THOSE WHO WAIT.--Happy chances are necessary, and Ch.263
275. He who does not WISH to see the height of a man, looks all the Ch.264
276. In all kinds of injury and loss the lower and coarser soul is Ch.265
277. It is too bad! Always the old story! When a man has finished Ch.266
279. Men of profound sadness betray themselves when they are happy: they Ch.267
280. "Bad! Bad! What? Does he not--go back?" Yes! But you misunderstand Ch.268
283. If one wishes to praise at all, it is a delicate and at the Ch.269
284. To live in a vast and proud tranquility; always beyond... To have, Ch.270
285. The greatest events and thoughts--the greatest thoughts, however, Ch.271
286. "Here is the prospect free, the mind exalted." [FOOTNOTE: Goethe's Ch.272
287. What is noble? What does the word "noble" still mean for us Ch.273
288. There are men who are unavoidably intellectual, let them turn Ch.274
289. In the writings of a recluse one always hears something of the echo Ch.275
290. Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being Ch.276
291. Man, a COMPLEX, mendacious, artful, and inscrutable animal, uncanny Ch.277
292. A philosopher: that is a man who constantly experiences, sees, Ch.278
293. A man who says: "I like that, I take it for my own, and mean to Ch.279
294. THE OLYMPIAN VICE.--Despite the philosopher who, as a genuine Ch.280
295. The genius of the heart, as that great mysterious one possesses Ch.281
296. Alas! what are you, after all, my written and painted thoughts! Not Ch.282