Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Übermensch—a rope over an abyss.
A dangerous crossing, a dangerous on-the-way,
a dangerous looking back, a dangerous trembling and standing still.
What is great in man is that he is a bridge
and not a purpose: that which is lovable in man is that he is a transition and a downfall.
I love those who don’t know how to live except when they perish,
for they are those who cross over to the other side.
I love the great despisers, for they are the great worshipers
and arrows of yearning for the other side.
I love those who don’t first look behind the stars for a reason to perish
and to be a victim, but those who sacrifice themselves to the earth,
so that the earth may one day belong to the Übermensch.
I love him who lives to gain knowledge and wishes to gain knowledge
so that the Übermensch can live one day. And so, he wishes his downfall.
I love him who works and invents so that he can build the Übermensch’s house
and prepare earth, animals, and plants for him: for this is how he wants his downfall.
I love him who loves his virtue: for virtue is the will to downfall and an arrow of yearning.
I love him who doesn’t keep a single drop of spirit for himself, but wishes to be
entirely the spirit of his virtue: so he strides as a spirit across the bridge.
I love him who turns his virtue into his addiction
and his undoing: thus, he wants for his virtue’s sake, both to live on and to live no more.
I love him who doesn’t want to have too many virtues. One virtue is more virtue than two,
because it is more of a knot upon which one’s undoing can hang from.
I love him whose soul is wasted, who asks for no thanks and gives nothing back:
for he always gives and doesn’t want to preserve himself.
I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favour,
and who then asks: Have I been cheating?—for he wills his own perishing.
I love him who voices golden words
before his actions and still keeps even more than he promises: for he wants his downfall.
I love him who justifies those in the future
and redeems those in the past: for he wishes to be destroyed by those in the present.
I love him who chastises his god
because he loves his god: for he must be destroyed by the wrath of his god.
I love him whose soul is deep even when wounded and who can perish from a minor experience:
thus he is glad to cross the bridge.
I love him whose soul is so full that he forgets himself and all things are in him:
so all things will be his downfall.
I love him who is free in spirit and heart: so his head is only the guts of his heart,
but his heart pushes him to his downfall.
I love all those who are like heavy drops, falling one by one from the dark cloud
that hangs over mankind: they herald the coming of the lightning, and as heralds they also perish.
Behold, I am a herald of the lightning and a heavy drop from the cloud:
but this lightning is called Übermensch.