THE ANTICHRIST
By
Friedrich Nietzsche
Translation: H.L. Mencken
Preface
This
book belongs to the most rare of men. Perhaps not one of them is yet alive. It is possible that they may be among those who understand my "
Zarathustra": how could I confound my
self with those who are now sprouting ears?--First the day after tomorrow must come for me. Some men are born
posthumously.
The conditions under which any one understands me, and necessarily understands me--I know them only too well. Even to endure my seriousness, my passion, he must carry intellectual integrity to the verge of hardness. He must be accustomed to living on mountain tops--and to looking upon the wretched gabble of politics and nationalism as beneath him. He must have become indifferent; he must never ask of the truth whether it brings profit to him or a fatality to him... He must have an
inclination, born of strength, for questions that no one has the courage for; the courage for the forbidden;
predestination for the
labyrinth. The experience of seven solitudes. New ears for new
music. New eyes for what is most distant. A new con
science for truths that have
hitherto remained unheard. And the will to
economize in the grand manner--to hold together his strength, his enthusiasm...
reverence for
self; love of
self; absolute
freedom of
self.....
Very well, then! of that sort only are my
readers, my true
readers, my
readers
foreordained: of what account are the rest?--The rest are merely
humanity.--One must make one's
self superior to
humanity, in power, in
loftiness of
soul,--in contempt.