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Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche is a profoundly influential writer. He inspired the likes of Carl Jung and Albert Camus, and his writings continue to hold sway to this day. His thoughts are helpful for navigating and persevering through a seemingly indifferent and often cruel world. Through aphoristic allusions, he discusses in Thus Spake Zarathustra a deeply personal story of concepts and ideas he struggled with daily.

In Thus Spake Zarathustra, his writing style is enigmatic and borderline delphic but deeply meaningful if you really sit with them and ponder their intent. He allows his readers to apply his struggles and solutions to one’s own life in ways that I’ve rarely seen written before.

Below are some excerpts, in order of their appearance, and my commentary on them. Enjoy!

“Verily, a polluted stream is man, one must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure”

I found this excerpt relatable regarding certain naive beliefs I used to hold onto dearly. If you lack the proper knowledge, experience or education, it can be easy to be swayed by others who merely talk confidently and surely.

I remember one time when I watched a news segment completely butcher, deliberately or unintentionally, a subject that I knew intimately. Had I not been educated on the subject, I could have been wounded with false information.

Simple answers to complex problems are a norm with many issues that face humanity today. Doing the proper research into whatever troubles or interests you may have takes effort; it’s an endeavor often poorly rewarded and rarely acknowledged. However, the truth makes you an informed agent not subject to the whims of the masses, and that is a privilege worth aiming towards.

“Slow is the experience of all deep fountains; long have they to wait until they know what hath fallen into their depths”

Change, especially the meaningful kind, seldom happens overnight. Ideas and habits often take time to marinate in the ether of the mind before taking root and transforming into action. Know that change often takes time, and so long as you are patient and persistent, good things will come your way.

“Alas! There are so many great thoughts that do nothing more than the bellows; they inflate, and make emptier than ever”

Thinking big things and having good intentions only takes you so far in life. I used to believe that I was a noble individual because I thought big and held good intentions for my fellow people. I was all theory and no practice.

It wasn’t the worst behavior I could’ve engaged in, but it made me a shallow individual. I rarely acted on those “big ideas” and “good intentions” and when I did, it was always at my leisure and never to my discomfort.

Good intentions and big ideas are worthless if they don’t honestly change anything. If you want to truly be a person of substance, you have to act on those noble ideas and intentions regularly, not when it’s convenient and comfortable.

“With their virtues they want to scratch out the eyes of their enemies; and they elevate themselves only that they may lower others”

This excerpt is a concise reflection on the whole chapter, The Virtuous. “Virtues,” in this case, can be replaced with anything that can make one feel superior to others, be it money, knowledge, prestige, status, or power.

It can be easy for people to fall victim to their own hubris. The central point of this whole chapter is Nietzsche criticizing people who claim moral superiority over others without bearing the proper substance to back up that feeling of moral superiority, if that superiority can even be justified in the first place.

“Spirit is life which itself cuts into life; by its own torture does it increase its own knowledge”

Life is tough. Anyone worth their salt in this world has to face dark times to really understand who they are. To be the person you know you can be, you must face those dark thoughts to grow into the greatest version of yourself. Nietzsche understood this better than most.

“He has subdued monsters, he has solved enigmas. But he should also redeem his monsters and enigmas; into heavenly children should he transform them”

Similar to the excerpt above, you shouldn’t beat yourself up for previous poor choices you’ve made. I’ve done things in my past that I’m not proud of, and for a long time, I used to let those poor choices negatively warp my view of myself; I felt like a loser and failure for actions made when I was at some of the lowest points in my life.

It took a lot of hard work and help from a few wise souls, such as Nietzsche, to show me that those failures and feelings of worthlessness led me to the person I am today.

I had to fuck up royally to transform myself into the better person I am today.

You can keep your demons hidden in your internal dungeon, or you can walk side-by-side with them in the light. The choice is always yours.

“Dare only to believe in yourselves — in yourselves and in your inward parts! He who does not believe in himself always lies”

If you can’t believe in yourself, what can you believe in?

Took me far too long to understand this. Every person of great accomplishment believed in their ability to achieve what they set their mind to. Why shouldn’t you?

“To redeem what is past and to transform every “it was” into “Thus would I have it!” that only do I call redemption”

“Where, however, pride is wounded, there grows up something better than pride”

These two excerpts appear in the same chapter and follow a similar concept I’ve recently learned in my admittedly short life.

Every mistake, both big and small, used to eat at me.

I have an obsessive mind, and when you combine that with perfectionist tendencies and a moderate splash of people pleasing, you get someone who fears mistakes and is scared to try anything new.

I had to face and tame these behaviors to become the better man I am today.

I’ve learned to see these ingrained behaviors as a gift; they make me an understanding and unusually caring person.

I know what it’s like to be brought low with just a few thoughtless words or an honest mistake.

My pride has been wounded more times than I can remember, but something I don’t yet fully understand transformed my pride wounds into something better and far more resilient than what was there before.

“It is still words that bring the storm. Thoughts that come with doves footsteps guide the world”

Throughout history, this saying has appeared in many forms time and time again.

In the Bible, Matthew 5:5 states, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.”

A West African adage goes, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

Even the TV show Game of Thrones follows this truism.

In a memorable scene between Tywin Lannister and Joffrey Baratheon, Tywin states in a semi-oxymoronic but incisive way that

“any man that has to say I am the king is no true king.”

Julius Caesar, arguably the greatest military commander who ever lived, was famously humble in all his dealings, regardless of whether you were a friend or foe. It was his soft dealings and mannerisms that brought down the world’s most famous republic, not his shouting.

Truly great leaders and movers rarely have to make a fuss for something to happen. Their reputation and abilities are what inspire people to follow them.

“But more courage is needed to make an end than to make a new verse: that do all physicians and poets know well”

This one is quite literal, striking at an issue with almost all creative endeavors.

It’s initially easy to create something; a new idea in its opening stages is full of exciting potential.

This is true with almost all my writings; a promising concept in my head is bound only by my imagination, not the gritty reality that goes into writing something.

The creative ending process is often dull and tedious, especially when writing an article.

Is my grammar proper?

Are my sources reliable?

Am I missing anything?

These questions are the tedious aspects often ignored in that initial excitement of creativity. It takes courage to finish something and show it to the world.