PHILOSOPHY OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE. 727 



good-natured, more prudent, more comfortable, more mediocre, more 

 indifferent, more Chinese, more Christian — man, there is no doubt, is 

 becoming ' better ' and ' better.' Just here lies Europe's danger : with 

 our fear of man we have also lost our love for him, our reverence for 

 him, our hope in him, yes our desire for him. The sight of man 

 now wearies us — what is nihilism to-day if it is not that? We are 

 weary of man." 



" We have invented happiness, say the last men and blink their 

 eyes. They have left the regions where life was hard, for they need 

 warmth. They still love their neighbors and rub themselves on them, 

 for they need warmth. To become sick and to be distrustful they 

 regard as sinful, they walk circumspectly. A fool who still stumbles 

 over stones or men : A little poison now and then, that makes pleasant 

 dreams. And much poison at the end, for a pleasant death. They 

 still work, for work is a source of amusement. But care is taken that 

 the amusement be not too severe. They no longer grow rich or poor ; it 

 is too troublesome. Who is willing to govern ? Who is willing to obey ? 

 All that is too troublesome. No shepherd and one flock. Everybody 

 desires the same, everybody is equal: whoever thinks otherwise volun- 

 tarily goes to the insane-asylum. Once the whole world was insane, 

 say the choicest and blink their eyes. They are wise and know every- 

 thing that has happened; so they go on mocking. They still quarrel 

 with each other, but they soon become reconciled — otherwise it would 

 spoil their digestion. They have their little pleasures by day and their 

 little pleasures by night ; but they take care of their health. We have 

 invented happiness say the last men and blink their eyes." 



Our traditional morality is also rejected by Nietzsche because it 

 is based on pity and favors the weak and decadent against the strong. 

 Eeligion, too, particularly Christianity, is repudiated for the same 

 reason and his contempt for science and philosophy is to be explained 

 in the same way — by his glorification of the will for power. Peace, 

 happiness, pity, self-denial, contempt of the world, effeminacy, non- 

 resistence, socialism, communism, equality, religion, philosophy and 

 science, are all rejected because they contradict life, and all systems 

 of thought and all institutions which regard these things as valuable 

 and worthy to be sought after for their own sakes are symptoms of 

 decadence. 



