I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favor, and who then asks: 'Am I a dishonest player?'-for he is willing to succumb. I love him whose soul is lavish, who wants no thanks and does not give back: for he always bestows, and desires not to keep for himself. One virtue is more of a virtue than two, because it is more of a knot for one's destiny to cling to. I love him who desires not too many virtues.

I love him who makes his virtue his inclination and destiny: thus, for the sake of his virtue, he is willing to live on, or live no more. I love him who reserves no share of spirit for himself, but wants to be wholly the spirit of his virtue: thus walks he as spirit over the bridge. I love him who loves his virtue: for virtue is the will to down-going, and an arrow of longing. I love him who labors and invents, that he may build the house for the Superman, and prepare for him earth, animal, and plant: for thus seeks he his own down-going. I love him who lives in order to know, and seeks to know in order that the Superman may hereafter live.

I love those who do not first seek a reason beyond the stars for going down and being sacrifices, but sacrifice themselves to the earth, that the earth of the Superman may hereafter arrive. I love the great despisers, because they are the great adorers, and arrows of longing for the other shore. I love those that know not how to live except as down-goers, for they are the over-goers. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an OVER-GOING and a DOWN-GOING. “Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman-a rope over an abyss.Ī dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting.

Thus spoke nietzsche