--- title: "Thus Spake Zarathustra" author: "Friedrich Nietzsche" translator: "Thomas Common" languages: [en] shelf: "Philosophy" section: 48 of 95 url: https://scriptura.si/works/nietzsche-zarathustra/48/ cite: "Friedrich Nietzsche, tr. Thomas Common, Thus Spake Zarathustra, section 48. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/nietzsche-zarathustra/48/" --- # Thus Spake Zarathustra *Friedrich Nietzsche, tr. Thomas Common* A prophet comes down from his mountain to teach the overman, in sermons and songs. ## 48. XLIV. The Stillest Hour Source: https://scriptura.si/works/nietzsche-zarathustra/48/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/nietzsche-zarathustra/48/#p-N [¶0] What hath happened unto me, my friends? Ye see me troubled, driven forth, unwillingly obedient, ready to go—alas, to go away from YOU! [¶1] Yea, once more must Zarathustra retire to his solitude: but unjoyously this time doth the bear go back to his cave! [¶2] What hath happened unto me? Who ordereth this?—Ah, mine angry mistress wisheth it so; she spake unto me. Have I ever named her name to you? [¶3] Yesterday towards evening there spake unto me MY STILLEST HOUR: that is the name of my terrible mistress. [¶4] And thus did it happen—for everything must I tell you, that your heart may not harden against the suddenly departing one! [¶5] Do ye know the terror of him who falleth asleep?— [¶6] To the very toes he is terrified, because the ground giveth way under him, and the dream beginneth. [¶7] This do I speak unto you in parable. Yesterday at the stillest hour did the ground give way under me: the dream began. [¶8] The hour-hand moved on, the timepiece of my life drew breath—never did I hear such stillness around me, so that my heart was terrified. [¶9] Then was there spoken unto me without voice: “THOU KNOWEST IT, ZARATHUSTRA?”— [¶10] And I cried in terror at this whispering, and the blood left my face: but I was silent. [¶11] Then was there once more spoken unto me without voice: “Thou knowest it, Zarathustra, but thou dost not speak it!”— [¶12] And at last I answered, like one defiant: “Yea, I know it, but I will not speak it!” [¶13] Then was there again spoken unto me without voice: “Thou WILT not, Zarathustra? Is this true? Conceal thyself not behind thy defiance!”— [¶14] And I wept and trembled like a child, and said: “Ah, I would indeed, but how can I do it! Exempt me only from this! It is beyond my power!” [¶15] Then was there again spoken unto me without voice: “What matter about thyself, Zarathustra! Speak thy word, and succumb!” [¶16] And I answered: “Ah, is it MY word? Who am I? I await the worthier one; I am not worthy even to succumb by it.” [¶17] Then was there again spoken unto me without voice: “What matter about thyself? Thou art not yet humble enough for me. Humility hath the hardest skin.”— [¶18] And I answered: “What hath not the skin of my humility endured! At the foot of my height do I dwell: how high are my summits, no one hath yet told me. But well do I know my valleys.” [¶19] Then was there again spoken unto me without voice: “O Zarathustra, he who hath to remove mountains removeth also valleys and plains.”— [¶20] And I answered: “As yet hath my word not removed mountains, and what I have spoken hath not reached man. I went, indeed, unto men, but not yet have I attained unto them.” [¶21] Then was there again spoken unto me without voice: “What knowest thou THEREOF! The dew falleth on the grass when the night is most silent.”— [¶22] And I answered: “They mocked me when I found and walked in mine own path; and certainly did my feet then tremble. [¶23] And thus did they speak unto me: Thou forgottest the path before, now dost thou also forget how to walk!” [¶24] Then was there again spoken unto me without voice: “What matter about their mockery! Thou art one who hast unlearned to obey: now shalt thou command! [¶25] Knowest thou not who is most needed by all? He who commandeth great things. [¶26] To execute great things is difficult: but the more difficult task is to command great things. [¶27] This is thy most unpardonable obstinacy: thou hast the power, and thou wilt not rule.”— [¶28] And I answered: “I lack the lion’s voice for all commanding.” [¶29] Then was there again spoken unto me as a whispering: “It is the stillest words which bring the storm. Thoughts that come with doves’ footsteps guide the world. [¶30] O Zarathustra, thou shalt go as a shadow of that which is to come: thus wilt thou command, and in commanding go foremost.”— [¶31] And I answered: “I am ashamed.” [¶32] Then was there again spoken unto me without voice: “Thou must yet become a child, and be without shame. [¶33] The pride of youth is still upon thee; late hast thou become young: but he who would become a child must surmount even his youth.”— [¶34] And I considered a long while, and trembled. At last, however, did I say what I had said at first. “I will not.” [¶35] Then did a laughing take place all around me. Alas, how that laughing lacerated my bowels and cut into my heart! [¶36] And there was spoken unto me for the last time: “O Zarathustra, thy fruits are ripe, but thou art not ripe for thy fruits! [¶37] So must thou go again into solitude: for thou shalt yet become mellow.”— [¶38] And again was there a laughing, and it fled: then did it become still around me, as with a double stillness. I lay, however, on the ground, and the sweat flowed from my limbs. [¶39] —Now have ye heard all, and why I have to return into my solitude. Nothing have I kept hidden from you, my friends. [¶40] But even this have ye heard from me, WHO is still the most reserved of men—and will be so! [¶41] Ah, my friends! I should have something more to say unto you! I should have something more to give unto you! Why do I not give it? Am I then a niggard?— [¶42] When, however, Zarathustra had spoken these words, the violence of his pain, and a sense of the nearness of his departure from his friends came over him, so that he wept aloud; and no one knew how to console him. In the night, however, he went away alone and left his friends.