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Götzen-Dämmerung oder Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophirt
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
(1889)

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Twilight of the Idols Or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer Götzen-Dämmerung oder Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophirt

Foreword Vorwort.
It’s no small trick to preserve your cheerfulness in the midst of a gloomy matter which is loaded with inordinate responsibility. Yet what could be more necessary than cheerfulness? Nothing goes right unless exuberance plays a part in it. Overabundance of strength is the only proof of strength[1]. A revaluation of all values, this question mark so black, so monstrous that it casts a shadow on the one who poses it—such a fateful task forces one to run out into the sun at every moment, to shake off a heavy seriousness that has become all too heavy. Every means is right for this, every “case” is a lucky break[2]. Above all, war. War has always been the great cleverness of all spirits who have become too inward, too deep; even wounds can have the power to heal. A saying whose source I withhold from scholarly curiosity has long been my motto: increscunt animi, virescit volnere virtus[3].

Another way to recover, which under certain circumstances I like even better, is sounding out idols . . . There are more idols than realities in the world: that’s my “evil eye” on this world, and my “evil ear” too . . . To pose questions here with a hammer for once, and maybe to hear in reply that well-known hollow tone which tells of bloated innards—how delightful for one who has ears even behind his ears—for me the old psychologist and pied piper, in whose presence precisely what would like to stay quiet has to speak up . . .
This book too—the title gives it away—is above all a recovery, a sunny spot, a sidestep into a psychologist’s idleness[4]. Maybe a new war as well?

And are new idols sounded out? . . . This little book is a great declaration of war, and as for sounding out idols, this time they are not just idols of the age, but eternal idols that are touched here with the hammer as with a tuning fork—there aren’t any older idols at all, none more assured, none more inflated . . . And none more hollow . . . That doesn’t stop them from being the ones that are believed in the most—and, especially in the most prominent case, they aren’t called idols at all . . .

Turin, September 30, 1888, on the day when the first book of the Revaluation of All Values was finished[5].
Friedrich Nietzsche

[1] Nietzsche often uses the expression “proof of strength,” which derives from I Cor. 2:4.
[2] Jeder “Fall” ein Glücksfall probably an allusion to Nietzsche’s previous book, The Case of Wagner (1888).
[3] “With a wound, spirits soar and virtue thrives.” “Virtue” in the classical sense refers to excellence a healthy, strong, peak condition. Nietzsche uses the word “virtue” (Tugend) in this sense, for example, in the first section of “What the Germans Are Missing” and in §45 of “Raids of an Untimely Man,” below. Curious scholars have traced the source of Nietzsche’s motto: the poet Furius of Antium, quoted in Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights XVIII, 11, 4.
[4] A Psychologist’s Idleness was Nietzsche’s original title for this book; with the encouragement of his friend Peter Gast, he changed the title shortly before the book went to press, but this reference survived. The new title, Götzen-Dämmerung (Twilight of the Idols), is a pun on Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods).
[5] The Antichrist (published 1895). In an “Edict Against Christianity,” which Nietzsche considered using as the last page of The Antichrist, he describes the day on which he finished that book as follows: “the day of salvation, the first day of the Year One in the false calendar, September 30, 1888.”

Inmitten einer düstern und über die Maassen verantwortlichen
Sache seine Heiterkeit aufrecht erhalten ist nichts Kleines von -
Kunststück: und doch, was wäre nöthiger als Heiterkeit? Kein Ding
geräth, an dem nicht der Übermuth seinen Theil hat. Das Zuviel von
Kraft erst ist der Beweis der Kraft. - Eine Umwerthung aller Werthe,
dies Fragezeichen so schwarz, so ungeheuer, dass es Schatten auf Den
wirft, der es setzt - ein solches Schicksal von Aufgabe zwingt jeden
Augenblick, in die Sonne zu laufen, einen schweren, allzuschwer
gewordnen Ernst von sich zu schütteln. Jedes Mittel ist dazu recht,
jeder "Fall" ein Glücksfall. Vor Allem der Krieg. Der Krieg war immer
die grosse Klugheit aller zu innerlich, zu tief gewordnen Geister;
selbst in der Verwundung liegt noch Heilkraft. Ein Spruch, dessen
Herkunft ich der gelehrten Neugierde vorenthalte, war seit langem mein
Wahlspruch:

increscunt animi, virescit volnere virtus.

Eine andere Genesung, unter Umständen mir noch erwünschter, ist Götzen
aushorchen... Es giebt mehr Götzen als Realitäten in der Welt: das ist
mein "böser Blick" für diese Welt, das ist auch mein "böses Ohr"...
Hier einmal mit dem Hammer Fragen stellen und, vielleicht, als Antwort
jenen berühmten hohlen Ton hören, der von geblähten Eingeweiden redet
- welches Entzücken für Einen, der Ohren noch hinter den Ohren hat, -
für mich alten Psychologen und Rattenfänger, vor dem gerade Das, was
still bleiben möchte, laut werden muss...

Auch diese Schrift - der Titel verräth es - ist vor Allem eine
Erholung, ein Sonnenfleck, ein Seitensprung in den Müssiggang eines
Psychologen. Vielleicht auch ein neuer Krieg? Und werden neue Götzen
ausgehorcht?... Diese kleine Schrift ist eine grosse Kriegserklärung;
und was das Aushorchen von Götzen anbetrifft, so sind es dies Mal
keine Zeitgötzen, sondern ewige Götzen, an die hier mit dem Hammer wie
mit einer Stimmgabel gerührt wird, - es giebt überhaupt keine älteren,
keine überzeugteren, keine aufgeblaseneren Götzen... Auch keine
hohleren... Das hindert nicht, dass sie die geglaubtesten sind; auch
sagt man, zumal im vornehmsten Falle, durchaus nicht Götze...

Turin, am 30. September 1888,
am Tage, da das Buch der Umwerthung
aller Werthe zu Ende kam.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE.

clever: When someone is clever, they can solve a hard puzzle or problem.
moment: A moment is a second or a very short time.
moment: A moment is a second or a very short time.
reply: To reply is to give an answer or say back to someone.
trick: A trick is something you do to fool another person.
well: You use well to say that something was done in a good way.
evil: Evil describes something or someone bad or cruel, not good.
ever: Ever means at any time.
none: None means not any of someone or something.
shake: To shake is to move back and forth or up and down quickly.
force: Force is a person’s strength or power.
lay: To lay means to put or place in a horizontal or flat position.
necessary: If something is necessary, you must do it.
step: To step is to walk.
certain: If you are certain about something, you know it is true.
serious: When something is serious, it is bad or unsafe.
thin: If someone or something is thin, they are not fat.
owe: To owe is to have to pay or give back something received from another.
spot: A spot is a place where something happens.
flat: Flat describes something that is level and smooth with no curved parts.
maybe: Maybe is used to show that something is possible or may be true.
lie: To lie is to say or write something untrue to deceive someone.
real: If something is real, it actually exists.
serve: To serve someone is to give them food or drinks.
war: A war is a big fight between two groups of people.
behind: Behind means to be at the back of something.
sound: To sound means to make a noise.
cheer: To cheer is to give a loud shout of approval or encouragement.
lack: If there is a lack of something, there is not enough of it.
task: A task is work that someone has to do.
value: If something has value, it is worth a lot of money.
own: To own something means to have it. That thing belongs to you.
mean: Mean describes someone who is unkind or cruel.
rich: If you are rich, you have a lot of money.
strength: Strength is the physical power that you have.
above: If something is above, it is at a higher level than something else.

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Götzen-Dämmerung oder Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophirt Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1889)

Downloading books is available only for authorized users
Downloading books is available only for authorized users
Twilight of the Idols Or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer		Götzen-Dämmerung oder Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophirt
Foreword		Vorwort.
It’s no small trick to preserve your cheerfulness in the midst of a gloomy matter which is loaded with inordinate responsibility. Yet what could be more necessary than cheerfulness? Nothing goes right unless exuberance plays a part in it. Overabundance of strength is the only proof of strength[1]. A revaluation of all values, this question mark so black, so monstrous that it casts a shadow on the one who poses it—such a fateful task forces one to run out into the sun at every moment, to shake off a heavy seriousness that has become all too heavy. Every means is right for this, every “case” is a lucky break[2]. Above all, war. War has always been the great cleverness of all spirits who have become too inward, too deep; even wounds can have the power to heal. A saying whose source I withhold from scholarly curiosity has long been my motto: increscunt animi, virescit volnere virtus[3]. Another way to recover, which under certain circumstances I like even better, is sounding out idols . . . There are more idols than realities in the world: that’s my “evil eye” on this world, and my “evil ear” too . . . To pose questions here with a hammer for once, and maybe to hear in reply that well-known hollow tone which tells of bloated innards—how delightful for one who has ears even behind his ears—for me the old psychologist and pied piper, in whose presence precisely what would like to stay quiet has to speak up . . . This book too—the title gives it away—is above all a recovery, a sunny spot, a sidestep into a psychologist’s idleness[4]. Maybe a new war as well? And are new idols sounded out? . . . This little book is a great declaration of war, and as for sounding out idols, this time they are not just idols of the age, but eternal idols that are touched here with the hammer as with a tuning fork—there aren’t any older idols at all, none more assured, none more inflated . . . And none more hollow . . . That doesn’t stop them from being the ones that are believed in the most—and, especially in the most prominent case, they aren’t called idols at all . . . Turin, September 30, 1888, on the day when the first book of the Revaluation of All Values was finished[5]. Friedrich Nietzsche [1] Nietzsche often uses the expression “proof of strength,” which derives from I Cor. 2:4. [2] Jeder “Fall” ein Glücksfall probably an allusion to Nietzsche’s previous book, The Case of Wagner (1888). [3] “With a wound, spirits soar and virtue thrives.” “Virtue” in the classical sense refers to excellence a healthy, strong, peak condition. Nietzsche uses the word “virtue” (Tugend) in this sense, for example, in the first section of “What the Germans Are Missing” and in §45 of “Raids of an Untimely Man,” below. Curious scholars have traced the source of Nietzsche’s motto: the poet Furius of Antium, quoted in Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights XVIII, 11, 4. [4] A Psychologist’s Idleness was Nietzsche’s original title for this book; with the encouragement of his friend Peter Gast, he changed the title shortly before the book went to press, but this reference survived. The new title, Götzen-Dämmerung (Twilight of the Idols), is a pun on Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods). [5] The Antichrist (published 1895). In an “Edict Against Christianity,” which Nietzsche considered using as the last page of The Antichrist, he describes the day on which he finished that book as follows: “the day of salvation, the first day of the Year One in the false calendar, September 30, 1888.”		Inmitten einer düstern und über die Maassen verantwortlichen Sache seine Heiterkeit aufrecht erhalten ist nichts Kleines von - Kunststück: und doch, was wäre nöthiger als Heiterkeit? Kein Ding geräth, an dem nicht der Übermuth seinen Theil hat. Das Zuviel von Kraft erst ist der Beweis der Kraft. - Eine Umwerthung aller Werthe, dies Fragezeichen so schwarz, so ungeheuer, dass es Schatten auf Den wirft, der es setzt - ein solches Schicksal von Aufgabe zwingt jeden Augenblick, in die Sonne zu laufen, einen schweren, allzuschwer gewordnen Ernst von sich zu schütteln. Jedes Mittel ist dazu recht, jeder "Fall" ein Glücksfall. Vor Allem der Krieg. Der Krieg war immer die grosse Klugheit aller zu innerlich, zu tief gewordnen Geister; selbst in der Verwundung liegt noch Heilkraft. Ein Spruch, dessen Herkunft ich der gelehrten Neugierde vorenthalte, war seit langem mein Wahlspruch: increscunt animi, virescit volnere virtus. Eine andere Genesung, unter Umständen mir noch erwünschter, ist Götzen aushorchen... Es giebt mehr Götzen als Realitäten in der Welt: das ist mein "böser Blick" für diese Welt, das ist auch mein "böses Ohr"... Hier einmal mit dem Hammer Fragen stellen und, vielleicht, als Antwort jenen berühmten hohlen Ton hören, der von geblähten Eingeweiden redet - welches Entzücken für Einen, der Ohren noch hinter den Ohren hat, - für mich alten Psychologen und Rattenfänger, vor dem gerade Das, was still bleiben möchte, laut werden muss... Auch diese Schrift - der Titel verräth es - ist vor Allem eine Erholung, ein Sonnenfleck, ein Seitensprung in den Müssiggang eines Psychologen. Vielleicht auch ein neuer Krieg? Und werden neue Götzen ausgehorcht?... Diese kleine Schrift ist eine grosse Kriegserklärung; und was das Aushorchen von Götzen anbetrifft, so sind es dies Mal keine Zeitgötzen, sondern ewige Götzen, an die hier mit dem Hammer wie mit einer Stimmgabel gerührt wird, - es giebt überhaupt keine älteren, keine überzeugteren, keine aufgeblaseneren Götzen... Auch keine hohleren... Das hindert nicht, dass sie die geglaubtesten sind; auch sagt man, zumal im vornehmsten Falle, durchaus nicht Götze... Turin, am 30. September 1888, am Tage, da das Buch der Umwerthung aller Werthe zu Ende kam. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE.
clever: When someone is clever, they can solve a hard puzzle or problem. moment: A moment is a second or a very short time. moment: A moment is a second or a very short time. reply: To reply is to give an answer or say back to someone. trick: A trick is something you do to fool another person. well: You use well to say that something was done in a good way. evil: Evil describes something or someone bad or cruel, not good. ever: Ever means at any time. none: None means not any of someone or something. shake: To shake is to move back and forth or up and down quickly. force: Force is a person’s strength or power. lay: To lay means to put or place in a horizontal or flat position. necessary: If something is necessary, you must do it. step: To step is to walk. certain: If you are certain about something, you know it is true. serious: When something is serious, it is bad or unsafe. thin: If someone or something is thin, they are not fat. owe: To owe is to have to pay or give back something received from another. spot: A spot is a place where something happens. flat: Flat describes something that is level and smooth with no curved parts. maybe: Maybe is used to show that something is possible or may be true. lie: To lie is to say or write something untrue to deceive someone. real: If something is real, it actually exists. serve: To serve someone is to give them food or drinks. war: A war is a big fight between two groups of people. behind: Behind means to be at the back of something. sound: To sound means to make a noise. cheer: To cheer is to give a loud shout of approval or encouragement. lack: If there is a lack of something, there is not enough of it. task: A task is work that someone has to do. value: If something has value, it is worth a lot of money. own: To own something means to have it. That thing belongs to you. mean: Mean describes someone who is unkind or cruel. rich: If you are rich, you have a lot of money. strength: Strength is the physical power that you have. above: If something is above, it is at a higher level than something else.

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