Nietzsche for Creative Spirits
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My Practice of War
...First: I only attack causes that are victorious, - I may even wait until they become victorious.
...Second: I only attack causes against which I would find no allies, so that I stand alone
...Third: I never attack persons, - I merely avail myself of the person as a powerful magnifying-glass that allows one to make visible a general, but creeping and elusive calamity.
...Fourth: I only attack things when all personal differences are excluded, when any background of bad experiences is lacking. On the contrary, to attack is to me a proof of goodwill...When I wage war against Christianity, I am entitled to this because I have never experienced misfortunes and frustrations from that quarter,
from Nietzsche's Ecce Homo, (trans. W. Kaufmann), p1 s7First: I only attack causes that are victorious, - I may even wait until they become victorious.
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from Nietzsche's Ecce Homo, (trans. W. Kaufmann), p1 s7Second: I only attack causes against which I would find no allies, so that I stand alone - so that I compromise myself alone ... I have never taken a step publicly that did not compromise me: that is my criterion of doing right.
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from Nietzsche's Ecce Homo, (trans. W. Kaufmann), p1 s7Third: I never attack persons, - I merely avail myself of the person as a powerful magnifying-glass that allows one to make visible a general, but creeping and elusive calamity. In this way I attacked David Strauss, more precisely the success of a senile book with the "cultured" people in Germany, - I caught this culture in the act ... In this way I attacked Wagner, more precisely the falseness, the half-couth instincts of our "culture" which mistakes the subtle for the rich, the late for the great.
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from Nietzsche's Ecce Homo, (trans. W. Kaufmann), p1 s7Fourth: I only attack things when all personal differences are excluded, when any background of bad experiences is lacking. On the contrary, to attack is to me a proof of goodwill, sometimes even of gratitude. I honor, I distinguish therewith by associating my name with that of a cause or a person: for or against - that makes no difference to me at this point. When I wage war against Christianity, I am entitled to this because I have never experienced misfortunes and frustrations from that quarter, - the most serious Christians have always been well disposed to me. I myself, an opponent of Christianity de rigueur [in accordance with good manners], am far from holding it against individuals for what is the disaster of millennia.
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