One must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star.
Friedrich Nietzsche Thus Spake Zarathustra, Zarathustra's Prologue, 5 (1883) Translated by Thomas Common
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When and why it was written
- When
- From the prologue of Thus Spake Zarathustra, published in 1883.
- Why
- Zarathustra is warning a crowd against becoming the comfortable "last man" who no longer strives.
What it means
Nietzsche treats inner chaos as raw material rather than failure. Something new is born from it.
The line is a consolation for unsettled seasons: the disorder may be the start of something.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1883
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You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue, §5 (1883)