Thou shalt become what thou art.
Friedrich Nietzsche The Joyful Wisdom, Book III, 270 (1882) Translated by Thomas Common
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When and why it was written
- When
- From The Joyful Wisdom (The Gay Science), published in 1882.
- Why
- It answers the question "What saith thy conscience?" in a sequence of short questions and replies.
What it means
The line, which Nietzsche borrowed from the Greek poet Pindar, sounds like a paradox: how can you become what you already are?
It describes a life of growing into yourself, discovering and then living out what was there all along.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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The Joyful Wisdom, 1882
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