Page:Thus Spake Zarathustra - Alexander Tille - 1896.djvu/345

 OF OLD AND NEW TABLES 3! I

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' Why so hard ? ' said once the charcoal unto the diamond, ' are we not near relations ? '

Why so soft ? O my brethren, thus I ask you. Are ye not my brethren ?

Why so soft, so unresisting, and yielding ? Why is there so much disavowal and abnegation in your hearts ? Why is there so little fate in your looks ?

And if ye are unwilling to be fates, and inexorable, how could ye conquer with me someday ?

And if your hardness would not glance, and cut, and chip into pieces how could ye create with me someday?

For all creators are hard. And it must seem blessed- ness unto you to press your hand upon millenniums as upon wax,

Blessedness to write upon the will of millenniums as upon brass, harder than brass, nobler than brass. The noblest only is perfectly hard.

This new table, O my brethren, I put over you : Become hard !

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O, thou my will ! Thou change of all needs, thou, my necessity ! Save me from all small victories !

Thou decree of my soul called fate by myself! Thou within-me ! Thou above-me ! Save and spare me for one great fate !

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