Single Idea 20136

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / f. Übermensch]

Full Idea

There is a logic in all of a great man's activities, hard to survey because of its length .... he has the ability to extend his will across great stretches of his life.

Gist of Idea

There is an extended logic to a great man's life, achieved by a sustained will

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (The Will to Power (notebooks) [1888], §962 (1885))

Book Reference

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Will to Power', ed/tr. Kaufmann,W /Hollingdate,R [Vintage 1968], p.505


A Reaction

This looks very close to Nietzsche's moral ideal - that one creates a life in impeccable taste, like a great work of art, by deliberately training one's nature, like a gardener. He talks of it as having 'style' in character.

Related Idea

Idea 20131 We can cultivate our drives, of anger, pity, curiosity, vanity, like a gardener, with good or bad taste [Nietzsche]