“They have something whereof they are proud. What do they call it, that which maketh them proud? Culture, they call it; it distinguisheth them from the goatherds.

“They dislike, therefore, to hear of ‘contempt’ of themselves. So I will appeal to their pride.

“I will speak unto them of the most contemptible thing: that, however, is the last man !”

And thus spake Zarathustra unto the people:

It is time for man to fix his goal. It is time for man to plant the germ of his highest hope.

Still is his soil rich enough for it. But that soil will one day be poor and exhausted, and no lofty tree will any longer be able to grow thereon.

Alas! there cometh the time when man will no longer launch the arrow of his longing beyond man⁠—and the string of his bow will have unlearned to whizz!