With beautiful, thunderous prose, Nietzsche prods his reader to unbind himself from obsolete social constructs such as religion and get woke. As I read this I was often reminded of Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, with its similar theme of defiance, over-the-top style, and sheer density. Indeed, I cannot claim to have understood everything exposited in this book, but I let it flow through my consciousness like the Strauss piece it inspired, knowing that one day I will read it again, and perhaps get turned on by different passages.

I highlighted this passage for its encouragement and its subtle reinforcement of the central theme of the superman: that man is but a bridge to something greater, that we are responsible for bringing it to light:

"The higher its type, the less often does a thing succeed. You Higher Men here, are you not all failures?

"Be of good courage, What does it matter! How much is still possible! Learn to laugh at yourselves as a man ought to laugh!

"And no wonder you have failed and half succeeded, you half-broken men! Does there not strive and struggle in you mankind’s future?

"Mankind’s most distant, most profound questions, his reaching to the furthest stars, his prodigious power: does all that not foam together in your pot?

"No wonder many a pot is shattered! Learn to laugh at yourselves, as a man ought to laugh. You Higher Men, oh how much is still possible!

"And truly, how much has already succeeded! How rich this earth is in good little perfect things, in well-constituted things!

"Set good little perfect things around you, you Higher Men! Things Whose golden ripeness heals the heart. Perfect things teach hope."