Man Alone with Himself

by Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most revolutionary thinkers in Western philosophy. Here he sets out his subversive views in a series of aphorisms on subjects ranging from art to arrogance, boredom to passion, science to vanity, rejecting conventional notions of morality to celebrate the individual's 'will to power'.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Classics, Essays, Psychology, 19th Century, German Literature

82 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1878

About the author

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I summarize Nietzsche's thoughts in this book through the following short tale:

I must have followed the hippie couple in my Volvo station wagon for seventeen miles or more. They finally pulled their Volkswagon Vanagon in to a Stop-and-Save in Ventura. I eased the wagon in behind them. I hesitated, not sure whether to approach. After sitting and sweating for several minutes, watching the hippie surfer check the engine in the back, watching the hippie chick head to the ladies room, I banged my hands on the steering wheel, muttered my motto, “All life is will, dammit,” and slowly got out of the car.

The hippie did not even notice me until I was standing right beside him, looking at the dead bugs on the windshield. “Howdy,” I said. “Nice day for it,” I gestured at the board he had up on top. “Yeah,” he said. He seemed shy, hesitant to address me, because of my age (I was getting on) or perhaps my appearance—my crumb encrusted beard, my bushy mustache, my wildly unkempt hair, my bulging eyes.

“I always wanted to live free,” I said. “Never got the chance. Ended up calculating trajectories for the government. Grinding my shoulder for the wife and kids.” He stared at me, unsure where I was headed. He glanced back at his hippie chick, who was looking at snacks in the store. “Nothing is a given,” I said. “Except passion. Don’t deny it. Those who deny it are dead.” Was I getting through to him?

“Sure thing, man,” he said, checking the oily rag he had used on the dipstick.

“You … you are lucky,” I continued. “You got your freedom. Living out of a van. That’s what life is. That is what it should be. Get in a van, and just go. Hit the road. Search for the truth. Ain’t that right?” I was nodding my head, encouraging him to agree. He slowly stuffed the rag into his cargo pants. Finally he looked up and said, “Could you lend me some cash? Me and Jackie are short and we haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

Typical hippies. Some gall. Procreating and nourishment—they truly are the one problem—the will to power. Well I was going to show them some will power. Teach them, if necessary.

“What do I look like?! Some kind of money bags? Besides, why should I help you? You think there is such a thing as the common good? To hell with that. What can you do for me?”

The hippie looked disappointed. “You won’t help us out? That’s okay. I understand.” What a degrading display of shame and belief in goodness. It left a bad taste in my mouth. So bad I had to spit. Then I went back to my car.

“There is no such thing as truth!” I yelled as I pulled past them, fools, lollygagging the days away instead of having convictions—but I had convictions, convictions enough for everyone. Then I drop clutched, spun my wheels, and in a cloud of dust and sand screeched back out onto that long, hard road to nothingness.

[AJ Dehany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aphorisms are like horoscopes; they are tied to no specific facts, describe broad tendencies rather than situations, so are freely adaptable, made to measure, with an aura of profundity that isn't grounded, and therefore can not be said to be truly profound.

[carys · Rating 4 out of 5]

before review here are some disclaimers
* don’t read it if ur in a really bad depressive spiral. read when u have a little mental stability and want to spiral as a treat. he is a nihilist at heart and it’s depressing as fuck
* but also. read it if you feel alone in your alone-ness and/or existentialism. it can be comforting to feel you’re not alone! in your aloneness!
* 4 stars not 5 bc some bits went totally over my head lol dumb bitch syndrome. but the good bits made up for them
* I am 19 and dumb as fuck so if i’ve got the total wrong idea through any of this review simply ignore me .

the first half is little (mostly depressing) thoughts that range from sounding like my thoughts when i’m stoned to really deep concepts on life death relationships human nature etc etc. very nihilistic, very relatable, smart guy

I found in the second part that things started to pick up - he introduces the concept of the philosopher and existentialist as “superior” - every superior human being craving their own space away from the folly and emotion of the world. his world is built on solitude based on superiority. I don’t know if I feel necessarily superior but I do feel aloneness - aloneness in feeling that everyone else seems to find it easy to enjoy good things and I Very Much struggle bc i’m like what’s the point in life ! All The Time

he philosophises that the world is built on ignorance - we have been conditioned to retain this ignorance in order for us humans to enjoy life. whereas, the superior beings remain safe in their certainty that knowledge is not for them (socrates vibes???)

anyway hes a big narcissist and sorry but my intj core really resonated with it and it’s comforting knowing that you’re not the only one who feels the way u feel but also it’s depressing as fuck like the whole idea boils down to there being no point in existing. but I enjoyed! apart from when I didn’t! x

[Raimondo Lagioia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dove into this book knowing next to nil about Nietzsche and hauled myself off its seductive waters pretty much impressed.

Regarding the title: he has some fairly controversial ideas on solitude. While it is the instinctive aspiration of superior people, inasmuch as they'd oft be apprehensive of/distressed upon dealing with the inanities the mediocre imposes upon them, as a man predestined for wisdom he would still deign to traffick with them, not least because he finds their antics interesting. After all, keeping bad (i.e. inferior) company is necessary for every philosopher or he risks limiting his knowledge. Some cynics can't help but cut short any such intercourse though.

All of that does sound rather elitist, but therein lies one's fascination with his genius. At times he displays a subtle, mordant wit; but when he's in fine form he can bludgeon you with the most unsavory apothegms.

He also opines how being implacable when it comes to one's convictions is the mark of a regressive mind. As one grows in knowledge, one is wont to take a critical look at one's beliefs. If he finds them untenable he must not hesitate to discard them. Especially when his confidence in his philosophies remains strong, he must not be afraid to challenge them. And if they still hold firm he must not be dismissive of other schools of thought, for the absolute truth does not exist. One must always cultivate one's thinking and be careful lest it calcify, become inflexible, and pervert its autonomy by surrendering to the false comforts provided by dogma.

You won't always agree with him, but at the very least he'd give you some stimulating food for thought. And in rationalizing your position, while he may not always succeed in making you reconsider, indirectly he did induce you to refine it, a process which in itself I found quite rewarding. Indeed, right near the beginning of this text, one is enjoined to keep an open, critical mind:

We criticize a thinker more sharply when he proposes a tenet that is disagreeable to us; and yet it would be more reasonable to do this when we find his tenet agreeable.

In a sense, the author proffers you his ideas as if they were mirrors, directing back to your gaze your own convictions and biases, your virtues and your hypocrisies. He keeps you on your toes: sometimes an aphorism has a parallel waiting in the wings. For example, towards the middle of the first part, he warns against a shallow grasp of one's persuasions, since

We often make the mistake of actively opposing a direction, or party, or epoch, because we coincidentally get to see only its superficial side, its stunted aspect, or the inescapable ‘faults of its virtues,’ – perhaps because we ourselves have participated to a large degree in them. Then we turn our back on them and seek an opposite direction; but it would be better to look for the strong, good sides, or to develop them in ourselves. To be sure, it takes a stronger gaze and a better will to further that which is evolving and imperfect, rather than to penetrate its imperfection and reject it.

But then, elsewhere, he ruminates on the irony of diving in too deep, because

People who comprehend a matter in all its depth seldom remain true to it forever. For they have brought its depths to the light; and then there is always much to see about it that is bad.

One does not invalidate the other; indeed, taken together, they provide a fuller view of the truths he wishes to communicate. Still: landing back at square one must surely rankle, no?

Some of the choicest maxims here are:

Life consists of rare, isolated moments of the greatest significance, and of innumerably many intervals, during which at best the silhouettes of those moments hover about us. Love, springtime, every beautiful melody, mountains, the moon, the sea – all these speak completely to the heart but once, if in fact they ever do get a chance to speak completely. For many men do not have those moments at all, and are themselves intervals and intermissions in the symphony of real life.

There are great advantages in for once removing ourselves distinctly from our time and letting ourselves be driven from its shore back into the ocean of former world views. Looking at the coast from that perspective, we survey for the first time its entire shape, and when we near it again, we have the advantage of understanding it better on the whole than do those who have never left it.

. . . Not to cleave to one’s own detachment, to that voluptuous remoteness and strangeness of the bird which flies higher and higher so as to see more and more beneath it – the danger which threatens the flier. Not to cleave to our own virtues and become as a whole the victim of some part of us, of our ‘hospitality’ for example, which is the danger of dangers for rich and noble souls who expend themselves prodigally, almost indifferently, and take the virtue of liberality to the point where it becomes a vice. One must know how to conserve oneself: the sternest test of independence.

. . . It must offend their pride, and also their taste, if their truth is supposed to be a truth for everyman, which has hitherto been the secret desire and hidden sense of all dogmatic endeavours. ‘My judgement is my judgement: another cannot easily acquire a right to it’ – such a philosopher of the future may perhaps say. One has to get rid of the bad taste of wanting to be in agreement with many . . . In the end it must be as it is and has always been: great things are for the great, abysses for the profound, shudders and delicacies for the refined, and, in sum, all rare things for the rare.

8/10; 4 stars.

[Henrik Haapala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update 2021-01-26. Marvelous these penguin great ideas. Friedrich Nietzsche:

“Enemies of truth. Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” p.1

“Profession. A profession is the backbone of life.”

“Value of a profession. A profession makes us thoughtless: therein lies its greatest blessing. For it is a bulwark, behind which we are allowed to withdraw when qualms and worries of a general kind attack us.”
Comment: I believe he is talking about “flow”.

“Friend. Shared joy, not compassion, makes a friend.”

“Conviction is the belief that in some point of knowledge one possesses absolute truth. Such a belief presumes, then, that absolute truth exist; likewise, that the perfect methods for arriving at them have been found; finally, that every man who has convictions makes use of these perfect methods. All three assertions prove at once that the man of convictions is not the man of scientific thinking; he stands before us still in the age of theoretical innocence, a child, however grown-up he might be otherwise. But throughout thousands of years, people have lived in such childlike assumptions, and from out of them mankind’s mightiest sources of power have flowed. The countless people who sacrificed themselves for for their convictions thought they were doing it for absolute truth.” p.40

“Out of passions grow opinions; mental sloth lets these rigidify into convictions.” p.46

A profession makes us thoughtless (flow) and allows us to withdraw…

[عبد الزيود · Rating 5 out of 5]

هذا الكتاب صديق، كلّ فكرة منه تأخذك إلى فهم عميق/ بسيط ربما، ورؤية جديدة إلى الشيء وفيه.

[Sander de Haan · Rating 3 out of 5]

… tempted to divide mankind into a minority of those people who know how to make much out of little and a majority of those who make a little out of much; indeed one meets those perverse wizards who, instead of creating the world out of nothing, create nothing out of the world.

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, Nietzche is great and all and I still do think that this small pocket paper-back is cool. The problem is, it's just quotes, just Nietzche quotes. If you like quotes, hey more power to you but I hate it when I'm at work (or anywhere for that matter, it just usually happens at work) and some pretentious knob just drops some shit quote and everyone is meant to stand around in awe as they say the famous persons name afterwards. Some quote-droppers at my work don't even read much besides the "inspirational quotes" so they don't really have much to say about it regardless. While I feel that quotes can be cool, sure, especially when you're thinking about something or writing something where you need examples or whatever, in social situations I just find it a bit of a posture. The problem is, while the quotes and cool and all, I need a lot more of a writing or a conversation if I am going to actually get something out of it.

So I think that the best thing to do with a book like this is to carry it with you and while while you're waiting for a bus or something, flick the pages, find something that stands out to you in that particular moment and meditate on it for a while.

[Hawra Alq · Rating 2 out of 5]

A 2 because I didn't understand 3/4ers of the philosophical aphorisms. I'm sorry Nietzsche but you lost me wo many times.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

FAVOURITE QUOTE: "Every superior human being will instinctively aspire after a secret citadel where he is set free from the crowd, the many, the majority."

[Megan H · Rating 5 out of 5]

While a few of these aphorisms are milquetoast enough to suit the inside of a fortune cookie, the bulk of this collection highlights Nietzsche's provocative ideas about who we (as individuals and a society) are, and ought to be.

I'm still chewing on his ideas about conviction. He asserts conviction is dangerous because it entails some amount of belief in an absolute truth, when absolute truth does not exist. Instead of living comfortably with steadfast convictions, Nietzsche advocates for a life of change, constant questioning, learning, and unlearning. Through this turbulence, we'll obtain knowledge and cultivate passions, which will necessarily lead to both immense sorrow and utter joy. That's life and how we'll survive it best we can.

Maybe I need to be institutionalized but I found the bulk of this work to be comforting. The parts I found disagreeable left me with ideas and counterarguments to contend with. I'll have to revisit this with a future version of myself.

[flora · Rating 3 out of 5]

not bad. just aphorisms and such. probably one of the easiest Nietzsche books you can read and understand.

[Marie Sveingard · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8*

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Few are made for independence – it is a privilege of the strong. And he who attempts it, having the completest right to it but without being compelled to, thereby proves that he is probably not only strong but also daring to the point of recklessness. He ventures into a labyrinth, he multiplies by a thousand the dangers which life as such already brings with it, not the smallest of which is that no one can behold how and where he goes astray, is cut off from others, and is torn to pieces limb from limb by some cave-minotaur of conscience. If such a one is destroyed, it takes place so far from understanding of men that they neither feel it nor sympathize – and he can no longer go back! He can no longer go back even to the pity of men!"

[Rayhan Ghanchi · Rating 3 out of 5]

All kicks off 5 pages from the end
'Not to cleave to another person, though he be the one you love most, every person is a prison, also a book and corner'
'Not to cling to our own virtues and become as a whole the victim of some part of us...'
'Did I seek where the wind bites keenest, learn to live where no one lives...unlearn to pray and curse, unlearn man and god, become a ghost flitting across glaciers?'

Dude's a 12/10 rager

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nietzsche's meditations on philosophy, the importance of the individual, and the future of mankind are enormous. This short collection of thoughts and poetry is easily the best way to approach the great philosopher's works as they are simple, categorized and have titles. I strongly recommend this Penguin Great Ideas edition for its simplicity. Read this if you are seeking to explore the metaphysical foundations of the Western philosophy.

[Artemis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Section 1 was interesting, but then things went down hill. Section 2 found me disinterested, 3 felt more like a ramble with the occasional nugget of coherence. The final section was an improvement on the prior 2, a poetic short story, but it didn't not make up for them.

[Oneflwover · Rating 3 out of 5]

"That something is irrational is no argument against its existence, but rather a condition for it."

[Woody]

[section from Human, _All Too Human_. lots to work through.]

[Jamie Santiago · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read if you want to read the equivalent to a man in the 1900s spiraling on Twitter.

[Dana Chalha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool tweets

[Abi · Rating 1 out of 5]

hated the book start to finish really i should have given up half way through but i guess i’m a glutton for punishment

[fawnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

will formulate thoughts … later .

[Yu4i · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."

[Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading challenge stat-padder. Did NOT order a yappuccino

[Con · Rating 4 out of 5]

50% useful insights, 50% I didn't know what the hell was going on...

Theme: Be wary of those with convictions!

It is not the struggle of opinions that has made history so violent, but rather the struggle of belief in opinions, that is, the struggle of convictions.
If only all those people who thought so highly of their conviction, who sacrificed all sorts of things to it and spared neither their honor, body nor life in its service, had devoted only half of their strength to investigating by what right they clung to this or that conviction, how they had arrived at it, then how peaceable the history of mankind would appear!

Theme: Chill!

In certain moods, however, their presence evokes that rare question: why have melody at all? Why are we not satisfied when life mirrors itself peacefully in a deep lake?
The Middle Ages was richer in such natures than we are. How seldom do we now meet a person who can keep living so peacefully and cheerfully with himself even amidst the turmoil, saying to himself like Goethe:
"The best is the deep quiet in which I live and grow against the world, and harvest what they cannot take from me by fire or sword."

[Suha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ripe Avocado with honey.
I read this 77 page book in 2 months, savoring it bit by bit. Nietzsche is brilliant, he is deep and sometimes too deep or just high  I loved this book. This is my second book for Nietzsche after Thus Spake Zarathustra, and it is quite heavier.
Speaking of the philosopher, he is the preacher of “aloneness” and solitude; he is the prophet against the promise of a great purpose or love or a deity. This book is a brief list of this great philosopher’s ideas, with each requiring a pause to reflect on, or to laugh at or even to think of it as some crazy philosophical nonsense.
Within the ideas, I witnessed ones that represent mistrust of feelings, passions and youth. Also, there are ones related with going against the flow and daring to be different. He is not one of those who want to improve the world or make a difference, in the contrary, he is okay with life going worse. Even more so, he insinuates ideas that the world is made good for the great and not the mediocre which in my opinion is a tough idea to digest.
The ending of the book is so beautiful and so powerful; I felt as if he was celebrating his solitude and mocking the world in an amazing way. It is clear that his solitude is his sole goal and through it a person can be superior.
I quote:
“Friend. Shared joy, not compassion, makes a friend.”
“The most refined hypocrite. To speak about oneself not at all is a very refined form of hypocricy.” :))
“Out in nature. We like to be out in nature so much because it has no opinion about us.”
“Human lot. Whoever thinks more deeply knows that he is always wrong, whatever his acts and judgements.”
“it is the intellect that saves us from turning utterly to burnt-out coals; here and there it pulls us away from justice’s sacrificial altar, or wraps us in an asbestos cocoon. Redeemed from the fire, we then stride on, driven by the intellect, from opinion to opinion, through the change of sides, as noble traitors of all things that can ever be betrayed – and yet with no feeling of guilt.”
“Choose the good solitude, the free, wanton, easy solitude which gives you too a right to remain in some sense good!”
“Am I another? A stranger to myself? Sprung from myself? A wrestler who subdued himself too often? Turned his own strength against himself too often, checked and wounded by his own victory?”
“Now the world is laughing, the dread curtain is rent, the wedding day has come for light and darkness…”

Read this book <3

[Malcolm Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘sugar and sorcery’ is a phrase I will be stealing

“everything profound loves the mask”

v proud to have made it through any Nietzsche text and having only picked up x new words (reading TSZ felt like the first 50 pages of The German Ideology)

[Nadin Soliman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think am having a cultural shock !
the guy is witty and street smart which is a surprise for all the depth there is in his ideas. i wonder how the nazis did it? used his words to wage a masscre?

the book is short glimpses of his ideas, i think its a nice choice for someone , who like me is exploring philosophy..

[Rose Fann · Rating 3 out of 5]

First half of the book was great. Second half made it very hard to want to finish.