Emerson believed this created a bankrupt spirituality, “as if God were dead,” to which Nietzsche had his madman announce in the affirmative that “God is dead.”62 Someone well versed in Emerson and Nietzsche might never mistake Emerson’s line from “Compensation,” “In general, every evil to which we do not succumb, is a benefactor,” with Nietzsche’s from Twilight of the Idols, “What does not kill me makes me stronger.”63 But at least it is worth noting that Emerson’s line in Nietzsche’s personal copy is heavily underlined.
