# 126 explained — Beyond Good and Evil

> Chapter companion for Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## What happens

A single, aphoristic statement presents a radical view of history and national purpose, suggesting that the entire existence of a nation is merely a circuitous path to produce a handful of exceptional individuals, only to subsequently circumvent or surpass them.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nobility and Order of Rank

The aphorism directly asserts a hierarchical view of history where the value of a collective (the nation) is entirely subordinate to its ability to produce a few 'great men,' the pinnacle of the order of rank.

### Critique of Modernity

Implies a critique of modern nationalism and collective identity, reducing the nation to a temporary, instrumental mechanism for genius, which it then inevitably tries to bypass—a comment on modernity's ambivalence toward greatness.

## Key lines

> A nation is a detour of nature to arrive at six or seven great men.—Yes, and then to get round them.

The ultimate purpose of a nation's existence is not its collective life but its role as a breeding ground for a tiny number of exceptional figures. Once produced, however, the nation's trajectory is to move past them.

_Encapsulates a cyclical, instrumental, and dismissive view of national history centered on aristocratic individualism._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/126
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters