# XI explained — Thus Spoke Zarathustra

> Chapter companion for Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## What happens

Zarathustra reflects on the abandonment of the past to the whims of each new generation, which reinterprets it for its own purposes. He warns of the danger when the populace becomes master, drowning all time in shallow waters. He calls for a new nobility that opposes both populace and potentate rule, inscribing a new 'noble' on new tables, and hints at a multiplicity of gods rather than a single God.

## Themes in this chapter

### Critique of Herd Morality

Zarathustra warns against the populace becoming master and drowning all time in shallow waters, a critique of herd mentality and its leveling effect.

### Will to Power and Creation

The call for a new nobility that inscribes new values on new tables embodies the creative will to power.

## Character check-ins

### Zarathustra

Speaker and visionary, calling for a new nobility and critiquing the reinterpretation of the past.

## Key lines

> It is my sympathy with all the past that I see it is abandoned⁠— —Abandoned to the favour, the spirit and the madness of every generation that cometh, and reinterpreteth all that hath been as its bridge!

I feel pity for the past because it is left to the mercy of each new generation, which twists it to serve its own purposes.

_Zarathustra laments the historical reinterpretation by each age._

> Therefore, O my brethren, a new nobility is needed, which shall be the adversary of all populace and potentate rule, and shall inscribe anew the word 'noble' on new tables.

So, my friends, we need a new aristocracy that opposes both the masses and tyrants, and that will redefine what it means to be noble.

_Zarathustra calls for a creative revaluation of values._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters/part-iii-xi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters