The Gay Science - Favorite Aphorisms

 42 - Boredom is that disagreeable 'lull' of the soul that precedes a happy voyage and cheerful winds. 

Here Nietzsche is referring to the need for boredom in artists and inventive spirits and how they are distinguished by the modern worker in the sense that they do not see 'work' as a means to an end but rather they see work as the end in itself. Therefore these types of individuals can spend long periods of time where they rather be bored than to 'work' at something they do not find pleasure in. Nietzsche states that this state of boredom is not only an effect of the pursuit of pleasurable work but it is in fact necessary in order to produce high quality result in their interests. 

I found this quote to be extremely relatable especially during the Covid Pandemic as I was, like many other people, holed up in my house for the greater part of a year, while this whole ordeal was extremely boring and uneventful it served the same purpose as years of video games did to my drive for self-improvement. The fact that I was so bored during the mid part of 2020 propelled me to want to do something epic during the summer of 2021, had 2020 been a normal year I do not know whether or not I would have had this agonizing desire to go as far as possible from home looking for adventure, just like I do not know had I not played video games, whether or not I would have been so interested in self-improvement. 


253 - Always at home - One day we reach our goal - and now we point with pride to the long journeys we took to reach it. In truth we did  not notice we were travelling. But we got so far because at each point we believed we were at home. 

No matter where I go, with who I am, and with the things I have, I am always at home. 


270 - What does your conscience say? - You should become who you are. 


275 - What is the seal at having become free - no longer to be ashamed before oneself.


283 - For believe me - the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is - to live dangerously! Build your cities on the slope of Vesuvius! Send your ships into uncharted seas! Live at war with your peers and yourselves! Be robbers and conquerors as long as you cannot be rulers and possessors, you seekers of knowledge! 


295 - I love brief habits and consider them invaluable means for getting to know many things and states down to the bottom of their sweetness and bitterness. 

Again I find this aphorism extremely relatable to my life, I believe I might have gotten addicted to the wandering life, for the past two years or so I have been no more than 6 months in one place, either studying, travelling, working, it doesn't really matter, what matters is that I am always meeting new people, learning new things, being in different situations, and the thing is I really like it, I really enjoy this lifestyle. Another point being that I have never felt at home in any place, most likely due to my multi-cultural/ethnic upbringing I have always felt like an outsider. 


321 - Let's rather make sure our own influence on all that is to come balances and outweighs his influence. Let us give our own example ever more brilliant colors! Let us darken the others through our light! 

What I have been realizing lately is that it is almost pointless to try and change people, therefore what Nietzsche suggests is that we abandon all attempts to try improving people through sticks and carrots and just focus on ourselves, become so bright that it lightens up all of your surroundings. Maybe if they see this brightness, then they will have the will to change. 


338 - 


371 - We are misidentified for we ourselves keep growing, changing, shedding old hides; we still shed our skins every Spring; we become increasingly younger, more future-oriented, taller, stronger; we drive our roots ever more powerfully into the depths - into evil - while at the same time embracing the heavens ever more lovingly and broadly, and absorbing their light ever more thirstily with all our springs and leaves. 

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