I...

I have always been the one that I was, and I will always be the one that I could be; for two relative subjects alone are true: the sun could not become the moon, but if by some chance it should become it, it would no longer be the sun. So who is it that wishes to divert my course?

Do not dam the river, if you have good sense.

Let the joyous violence rush along its tranquil bed. Don’t you see how merrily it sings as it hastens towards its ocean?

I say to you, wise ones: Do not make tragic what can be cheerful. That would be an injury to everything, but the worst harm would be at the expense of human beauty.

And let this be said once again to the too-long ears of the ancient aristocracy, for it is not only a privilege of caste to live superbly beyond good and evil, but also a privilege of strength and good taste… of all strength, of all good taste.

So when will the day break when a man will become a God of Joy and Laughter?

Who would prevent us from making of the entire world a celebration, a free and magnificent feast?

We have announced it.

Let every river rush toward its ocean, to the accents of its joyous songs.

I am the one who is and I go toward my ocean, which is beautiful, deep and joyful, because it is mine — uniquely mine.

Woe to those who live near my banks, if they should obstruct my course!