The twelfth and final section of Twilight
of the Idols is "The Hammer Speaks," an excerpt
from Nietzsche's novel, Thus Spake Zarathustra.
Nietzsche regarded Zarathustra as his greatest
work, and the work that tied together all
the themes in his career.
In this passage, the coal asks the diamond,
"why are you so hard, shouldn't we be similar
because we're made of the same stuff?"
And the diamond replies, "why are *you* so
soft?
Nietzsche turns this question on his readers,
here at the end of the book: why are you so
soft, why are we modern people, influenced
by Platonism and Christianity, why are we
so soft?
He calls on them to abandon the morality of
self-denial, to embrace fate and destiny with
him.
"For all creators are hard."
"This new tablet, O my brothers, I place over
you: Become hard!"
These are the final words of Twilight of the
Idols.
Goodbye.
