The "great man" is so, owing to the free scope which he gives to his desires, and to the still greater power which knows how to enlist these magnificent monsters into its service. The "good man" in every stage of civilisation is at one and the same time the _least dangerous_ and the _most useful:_ a sort of medium; the idea formed of such a man by the common mind is that he is some one _whom one has no reason to fear, but whom one must not therefore despise._ Education: essentially a means of _ruining_ exceptions in favour of the rule. Culture: essentially the means of directing taste against the exceptions in favour of the mediocre. Only when a culture can dispose of an overflow of force, is it capable of being a hothouse for the luxurious culture of the exception, of the experiment, of the danger, of the _nuance: this_ is the tendency of _every_ aristocratic culture. 934. All questions of strength: to what extent ought one to try and prevail against the preservative measures of society and the latter's prejudices?--to what extent ought one to unfetter _one's terrible qualities,_ through which so many go to the dogs?--to what extent ought one to run counter to _truth,_ and take up sides with its most questionable aspects?--to what extent ought one to oppose suffering, self-contempt, pity, disease, vice, when it is always open to question whether one can ever master them (what does not kill us makes us _stronger..._.)?--and, finally, to what extent ought one to acknowledge the rights of the rule, of the common-place, of the petty, of the good, of the upright, in fact of the average man, without thereby allowing one's self to become vulgar? ... The strongest test of character is to resist being ruined by the seductiveness of goodness. _Goodness_ must be regarded as a luxury, as a refinement, as a _vice._ 3. The Noble Man. 935. _Type._ real goodness, nobility, greatness of soul, as the result of vital wealth: which does not give in order to receive--and which has no desire to _elevate_ itself by being good, _squandering_ is typical of genuine goodness, vital _personal_ wealth is its prerequisite. 936. _Aristocracy._--Gregarious ideals at present culminating in the highest standard of value for society. It has been attempted to give them a cosmic, yea, and even a metaphysical, value.--I defend _aristocracy_ against them. Any society which would of itself preserve a feeling of respect and _délicatesse_ in regard to freedom, must consider itself as an exception, and have a force against it from which it distinguishes itself, and upon which it looks down with hostility.