"He goes to hell who goes thy ways!" So be it I to my hell I'll pave the way myself with well-made maxims. 46 Your God, you tell me, Is a God of love? The sting of conscience A sting from God? A sting of love? 48 They chew gravel, They lie on their bellies Before little round things, They adore all that falleth not down-- These last servants of God Believers (in reality)! 50 They made their God out of nothing, What wonder if now he is naught? 51 Ye loftier men! There have once been More thoughtful times, more reflective, Than is our to-day and to-morrow. 52 Our time is like a sick woman-- Let her but shriek, rave, scold, And break the tables and dishes! 54 Ye mount? Is it true that ye mount, Ye loftier men? Are ye not, pray, Like to a ball Sped to the heights By the lowest that's in you? Do ye not flee from yourselves, O ye climbers? 55 All that you thought You had to despise, Where you only renounced! 56 All men repeat the refrain! No, no, and thrice say No! What's all this yap-yap talk of heaven? We would not enter the kingdom of heaven, The kingdom of earth shall be ours? 57 The will redeemeth, He that has nothing to do In a Nothing finds food for trouble. 58 You cannot endure it more, Your tyrannous destiny, Love it--you're given no choice! 59 These alone free us from woes (Choose now I) Sudden death Or long-drawn-out love. 60 Of death we are sure, So why not be merry? 61 The worst of pleas I have hidden from you--that life grew tedious! Throw it away, that ye find it again to your taste! 62 Lonely days, Ye must walk on valorous feet! 63 Loneliness Plants naught, it ripens.... And even then you must have the sun for your friend. 64 Once more must ye plunge in the throng--In the throng ye grow hard and smooth. Solitude withers And lastly destroys.-- 65 When on the hermit comes the great fear; When he runs and runs And knows not whither; When the storms roar behind And the lightning bears witness against him, And his cavern breeds spectres And fills him with dread. 67 Throw thy pain in the depths, Man, forget! Man, forget! Divine is the art of forgetting! Wouldst fly? Wouldst feel at home in the heights? Throw thy heaviest load in the sea! Here is the sea, hurl thyself in the sea! Divine is the art of forgetting! 69 Look forward, never look back! We sink to the depths If we peer ever into the depths. 70 Beware, beware Of warning the reckless! Thy warning will drive them To leap into every abyss! 71