Friedrich Nietzsche, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Zarathustra's Prologue, part 3 - 4
• Variant translations:
• I teach you beyond Man. Man is something that shall be surpassed. What have you done to surpass him?
• What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal.

I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?… All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood, and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is ape to man? A laughing stock or painful embarrassment. And man shall be that to overman: a laughingstock or painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape... The overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth... Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope over an abyss … what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.

— Friedrich Nietzsche on Übermensch

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?… All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood, and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is ape to man? A laughing stock or painful embarrassment. And man shall be that to overman: a laughingstock or painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape... The overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth... Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope over an abyss … what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end." in the context of "Friedrich Nietzsche, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Zarathustra's Prologue, part 3 - 4
• Variant translations:
• I teach you beyond Man. Man is something that shall be surpassed. What have you done to surpass him?
• What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Übermensch" (N) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Friedrich Nietzsche

About Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, writer, and philologist whose work has exerted a profound influence on modern intellectual history. His critiques of contemporary culture, religion, and philosophy centered on a basic question regarding the foundation of values and morality.