Was sagt dein Gewissen? — 'Du sollst der werden, der du bist.'
• Variant translation: Become who you are." - Meaning and context.">
What does your conscience say? — 'You shall become the person you are.'
 • Sec. 270
• Common misattribution to the same effect: Become thyself!
 • It is noted that the phrase was first used by Pindar (Pyth. II, 73), and was merely creatively re-used by Nietzsche. He also later gave his Ecce Homo the subtitle: "How one becomes what one is."
  • Cf. also Hegel's formulation that "spirit ... makes itself that which it is."

Was sagt dein Gewissen? — 'Du sollst der werden, der du bist.'
• Variant translation: Become who you are.

— Friedrich Nietzsche

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Was sagt dein Gewissen? — 'Du sollst der werden, der du bist.'
• Variant translation: Become who you are." in the context of "What does your conscience say? — 'You shall become the person you are.'
 • Sec. 270
• Common misattribution to the same effect: Become thyself!
 • It is noted that the phrase was first used by Pindar (Pyth. II, 73), and was merely creatively re-used by Nietzsche. He also later gave his Ecce Homo the subtitle: "How one becomes what one is."
  • Cf. also Hegel's formulation that "spirit ... makes itself that which it is."" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Friedrich Nietzsche" (Quotes, The Joyful Wisdom (1882): (Full text) Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (1882)) 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.