The best incomplete book ever?

Nietzsche believed his best work was ahead of him when he went permanently insane. He did leave us Will To Power - a strange book full of outlines, suggestive ideas, and notes that were to become his magnum opus. 9 ideas from the greatest incomplete book of all time:

Most people today like to optimize for a "life of security, safety, comfort and ease" but these are not the conditions under which people grow. For growth you need "long pressure, constraint, danger, and hardship." Chase these conditions. Your virtues will grow, vices will wither

This line can have many interpretations: "The same conditions that further the development of the herd animals also further the development of the animals which herd them." The rise of programmable masses also hints at the rise of the select few who write the program code...

A beautiful aphorism: "We want no praise, for we merely do what serves our purpose, what gives us pleasure, or what we must." This is an aspirational mind space. To not need praise or approval is liberating.

Patience can be noble: "To comport oneself in an unhurried manner, even to gaze upon things with an unhurried eye. There are few things of value and these come, and are willing to come, of their own accord to those who are themselves of value. We are slow to admire."

Nietzsche on why we like gardens and palaces: "They remove disorder and vulgarity from our sight and allow us to create a setting suitable for our soul’s nobility." Our aesthetic preferences show our spiritual needs. The chaos of jungle is banished in a landscaped garden.

Nietzsche on strong feelings: " press these magnificent monsters into service." He writes: "What is needed is mastery of the passions, not their weakening or eradication! The greater a man’s strength of will, the more freedom he may afford to his passions."

Emotions are power: "We could say that the most powerful emotions are the most valuable, in so far as there are no greater sources of energy."

An interesting open question: "And in all decent actions are we not deliberately indifferent to their consequences for us?" A move with great upside is smart, but truly great moves are often taken for reasons bigger than immediate profit.

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Insights from Nietzsche Explore @jashdholani's favorite ideas, collected on Memo'd