Human, All Too Human

Published in 1878 and dedicated to Voltaire, Human, All Too Human marks Nietzsche's clean break with the Schopenhauer-Wagner orbit of his youth and his arrival as a free spirit. Across nine sections of crisp aphorisms, he turns a cool psychological gaze on art, religion, the higher culture, women, the state, and the philosopher's own work. Gone is the metaphysical drama of The Birth of Tragedy; in its place stands the patient skeptic for whom every grand sentiment hides a small human cause. The book cost him most of his friendships, including Wagner's, and set the template for everything he wrote afterward. Translated by Helen Zimmern and Paul V. Cohn.