Preface Summary and Analysis

Nietzsche claims we are unknown to ourselves because we never search for our own self and therefore can never find ourselves. He compares striving in life to a bee returning to the treasure of its hive as honey-gatherers of the spirit. Experiences of life are undergone without sufficient interest or time because neither our ear nor our heart is in it. At some point we wake up as if by a clock and we are puzzled, astonished and embarrassed that we do not know what we have lived since we remain strangers to ourselves.

In the winter of 1876-77 Nietzsche records a collection of aphorisms, or short sayings in Sorrento he recalls thinking about much earlier when his mind wanders. These thoughts about source and development of moral prejudices are the subjects discussed in essays he is writing. He believes his...