Just as the poets freely yoke their thoughts
To tyrannies of rhythm and of rhyme,
You must obey what's best for time on time
Else you will lose respect for what you ought:
Your higher self, transfigured and refined.
If you subject your freedom and your strength
To ever higher laws, you will at length
Be creature and creator intertwined.
The paradox that order makes you free
Leads roundabout to everything of worth:
Art, virtue, reason, mastery of earth
And self, the discipline to clearly see.
The deep constraints you choose to cultivate
Make possible your drive for something great.
(cf. Beyond Good and Evil, ยง188)
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Peter Saint-Andre > Writings > Nietzsche > Songs of Zarathustra