Nietzsche's Zarathustra and Tolkien's Hobbits
offer a nice contrast in archetypes.
For as the Persian thinker states:
'I walk among this people and keep my eyes open:
they have become smaller and are becoming smaller still:—
but this comes from their doctrine of happiness and virtue.
For they are modest in virtue too—because they want
contentment. But with contentment only a modest
virtue is compatible. To be sure, even they learn
in their own way how to stride and stride forward:
I call it their hobbling. They thereby become
an obstacle for anyone in a hurry.'
in their own way how to stride and stride forward:
I call it their hobbling. They thereby become
an obstacle for anyone in a hurry.'
—Thus Spoke Zarathustra
On the Virtue That
Makes Smaller,
§.2
Makes Smaller,
§.2