Friedrich Nietzsche · 1886 · Zimmern translation, 1907
Beyond Good and Evil
Beyond Good and Evil (1886) opens by comparing the pursuit of Truth to a courtship philosophers have bungled for centuries, then spends nine parts questioning morality’s claim to universal authority. The Philosopher reading companion in IO reader is built for exactly this — unpacking which tradition each aphorism is arguing against.
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PART I · PARAGRAPH
SUPPOSING that Truth is a woman--what then? Is there not ground for suspecting that all philosophers, in so far as they have been dogmatists, have failed to understand women--that the terrible seriousness and clumsy importunity with which they have usually paid their addresses to Truth, have been unskilled and unseemly methods for winning a woman?
SUPPOSING that Truth is a woman--what then?
Beyond Good and Evil · Friedrich Nietzsche · tr. Helen Zimmern
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The facts
| Length | about 62,700 words · 1,840 sentences |
|---|---|
| In sentence cards | about 123 minutes |
| Difficulty | demanding |
| First line | SUPPOSING that Truth is a woman--what then? |
| Themes | Preface · Nine Parts · From High Mountains: Aftersong |
Is Beyond Good and Evil hard to read?
Yes — Nietzsche writes in dense aphorisms that assume you'll sit with each one. In sentence cards it's about 123 minutes.
Which translation is this?
Helen Zimmern's 1907 translation, in the public domain.
How long is Beyond Good and Evil?
About 62,700 words in nine parts; roughly 1,840 sentences.
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Colophon
Text: Zimmern translation, 1907, from Project Gutenberg (pg:4363). Cover: Standard Ebooks CC0 cover, friedrich-nietzsche/beyond-good-and-evil/helen-zimmern. Reviewed 2026-09-04.