The Antichrist · Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
13.
Let us not underestimate this fact: that _we ourselves_, we free spirits, are already a "transvaluation of all values," a _visualized_ declaration of war and victory against all the old concepts of "true" and "not true." The most valuable intuitions are the last to be attained; the most valuable of all are those which determine _methods_. All the methods, all the principles of the scientific spirit of today, were the targets for thousands of years of the most profound contempt; if a man inclined to them he was excluded from the society of "decent" people--he passed as "an enemy of God," as a scoffer at the truth, as one "possessed." As a man of science, he belonged to the Chandala[2].... We have had the whole pathetic stupidity of mankind against us--their every notion of what the truth _ought_ to be, of what the service of the truth _ought_ to be--their every "thou shalt" was launched against us.... Our objectives, our methods, our quiet, cautious, distrustful manner--all appeared to them as absolutely discreditable and contemptible.--Looking back, one may almost ask one's self with reason if it was not actually an _aesthetic_ sense that kept men blind so long: what they demanded of the truth was picturesque effectiveness, and of the learned a strong appeal to their senses. It was our _modesty_ that stood out longest against their taste.... How well they guessed that, these turkey-cocks of God! [2] The lowest of the Hindu castes.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.