Nietzsche

August 5, 2026 7:54pm

Nietzsche wrote in Thus Spoke Zarathustra: “Thoughts that come on dove’s feet guide the world.”  How to interpret this? Does the dove represent peace or does it represent weakness?

I’m obsessed with language and today came across the idiom, “Devil take the hindmost.” It comes from the 17th century.

The proverb first appeared in  Beaumont and Fletcher’s play Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding (1611): “They run all away, and cry, ‘the devil take the hindmost’” 

It is probably much older in spoken language, probably originating in children’s games, in which the last person would lose.

A modern equivalent is, “I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you.”