The Self-Love Before Neighbor-Love Maxim

The Self-Love Before Neighbor-Love Maxim sets self-love as a condition for love of the neighbour, rather than treating neighbour-love as an obligation that can be fulfilled by mere compliance. In Zarathustra’s paired imperatives, the capacity to will and the capacity to love must come before action: a person must first become capable of the commitment being demanded.

The Maxim’s Formulation

Zarathustra states the principle in a sequence that begins with neighbour-love and then qualifies it: “Always love your neighbour as yourselves – but first be such as love themselves –”. The first clause invokes the familiar measure of loving another as oneself; the qualification shifts attention to the kind of person able to meet that measure. Love of the neighbour is not rejected, but made dependent on an antecedent capacity for self-love.

Willing and Becoming Capable

The maxim appears beside a parallel instruction about willing: “Always do what you will – but first be such as can will!” Both formulations distinguish an outward act from the capacity that makes it meaningful. Doing what one wills is not presented as sufficient by itself; the person must first be able to will. Likewise, neighbour-love cannot be reduced to following a rule before the self has become capable of loving.

Love, Contempt, and Zarathustra’s Voice

Zarathustra extends the description of those capable of loving: “such as love with a great love, such as love with a great contempt!” The juxtaposition gives the maxim its tension. Its ideal is not mild benevolence alone, but a love joined to the capacity for strong contempt. Zarathustra speaks these instructions as “the Godless,” placing the teaching in the voice of a speaker who does not ground it in divine command. The passage therefore presents self-love not as a substitute for loving others, but as a demanding condition for a more forceful form of love.