There is more sagacity in thy body than in thy best wisdom.
Paraphrase
Not in these words. The idea is in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part 1, chapter 4 (“The Despisers of the Body”, Von den Verächtern des Leibes), said by Zarathustra.
The real passage, shown below, is found word for word by program in the German original and in Thomas Common’s English translation (1909).
- Work
- Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Also sprach Zarathustra), 1883
- The real passage
- Part 1, chapter 4 (“The Despisers of the Body”, Von den Verächtern des Leibes)
- Said by
- Zarathustra
Researched by AI; closest passage located by program on 31 October 2026. Entry updated 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
The real passage
Behind thy thoughts and feelings, my brother, there is a mighty lord, an unknown sage—it is called Self; it dwelleth in thy body, it is thy body.
Hinter deinen Gedanken und Gefühlen, mein Bruder, steht ein mächtiger Gebieter, ein unbekannter Weiser—der heisst Selbst. In deinem Leibe wohnt er, dein Leib ist er.
There is more sagacity in thy body than in thy best wisdom.1 And who then knoweth why thy body requireth just thy best wisdom?
Es ist mehr Vernunft in deinem Leibe, als in deiner besten Weisheit. Und wer weiss denn, wozu dein Leib gerade deine beste Weisheit nöthig hat?
Thy Self laugheth at thine ego, and its proud prancings. “What are these prancings and flights of thought unto me?” it saith to itself. “A by-way to my purpose. […]
Dein Selbst lacht über dein Ich und seine stolzen Sprünge. „Was sind mir diese Sprünge und Flüge des Gedankens? sagt es sich. Ein Umweg zu meinem Zwecke. […]
The Self saith unto the ego: “Feel pain!” And thereupon it suffereth, and thinketh how it may put an end thereto—and for that very purpose it IS MEANT to think.
Das Selbst sagt zum Ich: „hier fühle Schmerz!“ Und da leidet es und denkt nach, wie es nicht mehr leide—und dazu eben soll es denken.
How the shared form came about
The form usually shared is a rewording of Zarathustra in a modern rendering that turns Vernunft into “wisdom”, which Wikiquote gives for Part I, chapter 4 with no translator named, so it isn’t printed here. In the German it is “Es ist mehr Vernunft in deinem Leibe, als in deiner besten Weisheit”: reason in the body, wisdom in the philosophy. Common, the public-domain translation, has the wording above.
In context
Zarathustra speaks to those who despise the body and speak of a soul apart from it. Reason, he says, is only a little instrument and plaything of the body; behind thoughts and feelings stands a mighty lord, an unknown sage called the Self, which dwells in the body and is the body. Then comes the sentence about the body’s reason, and the question why the body needs just thy best wisdom.
What it says
The body, with its drives and needs, knows and does more than the intellect that takes itself for the master; thinking serves it.
Often misread
Shared as a wellness slogan about trusting your gut. Zarathustra’s word is Vernunft (reason; Common: sagacity), not a feeling, and in the German the word Weisheit stands for the philosophy the body puts to use: the next sentence asks why the body needs just your best wisdom.
Topics
Related quotes
- Thinking is being sick in the eyes. Fernando Pessoa
- Life imitates art far more than art imitates life. Oscar Wilde
- Hilarious are the weak who think they are good because they have no claws. (paraphrase)
- The only hidden meaning of things is that they have no hidden meaning. Fernando Pessoa
- The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal. (not found) Aristotle
Sources
- en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Part I, chapter 4; checked 25 October 2026)
Cite it
“There is more sagacity in thy body than in thy best wisdom.” Attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche. Not in these words. The idea is in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part 1, chapter 4 (“The Despisers of the Body”, Von den Verächtern des Leibes), said by Zarathustra. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/more-wisdom-in-your-body/ (checked 31 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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