We, however, do not follow here the course of phenomena in time, but, as philosophers, we seek to investigate the ethical significance of action, and take this as the only criterion of what for us is significant and important. Thus we will not be withheld by any fear of the constant numerical superiority of vulgarity and dulness from acknowledging that the greatest, most important, and most significant phenomenon that the world can show is not the conqueror of the world, but the subduer of it; is nothing but the quiet, unobserved life of a man who has attained to the knowledge in consequence of which he surrenders and denies that will to live which fills everything and strives and strains in all, and which first gains freedom here in him alone, so that his conduct becomes the exact opposite of that of other men.
Baina guk hemen, agerpenen haria denboran jarraitzen ez dugunok, baizik filosofo gisa egintzen esangura etikoa ikertzen saiatzen garenok eta guretzat esangurazko eta garrantzizkoa denerako neurri bakartzat hartzen ditugunok, ez digu inolako izuak arrunkeria eta kamuskeriaren ahots-ugaritasun beti iraunkorraren aurrean munduak erakuts dezakeen agerpen handien, garrantzitsuen eta esanguratsuena ez dela mundu-konkistatzailea, baizik mundu-gainditzailea aitortzea eragotziko, horrela egitatean horrelako gizaki baten bizi-portaera isil eta oharkabea, zeinari iritsi baitzaio ezagutza hori, zeinaren ondorioz denean bultzatzen duen eta ahalegintzen den bizitzeko nahimena abandonatu eta ezeztatzen baitu, zeinaren askatasuna hemen, horretan bakarrik agertzen baita, zeinaren bidez aurrerantzean bere egitea ohikoaren zeharo aurkako bihurtzen baita.