The Individual Has Always Had To

This remark is widely attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche but does not appear verbatim in his published writings. The underlying idea is strongly present in works such as Beyond Good and Evil (1886) and Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85), where Nietzsche repeatedly attacks "herd morality" — the tendency of conventional society to level down exceptional individuals to mediocrity. He argued that the greatest human beings must resist absorption into the "herd" through a creative act of self-overcoming (Selbstüberwindung). The exact wording may derive from a paraphrase or editorial summary rather than Nietzsche's own text.