What If A Demon Were To Creep After You One Night, In Your Loneliest
Loneness, And Say, "This Life Which You Live Must Be Lived By You Once
Again And Innumerable Times More
What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest
loneness, and say, "This life which you live must be lived by you once
again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and
sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal
hourglass will again and again be turned--and you with it, dust of the
dust!" Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that
demon? Or would you answer, "Never have I heard anything more divine?"
-- Friedrich Nietzsche