In formulating a superman he is, on account of certain superior qualit — Übermensch

"W. B. Yeats was an instinctive "aristocrat"; he was also more deeply influenced by Nietzsche‎‎ than any other English language writer. Yet although he was attracted to Nietzsches elitism in general, Yeats differed from most of the other English-language writers involved in this story in that he remained critical of Nietzsches central myth, that of the superman. … The clash between Yeatss moral self and aesthetic anti-self is exemplified in his attitude towards the superman. There is, of course, a very close parallel between his heroic ideal and that of Nietzsche, between the Yeatsian hero and the Nietzschean superman. Yeatss hero is more truly akin to Nietzsches ideal than are the more obviously and superficially Nietzschean superman-types of writers like Jack London. Yeats and Nietzsche both tend to reject "the real world" and its vulgar, democratic ideals; they believe rather in a natural aristocracy of men whose ideals are "not of this world". Both believe in what Nietzsche calls "the eternal second coming" and insist that the heroic personality must respond to tragic knowledge with joy. But although Yeats accepted the idea that the great individual is the protagonist in the drama of history, he remained critical of Nietzsches superman as such; he saw man through Blakes eyes rather than Nietzsches, as something to be restored to his former estate rather than "surpassed". Though he deeply admired spiritual heroism of the type represented for him by Nietzsche, and shared Nietzsche‎‎s ideal of "nobility" … he rejected the arrogance of the superman."

"If Bernard Shaw anglicized the Übermensch, it was H. G. Wells, W. B. Yeats and Edwin Muir who arguably took him most seriously. Other writers, it is true, flirted with the idea without taking it or themselves at all seriously; thus James Joyce, being rather in the doldrums of 1903/4, found it satisfying to think of himself as "James Overman" (as he ironically signed himself) … Yeats, Wells and Muir were all fascinated by the idea, but rejected it for moral (Yeats) or political (Wells) reasons, or for a mixture of both (Muir). In short, the superman-idea filled a short-term emotional need; the events of 1914-18 destroyed not only Nietzsche‎‎s reputation in this country, but the world of which his myths had been a part."

"To be able to fall down in such a way that in the same second it looks as if one were standing and walking, to transform the leap of life into a walk, absolutely to express the sublime in the pedestrian – that only the knight of faith can do – this is the one and only prodigy."

"A light has dawned for me: I need companions, living ones, not dead companions and corpses which I carry with me wherever I wish. But I need living companions who follow me because they want to follow themselves — and who want to go where I want to go. A light has dawned for me: Zarathustra shall not speak to the people but to companions! Zarathustra shall not be herdsman and dog to the herd! To lure many away from the herd — that is why I have come. The people and the herd shall be angry with me: the herdsmen shall call Zarathustra a robber. I will not be herdsmen or gravedigger. I will not speak again to the people: I have spoken to a dead man for the last time. I will make company with creators, with harvesters, with rejoicers: I will show them the rainbow and the stairway to the Superman."

"O my brothers, your nobility should not look backward but ahead! Exiles shall you be from all father- and forefather-lands! Your childrens land shall you love: this love shall be your new nobility — the undiscovered land in the most distant sea. For that I bid your sails search and search. In your children you shall make up for being the children of your fathers: thus shall you redeem all that is past. This new tablet I place over you."

"THE DEVIL. Ay, Rembrandt. There a something unnatural about these fellows. Do not listen to their gospel, Senor Commander: it is dangerous. Beware of the pursuit of the Superhuman: it leads to an indiscriminate contempt for the Human. To a man, horses and dogs and cats are mere species, outside the moral world. Well, to the Superman, men and women are a mere species too, also outside the moral world. This Don Juan was kind to women and courteous to men as your daughter here was kind to her pet cats and dogs; but such kindness is a denial of the exclusively human character of the soul. THE STATUE. And who the deuce is the Superman? THE DEVIL. Oh, the latest fashion among the Life Force fanatics. Did you not meet in Heaven, among the new arrivals, that German Polish madman — what was his name? Nietzsche? THE STATUE. Never heard of him. THE DEVIL. Well, he came here first, before he recovered his wits. I had some hopes of him; but he was a confirmed Life Force worshipper. It was he who raked up the Superman, who is as old as Prometheus; and the 20th century will run after this newest of the old crazes when it gets tired of the world, the flesh, and your humble servant. THE STATUE. Superman is a good cry; and a good cry is half the battle. I should like to see this Nietzsche. THE DEVIL. Unfortunately he met Wagner here, and had a quarrel with him."