”Nietzsche is close not only to the man who was the grandfather of so much in modern English and American philosophy, David Hume, but also to this modern philosophy itself. Occasionally he anticipated it by several decades, and it might still profit from his stimulation. Above all, however, Nietzsche is the last best bridge between positivism and existentialism, if we take both labels in the widest possible sense. Today German and Romance philosophy and Anglo-American “analysis” are completely out of touch with each other. Thus Nietzsche, once stupidly denounced as the mind that caused the First World War, might well become a major aid to international understanding: reminding Continental European and South American thinkers of the benfits of rigorous analysis, while at the same time summoning English-speaking philosophers to consider the “existential” implications of their thinking. In his irreverent exposes of metaphysical foibles and fables he yields to none. But he is inspired not by Hume’s comfortable smugness, nor by Comte’s conceit that he might revolutionize society, nor by the cliquish delight in sheer proficiency and skill that occasionally besets contemporary efforts. Instead he is motivated by an intense concern with the meaning of his thought for the individual. And thus he not only anticipates both modern “analysis” and existentialism, but he has much to offer each: above all, an approach to the other major strain of modern secular philosophy.” (Walter Kaufmann’s introduction to The Portable Nietzsche)