My dear friend,
I find that, with and through Nietzsche, I have got into excellent company. You cannot know what it means for a man who has spent his entire life in bad company, or at least among stupid people, finally to be able to say: God be praised, here is a genus, perhaps even a whole generation, for the sake of which it has been worth my while to have spent half a century shut up in prison! - But this new direction to my life really only began with Nietzsche: my world had previously described a circle no wider than Pohl, Nohl & Porges. No words can express how different it is now! Do not ask for any more news from me; I believe my wife has already written to you? At least I know that she wrote to Gersdorff yesterday evening on the subject, among others, of “Pseudo-Philosophy” (dreadful word!). We were delighted by your essay: it is a worthy companion piece and counterpart to the “Birth” itself. For us, the main thing was that we were able to learn something from this rebuttal, and also learn to respect and love the “whole man”. Something of this nature was bound to be of great help to us all: but I scarcely dare glance any longer into the future morass of the human race. However, this is something we can leave to God to arrange as best redounds to His honour.
Our sincere good wishes, and my especial thanks for the very real honour you have shown us!
Respectfully yours,
Richard Wagner.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 414