User:D.H. Relkin

In 1854, he began to attend Domgymnasium in Naumburg, but since he showed particular talents in music and language, the internationally recognized Schulpforta admitted him as a pupil, and there he continued his studies from 1858 to 1864. Here he became friends with Paul Deussen and Carl von Gersdorff. He also found time to work on poems and musical compositions. At Schulpforta, Nietzsche received an important grounding in languages - Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French - so as to be able to read primary sources of the classical tradition,[48] and experienced for the first time being away from his family life in a small-town conservative environment. His end-of-semester exams in March 1864 showed a 1 in Religion and German, a 2a in Greek and Latin, 2b in French, History and Physics, and a "lackluster" 3 in Hebrew and Mathematics.[49]

While at Pforta, Nietzsche had a penchant for pursuing subjects that were considered unfit. He became acquainted with the work of the then almost unknown poet Friedrich Hölderlin, calling him "my favorite poet" and composing an essay in which he said that the mad poet raised consciousness to "the most sublime ideality."[50] The teacher who corrected the essay gave it a good mark but commented that Nietzsche should concern himself in the future with healthier, more lucid and more German writers. Additionally, he became acquainted with Ernst Ortlepp, an eccentric, blasphemous and often drunk poet who was found dead in a ditch weeks after meeting the young Nietzsche, but who may have introduced Nietzsche to the music and writing of Richard Wagner.[51] Perhaps under Ortlepp's influence, he and a student named Richter returned to school drunk and encountered a teacher, resulting in Nietzsche's demotion from first in his class and the end of his status as a prefect.[52] Nietzsche, 1864

After graduation in 1864 Nietzsche commenced studies in theology and classical philology at the University of Bonn. For a short time he and Deussen became members of the Burschenschaft Frankonia. After one semester (and to the anger of his mother) he stopped his theological studies and lost his faith.[53] In 1865, at the age of 20, Nietzsche wrote to his sister, Elisabeth Nietzsche, who was deeply religious, a letter regarding his loss of faith. This letter ended with a following sentence:

"Hence the ways of men part: if you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire..."[54]

Nietzsche's disbelief may have happened in part of his reading of David Strauss's book Life of Jesus, which had a profound effect on the young Nietzsche,[53] though in an essay entitled Fate and History written in 1862, Nietzsche had already argued that historical research had discredited the central teachings of Christianity.[55] Nietzsche then concentrated on studying philology under Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl, whom he followed to the University of Leipzig the next year. There he became close friends with fellow student Erwin Rohde. Nietzsche's first philological publications appeared soon thereafter.

In 1865 Nietzsche thoroughly studied the works of Arthur Schopenhauer. He owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading Schopenhauer's Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (The World as Will and Representation) and later admitted that Schopenhauer was one of the few thinkers whom he respected, dedicating to him his essay Schopenhauer als Erzieher (Schopenhauer as Educator), one of his Untimely Meditations.