What makes this observation sting is that Nietzsche isn't warning the ambitious to expect jealousy—he's suggesting something more unsettling: that genuine elevation produces a kind of inevitable loneliness, not from arrogance but from incomprehension. When a scientist pursues esoteric research or an artist develops an uncompromising vision, they don't shrink in their own eyes; they simply become harder to see by those still operating on familiar ground. The insight cuts both ways, too—those still earthbound aren't necessarily small-minded, merely positioned differently, which is why true achievement often feels like a quiet exile rather than a triumph.