In this stimulating paper, the author describes some of his analytic work with two gifted male patients, which has led him to arrive at some general conclusions concerning the psychology of genius. The author also briefly contrasts these two patients' development with that of Sigmund Freud. He concludes by giving us a psychobiographical cameo of Friedrich Nietzsche's life, focusing particularly on the threats to their self-esteem that parents experience when their children appear to be different or odd.