Bien sûr, il me pardonnera; c'est son métier. [Of course he [God] will forgive me; that's his job.] - Heinrich Heine

Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them.

Christianity — and that is its greatest merit — has somewhat mitigated that brutal German love of war, but it could not destroy it. Should that subduing talisman, the Cross, be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors, that insane Berserk rage of which Nordic bards have spoken and sung so often, will once more burst into flame. This talisman [the cross] is fragile, and the day will come when it will collapse miserably. Then . . . a play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll.

Fatal ist mir das Lumpenpack,
Das, um die Herzen zu rühren,
Den Patriotismus trägt zur Schau
Mit allen seinen Geschwüren.