What fanaticism promised in times past to the elect, science is now achieving for all men![Que le fanatisme autrefois promettait à ses élus, la science maintenant l’accomplit pour tous les hommes!]
The way I see it, there is no greater spiritual beauty than fanaticism, of a sort so sincere it can only end in martyrdom.
The closer a man approaches tragedy the more intense is his concentration of emotion upon the fixed point of his commitment, which is to say the closer he approaches what in life we call fanaticism.
It appears to me that one defeats the fanatic precisely by not being a fanatic oneself, but on the contrary by using one’s intelligence.
Fear prophets and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them.
Fanatics have their dreams, wherewith they weave a paradise for a sect.
Fanatics are picturesque, and mankind prefers observing poses to listening to reasons…[Die Fanatiker sind pittoresk, die Menschheit sieht Gebärden lieber als dass sie Gründe hört…]
Fanaticism turns into a means of salvation, enthusiasm into epileptic ecstasy, politics becomes an opiate for the masses, a proletarian eschatology; and reason veils her face.
