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632 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1923
鈥淣ietzsche did away with the idea of God, and replaced it by the concept of ideal man. That was nothing much 鈥� only a first step forward. It鈥檚 up to modern atheism to go one better and do away with the concept of ideal man as well.鈥�
鈥淚nequality, injustice! Of course they exist. Do those fellows imagine they鈥檙e the first to spot that interesting fact? But what鈥檚 to be done about it? Our present civilization is a datum, damn it! We鈥檇 do best to start by taking things as they really are instead of as they might have been. And their revolution?鈥� he murmured sotto voce. 鈥淎 fine mess they have in store for us. Smashing the whole show up, and starting all over again 鈥� like kids playing with toy bricks. They鈥檇 do better to get on with their jobs instead of wailing about the rotten state of society 鈥� and refusing to do their share in it鈥︹€�
鈥淎 good bloodletting is necessary sometimes for a nation鈥檚 health. When there鈥檚 been a too long spell of peace, the world secretes a host of toxins which it has to get out of its system somehow, like the man who leads a too sedentary life. And just now, I believe, a good bloodletting will do the French morale a world of good.鈥�
She cast on him a troubled gaze but so instinct with love that he walked up to her and unthinkingly stretched out his arms. Trembling, with closed eyes, she flung herself upon his breast. Their first embrace.