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HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

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26 i^etne.<br />

CHRIST.<br />

Christ is the God whom I love best —<br />

not because he is a legitimate God<br />

whose father was God before Him and<br />

has since infinite time ruled the world;<br />

but because He, though a born Dauphin<br />

of Heaven, has democratic sympathies<br />

and delights not in courtly ceremonies ;<br />

because he is no God of an aristocracy<br />

of crop-headed theological pedants and<br />

fantastic warriors, but a modest God of<br />

the people, a citizen-God, un bon diea<br />

citoyen.<br />

GENIUS AND SOCIETY.<br />

Society is a Republic. When an individual<br />

endeavors to lift himself above<br />

his fellows, he is dragged down by the<br />

mass, either by means of ridicule or of<br />

calumny. No one shall be more virtuous<br />

or more intellectually gifted than<br />

others. Whoever, by the irresistible<br />

force of genius, rises above the common<br />

herd is certain to be ostracised by society,<br />

which will pursue him with such<br />

merciless derision and detraction that,<br />

at last, he will be compelled to retreat<br />

into the solitude of his thoughts.

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