"-and impotence does not require into 'goodness of heart'; anxious lowliness into 'humility'; subjection to those one hates into 'obedience' (that is, to one of whom they say he commands this subjection-- they call him God). The inoffensiveness of the weak man, even the cowardice of which he has so much, his lingering at the door, his being ineluctably compelled to wait, here acquire flattering names, such as 'patience,' and are even called virtue itself; his inability for revenge is called unwillingness to revenge, perhaps even forgiveness ('for they know not what they do-- we alone know what they do!'). They also speak of 'loving one's enemies'-- and sweat as they do so...
They are miserable, no doubt of it, all these mutterers and nook counterfeiters, although they crouch warmly together-- but they tell me their misery is a sign of being chosen by God; one beats the dogs one likes best; perhaps this misery is also a preparation, a testing, a schooling, perhaps it is even more-- something that will one day be made good and recompensed with interest, with huge payments of gold, no! happiness. This they call 'bliss.'"
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