“The thought of a persecuting power has always appeared quite strange to me. I have never been able to endure the idea, which admits the existence of a being inimical to all good and taking pleasure in everything evil. In the New Testament I consider such passages merely figurative, expressions connected with the representations of Judaism for the evil, which man, even if he is good and believes himself quite innocent, has yet ever to fight against.”
Wilhelm von Humboldt
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