yes, the laws of self-preservation and of self-destruction are equally powerful in this world. the devil will hold his empire over humanity until a limit of time which is still unknown. you laugh? you do not believe in the devil? scepticism as to the devil is a french idea, and it is also a frivolous idea. do you know who the devil is? do you know his name? although you don’t know his name you make a mockery of his form, following the example of voltaire. you sneer at his hoofs, at his tail, at his horns all of them the produce of your imagination! in reality the devil is a great and terrible spirit, with neither hoofs, nor tail, nor horns; it is you who have endowed him with these attributes! but... he is not the question just now!"