Contending with fanaticism does not mean destroying all fanatics, but rather cautiously handling the little fanatic who hides, more or less, inside each of our souls. It also means ridiculing, just a little, our own convictions; being curious; and trying to take a peek, from time to time, not only through our neighbor's window but, more important, at the reality viewed from that window, which will necessarily be different from the one seen through our own.

The fanatic is always in a hurry to fall on your neck to save you, because he loves you. He loves you unconditionally. But, conversely, he might grab you and strangle you if he discovers that you are beyond redemption. Lost. And if that is the case, he is obliged to hate you and rid the world of you.

Fanatics tend to live in a black-and-white world, with a simplistic view of good against evil. The fanatic is in fact a person who can only count to one. Yet at the same time, and without any contradiction, the fanatic almost always basks in some sort of bittersweet sentimentalism, composed of a mixture of fury and self-pity.

Fanaticism ... is contagious: a person may catch it even as he fights to cure other people of it. There is no shortage of anti-fanaticism fanatics in the world. All sorts of crusades to stop jihad, and jihads to subjugate the new crusaders. This includes the zeal so prevalent in Israel and in the West these days to deliver a knockout blow that will finish off all the bloodthirsty fanatics and anyone like them once and for all. To eradicate every last bastion of zealotry.

Self-sacrifice can sometimes be a well-honed weapon that the fanatic wields for destructive emotional purposes. Moreover, those who are eager to sacrifice themselves will not find it difficult to sacrifice others.

Hur ska man förhålla sig till människor som knappast är något annat än utropstecken på två ben? Hur ska man stoppa dem som inte skyr några medel?

Kad su moji prijatelji otkrili da se družimo, počeli su me nazivati izdajnikom. Nakon mnogo dana polako sam pronašao utjehu u misli da je izdajnik u očima fanatika onaj koji se usuđuje promijeniti. Svaka vrsta fanatizma, u svako vrijeme i na svakome mjestu, izražava gnušanje prema promjeni, strahuje od nje te sumnjičavo vidi promjenu zapravo kao izdaju koja izvire iz mračnih i podlih pobuda.