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"Who then was the orthodox, who the freethinker? Where lay the true position, the true state of man? Should he descend into the all-consuming all-equalizing chaos, that ascetic-libertine state; or should he take his stand on the 'Critical-Subjective,' where empty bombast and a bourgeois strictness of morals contradicted each other? Ah, the principles and points of view constantly did that; it became so hard for Hans Castorp's civilian responsibility to distinguish between opposed positions, or even to keep the premises apart from each other and clear in his mind, that the temptation grew well-nigh irresistible to plunge head foremost into Naphtha's 'morally chaotic All."
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Explore more quotes by Thomas Mann
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"For a brief moment I felt I was the older, the more mature.'A gift of life,' I responded, 'if not to say, a gift of God, such as music, should not have the mocking charge of paradox leveled at it for things that are merely evidence of the fullness of its nature. One should love them.''Do you believe love is the strongest emotion?' he asked.'Do you know any stronger?''Yes, interest.''By which you probably mean a love that has been deprived of its animal warmth, is that it?''Let's agree on that definition!' he said with a laugh. 'Good night!'We had arrived again at the LeverkA1?4hn house, and he opened his front door."
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