"That Jew? Those Dreyfusards?"
"Dreyfusards?" said Christophe. "Well: what does that matter?"
"It is they who have ruined France."
"They love France as much as you do."
"They're mad, mischievous lunatics."
"Can't you be just to your adversaries?"
"I can get on quite well with loyal adversaries who use the same weapons. The proof of that is that I am here talking to you, Monsieur German. I can think well of the Germans, although some day I hope to give them back with interest the thrashing we got from them. But it is not the same thing with our enemies at home: they use underhand weapons, sophistry, and unsound ideas, and a poisonous humanitarianism…."
"Yes. You are in the same state of mind as that of the knights of the Middle Ages, when, for the first time, they found themselves faced with gunpowder. What do you want? There is evolution in war too."
"So be it. But then, let us be frank, and say that war is war."
"Suppose a common enemy were to threaten Europe, wouldn't you throw in your lot with the Germans?"