12. History teaches us that supreme treasure of humanity, German idealism, can be preserved only in the stout bark of national development.--F. BLEY, W.D.D., p. 23.
_On Idealism, see also Nos. 45, 276, 442, 464._
13. A war fought and lost would destroy our laboriously gained political importance ... would shake the influence of German thought in the civilized world, and thus check the general progress of mankind in its healthy development, for which a flourishing Germany is the essential condition. Our next war will be fought for the highest interests of our country and of mankind. This will invest it with importance in the world's history. "World-power or downfall!" will be our rallying-cry.--GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 154.
14. In our German people, peaceful dispositions and war-like prowess are so happily mixed that in this respect no other people on the earth can rival us, and none seems so clearly predestined to light humanity on the way to true progress.--F. LANGE, R.D., p. 158 (1893).
15. The Latin has no feeling for the beauty of a forest; when he takes his repose in it he lies upon his stomach, while we rest upon our backs.--H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 206.
16. If we compare our time with the great eras of our fathers, we are perfectly capable of a sober self-criticism. We have no use for illusions and self-deceptions on the way to our indispensable victory.--PROF. F. MEINECKE, D.D.E., p. 10.
17. Where in the whole world can a people be found who have such cause for manly pride as we? But we are equally far removed from presumption and from arrogance.--"War Devotions," by PASTOR J. RUMP, quoted in H.A.H., p. 117.
18. As the German bird, the eagle, hovers high over all the creatures of the earth, so also should the German feel that he is raised high above all other nations who surround him, and whom he sees in the limitless depth beneath him.--PROF. W. SOMBART, H.U.H., p. 143.
19. Germany is our existence, our faith, the meaning and depth of the world.--"On the German God," by PASTOR W. LEHMANN, quoted in H.A.H., p. 84.
20. It is not only our enemies who, by their underground intrigues, have sought to divert from us the sympathies of other peoples. If we would speak frankly, we must admit that we ourselves are partly to blame in the matter. A great part of the blame is due to our insufficient self-esteem and self-valuation--an inveterate German failing.--PROF. DR. R. JANNASCH, W.D.U.S., p. 22.