"The only way to fight anything is to fight its ideal"

The only way to fight anything is to fight its ideal; which is its principle of life. I can only convey what I mean by instances [...] If I say (as I do) that I am against Buddhism, I mean that I am against ideal Buddhism. I do not mean that I am against real Buddhism; I am against real Christianity, if it comes to that. There may have been Grand Lamas more wicked than the worst Popes; I count that utterly frivolous and pointless in the attack on a religion. The worst of every creed is as bad as can be. But you do not attack a religion until you say sincerely that even its best is bad [...] I do not think even its ideal ideal.

-November 12, 1910, Daily News