According to the etymology of the word, a heretic is one “who chooses”., choice meant in the strongest of its accepted meanings, as active decision, certainly not in the bland dress of adjustment. A heretic is no one who limits himself to belonging, approving, following. Nor is he even one who is content to study, learn and repeat. A heretic is not one who knows the old answers by heart, but rather one who loves to formulate new questions. The heretic does not demand approval, but rather critique; he does not want to maintain, but to change. If the heretic usually doesn’t go very far, a reproach that is often made against him, it is because he spends his time opening new paths rather than going down all too well-trodden ones.
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