Or did he merely make peace with it?
When the pianist Andras Schiff says, as he did recently, that, while Beethoven is human, "Mozart was sent from Heaven, he's not one of us," is he merely making use of a post-religious language, or is an actually religious language using him?
He said that he had merely made a wise bet and that he was a modest investor who had had mixed luck in the stock market.
The junior doctors claim that, despite stating publicly when the dispute began last year that he was imposing the contract, Hunt had then switched tack and insisted he had merely made a non-binding recommendation that revised conditions of employment.
Hodgson denied reports that he had set his sights on Tottenham's Tom Huddlestone, and insisted that he had merely made a general inquiry about players that may be available on loan.
He stopped short of saying that everybody did it, but did say that many, many others did the same, and he felt no guilt because he thought he was merely making "a level playing field".
Rather, he said, he was merely making his way to a training session in the Canary Islands.
He did not stir, merely made it clear that he knew she was there; once again, he took no part in the dancing or the showing off around the fire.
For Obama to make Americans believe he does understand their problems and close the enthusiasm gap, he cannot merely make changes of campaign style.
It was obviously disingenuous for Rosenthal to suggest that he had no personal reaction to the Genovese murder — that he was merely making a clinical professional judgment about what would engage readers.
