I’m not going to quote the passage here (from p.143) because it’s too wrapped up on context. However, what I took away from it is this:
When we are imitating someone, or wishing we could be like them or possess what they have, their skills or wealth, one way that we hide this rivalry is by explaining them as a virtuoso. This is something we can appreciate. It makes them no longer threatening to us personally. It puts us the right distance apart from the other. On one hand, this is good, but it could also be a way that we are covering up a rivalry or hatred that still exists.
Given the extent of its growing control, escaping from mimetism is something only geniuses and saints can do.
-Rene Girard, Battling to the End, p.133