"It is for myself that I am speaking. When we are one, I shall continue this policy of masterly inactivity of which I claim the invention, though it has long been known in the germ. Everybody knows for instance that not to trouble to answer letters is the surest way of acquiring the reputation of a busy man, that not to accept invitations is an infallible way of getting more, that not to care a jot about the feelings of the rest of the household, is an unfailing means of enforcing universal deference. But the glory still remains to him who first grasped this great law in its generalized form, however familiar one or two isolated cases of it may be to the world. 'Do nothing' is the last word of social science, as 'Nil admirari' was its first. Just as silence is less self-contradictory than speech, so is inaction a safer foundation of fame than action. Inaction is perfect. The moment you do anything you are in the region of incompleteness, of definiteness. Your work may be outdone--or undone. Your inventions may be improved upon, your victories annulled, your popular books ridiculed, your theories superseded, your paintings decried, the seamy side of your explanations shown up. Successful doing creates not only enemies but the material for their malice to work upon. Only by not having done anything to deserve success can you be sure of surviving the reaction which success always brings. To be is higher than to do. To be is calm, large, elemental; to do is trivial, artificial, fussy. To be has been the moth of the English aristocracy, it is the secret of their persistence. _Qui s'excuse s'accuse._ He who strives to justify his existence imperils it. To be is inexpugnable, to do is dangerous. The same principle rules in all departments of social life. What is a successful reception? A gathering at which everybody _is_. Nobody does anything. Nobody enjoys anything. There everybody _is_--if only for five minutes each, and whatever the crush and discomfort. You are there--and there you _are_, don't you know? What is a social lion? A man who _is_ everywhere. What is social ambition? A desire to _be_ in better people's drawing-rooms. What is it for which people barter health, happiness, even honor? To _be_ on certain pieces of flooring inaccessible to the mass. What is the glory of doing compared with the glory of being? Let others elect to do, I elect to _be_." "So long as you do not choose to be my husband----" "It is husband or brother," he said, threateningly. "Of course. I become your sister by rejecting you, do I not?" "Don't trifle. You understand what I mean. I will let the world know that your mother is mine." They stood looking at each other in silent defiance. At last Clorinda spoke: "A compromise! let the world know that my mother is yours." "I see. Pose as your brother!" "Yes. That will help you up a good many rungs. I shall not deny I am your sister. My mother will certainly not deny that you are her son."