Some people cannot be blamed for affectation, for they have nothing of their own to show. * * * * * Some men, by pretending to be other than what they believe they are, show themselves in their true character. * * * * * Common minds like commonplaces. When the audience applauds, you have probably said nothing worth hearing. * * * * * It requires more courage to differ from public opinion in matters of thought than in action. * * * * * A man is apt to attribute his failure to having accepted advice; his friends, to his having rejected it. * * * * * Those listen most respectfully to advice who have resolved not to take it. * * * * * We are apt to discover the best reasons for our actions after committing them. * * * * * Most men do not base their opinions on reasoning; but their reasoning on their opinions. * * * * * Never revolt against the laws you make for yourself. * * * * * Our worst disappointments are when we disappoint ourselves. This is the feeling of Chagrin, the painful, inward acknowledgment that we “have made fools of ourselves.” Few reflections are more bitter, or less easily escaped. * * * * * Our wisest warnings are often most applicable to ourselves. Steele, deviled by duns, wrote of the disgrace of contracting debts which one cannot pay; and Bacon scribbled wise saws about domestic economy at one end of the room, while his steward was robbing him at the other. * * * * * Individuality is anarchic and subversive; it accepts no institution because it is old and reverend; it brings a jewel which fits into no ready-made setting; it cries with Walt Whitman:―― My call is the call of battle; I nourish active rebellion, He going with me must go well-armed. * * * * * Individuality is the antithesis of egotism. He who is most himself best appreciates and most respects the self of others. * * * * * Self-distrust is nowhere more appropriate than in discussing difficult questions, and nowhere less displayed. * * * * * That we have not the ability to do, rather than that we have not the opportunity to enjoy, is the source of most of our unhappiness. * * * * * The misanthropy of the young is dissatisfaction with self; that of the old is detestation of others. Youth hopes to find life a romance, himself as its hero; age would like it a history which posterity would prize. When disappointed, youth is despairing; age is resentful. PART IV. How far our Happiness depends on Others. I. _What Others Give Us: Safety, Liberty, Education._