in your own English, please: no French morals in mine."

"What is there to be done that is worth doing? It seems to me that
everything is overdone. I go into a town, big or little: ten stores
where one is needed. How do all these poor creatures live? Do you see
anything noble in this petty struggle for existence? I can't. I serve my
kind best by getting out of their way: that makes one less in the
scramble."

"I shouldn't expect you to sell tape or taffy, Jim. You could deal in a
higher line of goods, and do it in your own way."

"They don't want my goods, Bob, and I can't do it in my own way. I have
tried--not much, but enough to see. There is no market for my wares: and
I'm not sure they are worth marketing--or that any man's are. Truth as I
see it is the last article to be in demand."

"As you think you see it just now, very likely. Your eye is jaundiced,
and sees all things yellow. Get well, and you can find a market. Fit
your mind to the facts, and receive a true impression."

"Exactly what I have done--so far as any impression is true. That's the
point I've been waiting for you to come to. 'The Universe is change, and
Life is opinion.' As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he; and as he
thinks of things outside himself, so are they to him. One can do no more
than use his eyes and brains, and then rule himself by what he sees. I
have looked at matters more carefully and dispassionately than some do,
and seen a little deeper into them: the prospect is not edifying, Bob. I
am prejudiced, you say? No, I have cast aside prejudice. Most of you are
misled by the love of life: you want to give a favorable account of your
own belongings, and the wish is father to the thought: so you blink what
is before you, and won't own the truth. Perhaps you are wise in your
way: you gain such bliss as is in ignorance. Keep it if you can: I have
no desire to disturb it."

"Jim, mayn't there be a little conceit of superior wisdom here?"

"Very possibly: as the lamented Bedott observed, we are all poor
creatures. 'I do not speak as one that is exempt:' doubtless I have my
full share of infirmity."

"Then why not take the benefit of it, with the rest of us? There's a
better as well as a worse side. Take things as they are, and make the
best of them."

"I do. The best is the least, and I get away from things as much as
possible. To minimize life is to make the best of it."

"Now you're at it again; begging the question, and dodg