edict I must
respect.

Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are false,
but only three are holy: "I will it!"

Whatever road I take, the guiding star is within me; the guiding star
and the loadstone which point the way. They point in but one direction.
They point to me.

I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe
or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I
care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my
happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not
the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own
purpose.

Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am
not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a
bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars.

I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to
guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before!

I do not surrender my treasures, nor do I share them. The fortune of my
spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to the winds as
alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my treasures: my thought, my
will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.

I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask
none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man's
soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them
shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must do more than
to have been born. I do not grant my love without reason, nor to any
chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love. But
honor is a thing to be earned.

I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. And I
shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love and respect,
but neither command nor obey. And we shall join our hands when we wish,
or walk alone when we so desire. For in the temple of his spirit, each
man is alone. Let each man keep his temple untouched and undefiled. Then
let him join hands with others if he wishes, but only beyond his holy
threshold.

For the word "We" must never be spoken, save by one's choice and as a
second thought. This word must never be placed first within man's soul,
else it becomes a monster, the root of all the evils on earth, the root
of man's torture by men, and an unspeakable lie.

The