If You Think You Can Temper Yourself

English Character And English Freedom Depend Comparatively Little On The Form Which The Constitution Assumes At Westminster. A Centralised Democracy May Be As Tyrannical As An Absolute Monarch; And If The Vigour Of The Nation Is To Continue Unimpaired, Each Individual, Each Family, Each District, Must Preserve As Far As Possible Its Independence, Its Self-completeness, Its Powers And Its Privilege To Manage Its Own Affairs And Think Its Own Thoughts.

I Cannot Think The Disputes And Jealousies Of Heaven Are Tried And Settled By The Swords Of Earth.

Experience Is No More Transferable In Morals Than In Art.

Where Nature Is Sovereign, There Is No Need Of Austerity And Self-denial.

I Have Nothing But Myself To Write About, No Facts, No Theories, No Opinions, No Adventures, No Sentiments, Nothing But My Own Poor Barren Individualism, Of Considerable Interest To Me, But I Do Not Know Why I Should Presume It Will Be So To You. Egotism Is Not Tiresome, Or It Ought Not To Be, If One Is Sincere About Oneself; But It Is So Hard To Be Sincere. Well, Never Mind, I Mean To Be, And You Know Me Well Enough To See Through Me When I Am Humbugging.