Pain, Thou Art Not An Evil

I Do Not Cling To Life Sufficiently To Fear Death.

I Know What Happiness And What Despair Are, And I Never Make A Jest Of Such Feelings. Take It, Then, But In Exchange —

Does The Open Wound In Another's Breast Soften The Pain Of The Gaping Wound In Our Own? Or Does The Blood Which Is Welling From Another Man's Side Staunch That Which Is Pouring From Our Own? Does The General Anguish Of Our Fellow Creatures Lessen Our Own Private And Particular Anguish? No, No, Each Suffers On His Own Account, Each Struggles With His Own Grief, Each Sheds His Own Tears.

Perhaps What I Am About To Say Will Appear Strange To You Gentlemen, Socialists, Progressives, Humanitarians As You Are, But I Never Worry About My Neighbor, I Never Try To Protect Society Which Does Not Protect Me -- Indeed, I Might Add, Which Generally Takes No Heed Of Me Except To Do Me Harm -- And, Since I Hold Them Low In My Esteem And Remain Neutral Towards Them, I Believe That Society And My Neighbor Are In My Debt.

Philosophy Cannot Be Taught; It Is The Application Of The Sciences To Truth.