st that could be arrived at thereupon:--in fact, that
unless you are a very singular person, you cannot be said to have any
"thoughts" at all; that you have no materials for them, in any serious
matters;[5]--no right to "think," but only to try to learn more of the
facts. Nay, most probably all your life (unless, as I said, you are a
singular person) you will have no legitimate right to an "opinion" on
any business, except that instantly under your hand. What must of
necessity be done, you can always find out, beyond question, how to do.
Have you a house to keep in order, a commodity to sell, a field to
plough, a ditch to cleanse. There need be no two opinions about these
proceedings; it is at your peril if you have not much more than an
"opinion" on the way to manage such matters. And also, outside of your
own business, there are one or two subjects on which you are bound to
have but one opinion. That roguery and lying are objectionable, and
are instantly to be flogged out of the way whenever discovered;--that
covetousness and love of quarreling are dangerous dispositions even in
children, and deadly dispositions in men and nations;--that in the end,
the God of heaven and earth loves active, modest, and kind people, and
hates idle, proud, greedy, and cruel ones;--on these general facts you
are bound to have but one and that a very strong, opinion. For the
rest, respecting religions, governments, sciences, arts, you will find
that, on the whole, you can know NOTHING,--judge nothing; that the best
you can do, even though you may be a well-educated person, is to be
silent, and strive to be wiser every day, and to understand a little
more of the thoughts of others, which so soon as you try to do
honestly, you will discover that the thoughts even of the wisest are
very little more than pertinent questions. To put the difficulty into
a clear shape, and exhibit to you the grounds for _in_decision, that is
all they can generally do for you!--and well for them and for us, if
indeed they are able "to mix the music with our thoughts, and sadden us
with heavenly doubts." This writer, from whom I have been reading to
you, is not among the first or wisest: he sees shrewdly as far as he
sees, and therefore it is easy to find out his full meaning; but with
the greater men, you cannot fathom their meaning; they do not even
wholly measure it themselves,--it is so wide. Suppose I had asked you,
for instance, to seek for Shakespear