ABSTRACT
I have taken in a principle from half a sentence read or heard accidentally, and, though many years have been wanted to perfect the conquering of old habits, and conform life to the idea, the idea itself has been stamped once for ever, and the will set, from that moment to realize it, and no multitude of words or strictness of rule could do more than the memory of the old sentence, or sight. The absence of this sensitiveness is to me a puzzle. I fear we injure it by words, and yet leave words unsaid which might impress the truth. Anyhow it is often clear that the idea has not been grasped nor the will set.
