For each one of us stands alone in the midst of a universe.

There is no word more generally misinterpreted than the word egoism, in its modern sense.

Large sums were paid for the use of money, because the available amount of gold and silver was far less than was needed to carry on the commercial transactions of the times.

It is often said by reformers that government should be conducted upon business principles.

When not only gold but all commodities are available for the redemption of the paper currency, its volume is limited only by the value of all the wealth of the country, and it can never become insecure up to this limit.

But egoism is more than this. It is the realization by the individual that he is above all institutions and all formulas; that they exist only so far as he chooses to make them his own by accepting them.

At present, financial crises occur, chiefly because the paper currency is redeemable in gold only.