Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of
judgment and nothing can help you escape it—that no substitute can do your
thinking, as no pinch-hitter can live your life—that the vilest form of
self-abasement and self-destruction is the subordination of your mind to the
mind of another, the acceptance of an authority over your brain, the acceptance
of his assertions as facts, his say-so as truth, his edicts as middle-man
between your consciousness and your existence.