The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.
The intellectual attainments of a man who thinks for himself resemble a fine painting, where the light and shade are correct, the tone sustained, the colour perfectly hamonized; it is true to life.
When was the last time you had a thought that wasn't put there by THEM?
All other things have a portion of everything, but Mind is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed with nothing but is all alone by itself.
The class of those who have the ability to think their own thoughts is separated by an unbridgeable gulf from the class of those who cannot.
What a person thinks on his own without being stimulated by the thoughts and experiences of the other people is even in the best case rather paltry and monotonous.
The phrase "think for one's self" is a pleonasm. Unless one does it for one's self, it isn't thinking.
