Surely it is worth something to feel that there are no priests, no
popes, no parties, no governments, no kings, no gods, to whom your
intellect can be compelled to pay reluctant homage. Surely it is a joy
to know that all the cruel ingenuity of bigotry can devise no prison,
no dungeon, no cell in which for one instant to confine a thought; that
ideas cannot be dislocated by racks, nor crushed in iron boots, nor
burned with fire. Surely it is sublime to think that the brain is a
castle, and that within its curious bastions and winding halls the
soul, in spite of all words and all beings, is the supreme sovereign of
itself.