When were you not? What are these primitive labels and titles to a man who has risen beyond the level at which they operate? The modern mind, incapable of conceiving anything higher than its own prejudices, reduces every manifestation of strength to pathology and every assertion of masculine will to hatred It calls misogyny what it cannot comprehend; the refusal of a man to kneel before the feminine, to subordinate his nature to its sensibilities, or to seek absolution from a world that has mistaken submission for virtue A man who has conquered himself does not require the approval of women, nor does he permit their judgment to become the measure of his existence There is a significantly profound difference between the man consumed by resentment and the man who, having established an inner hierarchy, simply refuses to be governed by that which stands beneath his principles Let the profane scramble amongst themselves, hurling their primitive accusations at what they lack the spiritual elevation to understand The higher man does not bend himself to the morality of the age, of women, or of children; nor does he waste his strength defending himself before those incapable of comprehending his principles He stands apart, sovereign unto himself, his will directed toward something higher than pleasure, approval, or the passing judgments of the multitude Yet sovereignty is not isolation, nor is strength fulfilled in the solitary man alone. Instead it finds its higher expression in the bond between men who recognize in one another a common principle, a shared discipline, and a purpose greater than their individual desires For masculine unity is not the submission of men to one another, but their mutual elevation through a common ideal; each man strengthening the resolve of the others, each holding the line where another might falter, all bound by a principle that no passing sentiment can dissolve For the man who has attained mastery over himself does not ask the world for permission to be what he is, nor does he stand alone when he can stand alongside men who embody the same higher calling and discipline