"A man's name, title, and rank are artificial and impermanent; they do nothing to reveal what he really is, even to himself."

Next Quote

The walking delegates of a higher civilization, who have nothing to divide, look upon the notion of property as a purely artificial creation of human society. According to these advanced philosophers, the time will come when no man shall be allowed to call anything his. The beneficent law which takes away an author's rights in his own books just at the period when old age is creeping upon him seems to me a handsome stride toward the longed-for millennium.

— Thomas Bailey Aldrich