"] "By such acts of voluntary delusion does every man endeavour to conceal his own unimportance from himself.

He was only just beginning to realize the comparative unimportance of a retired shipmaster, and the knowledge was a source of considerable annoyance to him.

So far as concerns the provinces of Mindoro and Palawan, and the great island of Mindanao, he dodges the issue, alleging the unimportance of Mindoro and Palawan, and claiming that "Mohammedan Mindanao" presents a problem by itself.

Yes, andif, but I lacked that plaguey virtueI would advise you to go a-gypsying with that nameless somebody, so that two manikins might snatch their little share of the big things that are eternal, just as the butterfly fares intrepidly and joyously, with the sun for his torch-boy, through a universe wherein thought cannot estimate the unimportance of a butterfly, and wherein not even the chaste moon is very important.

Most of us, I think, are a little saddened when we realise our unimportance; most of us, no doubt, would be a little shocked could we return a day or two after our death and see how merrily the world wags on!

Of course, if one wishes to emphasize the unimportance of Palawan, it is more convenient to take the figures for the island.

For the Brontë genius was above all things deputed to assert the supreme unimportance of externals.