Then, as this grew on me, there grew on me continuously the sense of a mountainous frivolity.

Every word said in the court, a whisper or an oath, seemed more connected with life than the words I had to say.

Then came the time when I publicly blasphemed the whole bosh, was classed as a madman and melted from public life." Something in the atmosphere told me that it was not only Rupert and I who were listening with intensity to this statement.
"Well, I discovered that I could be of no real use.

I offered myself privately as a purely moral judge to settle purely moral differences.
Before very long these unofficial courts of honour (kept strictly secret) had spread over the whole of society.

People were tried before me not for the practical trifles for which nobody cares, such as committing a murder, or keeping a dog without a licence.