One might ask if there is not a certain characteristic in every person's character which he keeps throughout his life in spite of all reflections which change him continually. Nobody has his peculiar characteristics, although everyone thinks, "I have a certain character", and everybody is pleased to say it. To no one do these things belong. The soul came forth pure of all these things; it receives them on its way. But what belonged to a person yesterday is his own character as we know it; and what he shows today we think he partakes from someone else. Therefore the best way of knowing what belongs to us is to know that all we know belongs to us.