Each man to himself and each woman to herself, is the word of the
    past and present, and the true word of immortality;
No one can acquire for another—­not one,
Not one can grow for another—­not one.

The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him,
The teaching is to the teacher, and comes back most to him,
The murder is to the murderer, and comes back most to him,
The theft is to the thief, and comes back most to him,
The love is to the lover, and comes back most to him,
The gift is to the giver, and comes back most to him—­it cannot fail,
The oration is to the orator, the acting is to the actor and actress
    not to the audience,
And no man understands any greatness or goodness but his own, or
    the indication of his own.

     3
I swear the earth shall surely be complete to him or her who shall
    be complete,
The earth remains jagged and broken only to him or her who remains
    jagged and broken.

I swear there is no greatness or power that does not emulate those
    of the earth,
There can be no theory of any account unless it corroborate the
    theory of the earth,
No politics, song, religion, behavior, or what not, is of account,
    unless it compare with the amplitude of the earth,
Unless it face the exactness, vitality, impartiality, rectitude of
    the earth.

I swear I begin to see love with sweeter spasms than that which
    responds love,
It is that which contains itself, which never invites and never refuses.

I swear I begin to see little or nothing in audible words,
All merges toward the presentation of the unspoken meanings of the earth,
Toward him who sings the songs of the body and of the truths of the earth,
Toward him who makes the dictionaries of words that print cannot touch.

I swear I see what is better than to tell the best,
It is always to leave the best untold.

When I undertake to tell the best I find I cannot,
My tongue is ineffectual on its pivots,
My breath will not be obedient to its organs,
I become a dumb man.

The best of the earth cannot be told anyhow, all or any is best,
It is not what you anticipated, it is cheaper, easier, nearer,
Things are not dismiss’d from the places they held before,
The earth is just as positive and direct as it was before,
Facts, religions, improvements, politics, trades, are as real as before,
But the soul is also real, it too is positive and direct,
No reasoning, no proof has establish’d it,
Undeniable growth has establish’d it.

4 These to echo the tones of souls and the phrases of souls, (If they did not echo the phrases of souls what were they then?  If they had not reference to you in especial what were they then?)

I swear I will never henceforth have to do with the faith that tells
    the best,
I will have to do only with that faith that leaves the best untold.