There is always some one thing which the ignorant man knows, and that thing is the only thing worth knowing; it fills the ignorant man's universe.

Willems knew all about himself.
On the day when, with many misgivings, he ran away from a Dutch East-Indiaman in Samarang roads, he had commenced that study of himself, of his own ways, of his own abilities, of those fate-compelling qualities of his which led him toward that lucrative position which he now filled.

Being of a modest and diffident nature, his successes amazed, almost frightened him, and ended--as he got over the succeeding shocks of surprise--by making him ferociously conceited.

He believed in his genius and in his knowledge of the world.

Others should know of it also; for their own good and for his greater glory.