standalone_clarity To mount the scaffold and face the muzzles of guns with perfect nonchalance—what holds a person steady when the world aims to break them?

O to struggle against great odds, to meet enemies undaunted! To be entirely alone with them, to find how much one can stand! To look strife, torture, prison, popular odium, face to face! To mount the scaffold, to advance to the muzzles of guns with perfect nonchalance! To be indeed a God!