National individuality is manifested primarily by psychological signs: language, religion, poetry and the arts, monuments, the opinions of the nation about itself or the opinions of others about it; finally, it manifests itself in its heroes and historical representatives. The history of a given people also reveals its character, but on the condition that after a thorough study of its various points, the so-called “historical average” is derived. In fact, during the long existence of a people, there are periods when, due to a special coincidence of circumstances, the products of his mental, moral and artistic life do not quite correspond to his national character; but if you derive the arithmetic mean from a large number of different historical periods, the result will be a true reflection of these national properties.
One language cannot yet serve as an accurate indicator of a national character, since a language can be brought in from the outside. However, even in this case, a comparison of the original language with its later forms makes it possible to determine national trends, since the nation always puts its imprint on the language. Lazarus rightly says that the language for the mind of the people is the same as the land-breadwinner for his body.

If a language is a collection of names given to what is perceived by our feelings, then mythology can be called a collection of names given to the whole unknown, which is suspected or assumed to be lurking behind the visible world; but languages ​​are much more diverse than myths, which are less different from one another, the closer we come to primitive times.
More or less elaborated ideas of the people about the origin of the Universe, about the meaning and value of life, must be influenced on its morality, on its concepts of happiness and on its character; this explains the influence not only of religions, but also of philosophy and literatures; hence their importance for the psychology of nations.
Poetry often reveals to us the soul of a people, at least its deepest aspirations. However, it does not always make it possible to guess his character, his behavior and his fate. English poetry shows us the dreams, feelings, character of the English imagination; but who would they allow to predict English history? If you focus your attention on the poetry of some half a century or a quarter of a century, you will be even less able to draw conclusions from it concerning the whole nation and its future, as the current prophets of “Latin decline” seem to want to do.

In the national character it is necessary to distinguish between sensitivity, intelligence and will. Sensitivity, as far as it is due to physiological causes, depends mainly on the hereditary structure and temperament. It plays a huge role in the life of groups and individuals. Different nations are no less different from each other in their mental attitude. There is a national logic; each nation, more or less consciously creates for itself its own reasoning about the method. One prefers observation, such as the English, the other - reasoning, such as the French; one loves deduction, the other loves induction.

Every nation even has its own favorite delusions, its own logical inaccuracies, its own national sophistry. Thus, we owe our people not only a certain number of established ideas, but also forms of thought, ready-made frameworks that serve to classify ideas; ready categories to which we refer them and which are a priori for us. The national language, which crystallizes ideas and methods of thinking, imposes these forms on each individual and does not allow him to go beyond the general framework. According to Lebon, one can classify national minds according to the various degrees of their assimilating and creative ability. The first allows you to understand, to keep in memory and to dispose of various phenomena, the totality of which is art, science, industry, in a word - civilization; "Some civilized nations, namely the Asiatic, possess this ability to a high degree, but possess only one of it." The second ability allows you to continuously expand the field of human activity; to her we owe all the discoveries upon which modern civilization rests; "This ability is found only in some of the European nations." But one should beware of premature generalizations in this case: the lack of creative ability can also be explained by other circumstances, and not only by the properties of the national mind.