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Anything you're good at contributes to happiness. The more we realize our minuteness and our impotence in the face of cosmic forces, the more astonishing becomes what human beings have achieved. The central problem of our age is how to act decisively in the absence of certainty. It is only in marriage with the world that our ideals can bear fruit; divorced from it, they remain barren. The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Mathematics possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty - a beauty cold and austere, like that of a sculpture. Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it. 'Change' is scientific, 'progress' is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy. Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day. The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly, I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses. The average man's opinions are much less foolish than they would be if he thought for himself. Cynicism such as one finds very frequently among the most highly educated young men and women of the West, results from the combination of comfort and powerlessness. Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do. Drunkenness is temporary suicide: the happiness that it brings is merely negative, a momentary cessation of unhappiness. The true spirit of delight, the exultation, the sense of being more than Man which is the touchstone of the highest excellence, is to be found in mathematics as surely as in poetry. To be able to use leisure intelligently will be the last product of an intelligent civilization. If we were all given by magic the power to read each other's thoughts, I suppose the first effect would be to dissolve all friendships. One must care about a world one will not see. No one gossips about other people's secret virtues. Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation, or creed. A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not be endured with patient resignation. There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. In all affairs, love, religion, politics or business, it's a healthy idea, now and then, to hang a question mark on things you have long taken for granted. Real life is to most men, a long second best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible. The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good. There was never any reason to believe in any innate superiority of the male, except his superior muscle. We have two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice, and the other which we practice but seldom preach. One should respect public opinion in so far as it is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny. It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly. The fundamental defect of fathers is that they want their children to be a credit to them. Science is what you know, philosophy is what you don't know. To teach how to live with uncertainty, and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy in our age can still do for those who study it. Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. I do not believe that any peacock envies another peacock his tail, because every peacock is persuaded that his own tail is the finest in the world. The consequence of this is that peacocks are peaceable birds. What men want is not knowledge, but certainty. Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact. All movements go too far. Simpson succeeded in proving that there was no harm in giving anaesthetics to men, because God put Adam into a deep sleep when He extracted his rib. But male ecclesiastics remained unconvinced as regards the sufferings of women, at any rate in childbirth. No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor but honest. Work is of two kinds: first, altering a position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill-paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. Whenever one finds oneself inclined to bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure. If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances, it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give. Continuity of purpose is one of the most essential ingredients of happiness in the long run, and for most men this comes chiefly through their work. Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live. Real life is, to most men ... a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible. Beggars do not envy millionaires, though of course they will envy other beggars who are more successful. A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not endured with patient resignation. Self-respect will keep a man from being abject when he is in the power of enemies, and will enable him to feel that he may be in the right when the world is against him. The habit of looking into the future and thinking that the whole meaning of the present lies in what it will bring forth is a pernicious one. There can be no value in the whole unless there is value in the parts. Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half of the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it. What hunger is in relation to food, zest is in relation to life. Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. Extreme hopes are born of extreme misery. Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile. Real life is, to most men ... a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible. Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear. All forms of fear produce fatigue. Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. Those who fear life are already three parts dead. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. A great many worries can be diminished by realizing the unimportance of the matter which is causing anxiety. To teach how to live with uncertainty, yet without being paralyzed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy can do. Unless a man has been taught what to do with success after getting it, the achievement of it must inevitably leave him a prey to boredom. To be able to concentrate for a considerable time is essential to difficult achievement. Continuity of purpose is one of the most essential ingredients of happiness in the long run, and for most men this comes chiefly through their work. Many people when they fall in love look for a little haven of refuge from the world, where they can be sure of being admired when they are not admirable, and praised when they are not praiseworthy. To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead. The secret of happiness is this: Let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile. To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is very important. Drunkenness is temporary suicide: the happiness that it brings is merely negative, a momentary cessation of unhappiness. |