T HE W I S DO M O F LIFE

B E I NG T HE F I R ST PA R T OF

A R T HUR S C H OP E NHA UE
R S

p o ri s m en gii r l eb cns wei s b ci t

V i ta l /z [n a p e/ (da r e v er o .
J V
U E N A L .

TR A NSL A TE D l V/ T H A P R E F A CE

BY

T B A N J HT S A U N D E R & M A .

I
TH R D E D T ON I I .

ES VV I A IN S ID N hI I E I J ES CZ I i E I I I (3 C)
P A T E R N O S T E R S Q UA R E

1 89 1
 /9 3

/ 8 9 / co

T R A NSL A T OR S P R E F A C E

.

S C H OP E N H A U ER is o n e o f the few philosophers who

can be generally understood without a commentary .

A l l his theories claim to be drawn direct from the facts ,

to be suggested by observation and to interp ret the ,

wo rld as it is and whatever view he takes he is con ,

\4
stant in his appeal to the experience o f common li fe .

E This characteristic endo ws his style with a freshness

and vigour whic h would be di fcult to match in the
philosophical writing o f any country and impossible ,

in that o f Germany If it wer e asked whether there

33 .

were any circ u mstances apart from heredity to which

, ,

he ow e d h i s mental habit the ans wer mi ght be found

,

in the abnormal c haracter of his early education his ,

ac quainta nce with the world rather than with books ,

i

the extensive travel s o f hi s boyhood his a r dent pur

,

suit o f knowledge for its o wn sake and without regard

to the emoluments and en d owments o f learn ing H e .

wa s trained in r ealities even more than i n ideas and

hence he is ori g inal forcible clear an enemy o f all
, , ,

n
hil o s 0 h i c i n d en i ten es s and obscurity ; so that it
q p p
may wel l be said o f him in the words o f a wri ter in
,

the R ev u e C ontem poraine cc n es t p a s a n p hi l o s o p he

,
ii TR A N S L ATO R S P R E F A C E
.

co m m e l es a u tr es , c es t a n p hi l o s o p he ga i a o n le
m on de
.

It i s not my purpose n o r would it be possible with ,

in the limits o f a prefatory note to a ttempt an account ,

o f S chopenhauer s philosophy to indicate its sources , ,

or to suggest o r rebut the obj ections whic h may be

taken to it M R ibot in his excellent little book
. .
, ,

has d o ne all that is neces s ary in this direction But .

the essays here presented need a word o f explan ation .

It S hould be observed and S chopenhauer himself is at

,

pains to point o u t that his sys tem is like a cita d el

,

with a hu n dred gates : at wh atever point yo u take it

up wherever yo u make your entrance you are o n the
, ,

road to the centre In this respect his writing s

.

resemble a series o f essays composed in support o f a

single thesis a circumst a nce which led him to insist ,

more emphatically even than most philosop hers that ,

fo r a pr e per u nderstandin g o f hi s system it was

necessary to read every line he had written P erhaps .

it would be more correct to de s cr ibe D i e Wel t a ls Wi t/e

a nd V o r s tell un g as hi s m ain thesis and his oth er ,

treatises a s merely corollary to it The essays in the s e .

volume s for m part o f th e corollary ; they are taken

from a collectio n p u blished to wards the close o f

S chopen hauer s life and by him entitled P a r erga a n d
,

P a r a l i p o m en a as be i ng in the nature o f surplusag e

,

and illustrative o f hi s m ain position They are by fa r .

L a P h il o s 0 phi d S ch p en h u e r pa r T h R ib o t
. e e o a , . .
 T R A N S L ATO R S
P R EF A CE . iii

the m os t popular o f his works and since their r st , ,

publication in 1 851 they have done much to build up his

fa m e Written s o as to be intelligi ble enough in them
.

selves the tendency o f many of the m is towards th e

,

fundamental idea o n which his system is based It may .

therefore be convenient to sum m arise that idea in a

couple o f sentences ; more e s pecially as S chopenhauer
sometimes writes as if his advice ha d been follo wed
and his readers were acquainted with the whole o f hi s
work .

A l l philosophy is in some sense the endeavour to

nd a unifyin g principle to discover the most general

,

conception underlying the whole eld o f nature and

o f k no wledge B y one o f those bold generalisations
.

which occasional l y mark a real advance in science ,

S chopenhauer conceived this u ni fyin g prin ci ple t his ,

underlying unity to consist in so m ethin g analogous

,

to that wi l l w hich sel f consciousness reveals to us

-
.

Wi ll is according to him the fundamental reality o f

, ,

the world the thi n g i n itself and its obj ect i vation i s
,
- -

w hat is presented in pheno m ena T he st ruggle o f the .

will to realise itself evolves the org anism which in its ,

turn evolves intelli g ence a s th e servant o f the will .

A n d in practical li fe the antago n ism bet we en the will

and the in tel lect arises fro m the fact t hat the former
is th e m etaphysical subs tance the latter something ,

accidental a d secondary A n d further will is des i r e

n
.
, ,

that is to s a y need o f somethin g ; hence need and

,
iv T R A N S LA T O R
S P R E FAC E .

pain are what is positive in the worl d and the on l y ,

possible happiness is a negation a renunciation o f the ,

wi ll to l i ve .

It is instructive to note as M R ibot points o u t

, .
,

that in nding the origi n of all things not in i n telli ,

g ence as so m e of his pre d ecessors in philosophy had

,

done but in will or the force of nature from which

, , ,

all phenomena have developed S chopenhauer wa s ,

anticipating so m ething o f the scientic spirit o f the

n ineteenth century To this it may be added that in
.

combating the method o f F i chte and H egel who ,

spun a system o ut o f abstract ideas and in discarding ,

it for o n e based o n observation and experience ,

S chopenhauer can be said to have brought down

philosophy fr o m heaven to earth .

In S c hopenhauer s vie w t he various f o rms of

R elig ion are no less a product o f hu m an i n g en u ity

than A r t or S cience H e holds in e ffect that all
.
, ,

reli g ions take their rise in the d esire to explain the

world ; and tha t in regard to truth and error they
, ,

di ffer in the main not by preac hin g m onot h eis m

, , ,

pol ytheism o r pantheism but in s o far as t hey

,

reco gnise pessi m is m or optim ism as the true d es cr i p

tion o f life H ence a n y reli g ion which looked upon the
.

worl d as being radicall y evil appealed to him a s con

taini n g an indestructible ele m ent o f truth I have .

endeavoured to present hi s vie w of two o f th e great

reli g io ns o f the wo uld i n the extract which co m es

TR AN S L A TOR S P R E F AC E .

in the thi rd vol u m e and to wh ic h I have gi v en the

,

ti tle o f T he C hr i s ti a n S ys tem The tenor o f it is.

to sho w that however little he may have been in

,

sympat hy wit h t he supern a tural element he o wed ,

much to the m ora l doctrines o f C hris tianity and

o f Buddhis m between which b e traced great rese m
,

blance .

Of S chopen hauer a s o f many ano ther writer i t m a y

, ,

be Said that he ha s been misunderstood and depreciated

just in the deg ree in which he is thought to be n e w
and that in treatin g of the C onduct of L ife he is in
, , ,

real ity valuable only in s o far as he bri n g s o l d truths

,

to re m embra nce H i s name used to arouse and in

.
,

certain quarters still arouses a vag ue sense o f alarm ,

as though he had come to subvert all the rul es of

righ t thinkin g and all the princi ple s o f good conduc t ,

rather than to proclaim once again and give a n ew

m e anin g to truths with which the world has lon g
been familiar Of his philosophy in its more tech
.

n i ca l aspect s as matter upon which enough perhaps

, , ,

has been written no account need be taken here

, ,

except as i t affects the form i n which he e m bodies

these truths o r supplies the fresh l ig ht in which he
sees them F o r whatever claims to ori g inality his
.

metap hysical th eory may possess th e chief interest to ,

be found in hi s vie ws o f life is an affair o f form

rather than o f substance ; and he stan d s in a sphere
of his o wn not because he sets new proble m s or opens
,
vi

T R A N SL A T C R S PR E F A CE .

up u n discovered tr uths but in the m anner in which

,

he approaches what ha s been already revealed .

H e is not on that acco unt less important ; for the

g reat mass o f men at all ti m es requires to have o l d
truths imparted as if they were n ew formulate d a s ,

it were directly for th em as indivi duals and of

, ,

special ap plication to their own circumstances in life

A disc u ssion o f human happ i ness and the wa y to
obtain it i s never either unnecessary or uncalled for ,

if one looks to the extent to which the lives o f most

men fal l short o f even a poor ideal o r a g ain to the
, , ,

di fficulty o f reaching any denite and secure conclu

s ion. F o r to such a momentous in quiry as this the ,

vast maj ority o f mankind gives nothing more than a

no m inal consideration acceptin g the current belie f
, ,

whatever it may be on authority and takin g as little

, ,

thou ght o f the g rounds o n which it rests as a man

walking takes o f the m otion of the earth But fo r .

t hose who are not indifferentfor t hose whose desire

to fatho m the mystery o f existence gives them the
ri gh t to be called thinking beings i t is j ust here in ,

re gard to the conclusion to be reached that a di th ,

culty arises a di fculty a ffectin g the conduct of life

,

fo r while the g reat facts o f existence are alike fo r all ,

they are variously a ppreciated and c onclusions di ffer

, ,

chiey from innate diversity o f temperament in those

who dra w the m . It is innate temperament actin g on ,

a View o f the facts necessarily incomplete that ha s ,


T R A N SL AT C R S P R E F AC E . V il

i ns pired so any di fferent teachers The ten dencies

m .

of a m an s
o wn mind the Idols o f the C av e be fore
which he bows interpre t the facts in accordance
wit h his o wn nature : he elaborates a s y stem containing ,

perhaps a grain o f truth to which the whole o f life is

, ,

then m ade to conform the facts purporting to be the

foundation o f the theory and the theory in its turn ,

givin g i ts o wn colour to the facts .

N or is this error the manipulation o f facts to suit a

,

theory avoided in the views o f life w hich are pre

,

sented by S chopenhauer It is true that he aimed .

especially at freein g hi m self from the trammels of

previous syste m s ; but h e wa s caught in those o f his
o wn . H i s na tural desire wa s to resist the common

appeal to anything extramundane anything outside
o r beyond li fe as the basis o f eit her hope o r fear .

H e tried to look at l ife as it is b ut the m etap hysi c al

theory on which hi s whole philosophy rests made it
nec essary for him a s he thou ght to regard it as an
, ,

u n mixed evil H e calls o u r present existence an i n

.

n i tes i m a l mo m ent between t wo eternities the past ,

and the future a moment like the life o f P lato s

,

D wel lers in the C ave ll e d with the pursuit o f

,

shado ws ; where everythin g is relative phenomenal , ,

illusory a n d man is bound in the servitude o f i gn o r

,

ance stru ggle a n d need in th e endless round o f e ffort

, ,

and failure I f you conne yoursel f says S chopen

.
,

hauer onl y to s o me of its s m all details li fe may

. ,

vi i i T R A NS L A T C R S P R EFAC E .

indeed appear to be a comedy because o f the o n e o f ,

t wo bri ght spots of happy circumstance to be foun d

in it here and there ; but wh en you reach a hi g her
point of vi ew and a broader outlook t hese s o o n ,

become invisible and L ife seen from th e di s tance

, ,

whi ch brings o u t the true proportion o f all i ts parts ,

is revealed as a tragedy a lon g record o f stru ggle

and pain with the death o f the hero as the n al
,

certainty H o w then h e a s ks can a m a n m ake the

.
, ,

best of his brie f hour under the ha rd condi tions of

his d es tiny What is th e true Wisdom o f L ife
S chopenhauer has no p i e conceived divine p l an to
-

vindicate ; no religious or moral enthusiasm to g ive a

r o se a te hue t o som e far o ff event obli g ing us in t h e
-
,

end to t hink t hat all things w o rk to g ether fo r good .

L et p o ets and th e o lo g i ans g ive pl a y to i m a g ination !

he at any ra te will profe s s n o kno wledge o f a n y
, ,

thing beyo n d our ken If o u r existe n ce d oes n o t

.

entirely fail o f its aim it must he says be s a fer i n g

, , ,

fo r this is what meets u s every where in the w orl d ,

and it is absurd to loo k upon it a s t he result of

chance S till in the face o f a l l th i s su ffe rin g and in
.
, ,

spite o f the fa c t that theuncertainty of li fe de s troy s

its v alue a s an end in its el f every m an s natural ,

desire is to preserve h is existence ; so that li fe is a

bl ind unreason i n g force hurryin g us we kno w not
, ,

whither F rom his hig h metaphysical stan dpoint

.
,

S chope n ha u er is rea dy to a d m it that ther e are many


T R A NSL A T o R s P R E FAC E . ix

things i n life which g ive a s hort satis faction and

'

blind us fo r the m oment to the realities o f existence ,

pleasures as they may be cal led in so far as they are

.

a mode o f r eli ef ; but that pleasure is n o t positive in

i ts nature nor anythin g more than the negation o f
su ffering is proved by the fact that if p l easures
, ,

come in abund a nce pain soon returns in the form o f

,

satiety ; so that the sense o f illusion is all that has

been gained H en ce th e most a man can achieve in
.

th e way of w elfare is a measure o f relie f from this

su ffering ; a n d if people were prudent it is at thi s ,

th ey would aim instead o f tryin g to secure a happi

,

ness which alway s ies from them .

It is a trite saving that h a ppiness is a delusion a ,

chim a era the fa ta m o rga na o f the heart ; but here is a

,

writer who will bring our whole conduct into line

wi th that as a matter o f practic e ; making pain the
,

positive ground work o f life and a desire to escape it ,

the spur of all e ffort While most o f those who treat

.

o f the cond uct of life come at last to the conclusion ,

more o r less vag uely expressed that religion and ,

morality form a positive source o f true happiness ,

S chopenhauer d o es not professedly tak e this vie w ;

thou g h it is quite true that the practical outcome o f
his remarks tends as will be seen in support of it ;
, ,

with this d ifference ho wever he does not direct the

,

imagin a tion to an yth ing outside this present life as

making it worth while to live at all his obj ect is to
b

T R A N S L ATO R S P R EFACE .

sta te the fac ts o f existence as they im m ediately

appear and to draw conclusions as to wha t a wise
,

man wil l d o in the face o f the m .

In the practical outcome o f S chopen h auer s et hics
the end a n d a i m o f those maxims o f conduct which
he reco m m ends there is nothing that is not sub
,

s ta n ti a lly a kin to theories o f life which in d i fferent ,

forms the greate r part o f mankind is presumed to

,

hold in reverence I t is the premises rather than th e

.

conclusio n o f his arg u m ent which intere s t u s as some

thin g new The whole world he says with all its
.
, ,

phenomena of change g ro wth and develo pment is

, ,

u ltimately the manifes tation o f Will Wi l l e a nd

V o r tellu n g a blind force conscious o f itsel f only
s

when i t reaches the stage o f intel lect A n d life is a .

cons tant self assertion of this will ; a long desi re

-

which is never fullled ; disillusion inevitably follow

ing upon attainment because the will the thing in
, ,
-

itself i n philosophical langu a ge the n o um e n o n ,

al way s remains a s the permanent element ; and wi t h

this persistent exercise o f i ts claim it can never be ,

satised S o life is essential ly su fferi n g ; and the only

.

reme dy fo r it is the freed o m of the intellect from the

servit ude imposed by its master the will , .

The h appiness a man can attain is thus in S chopen , ,

hauer s vie w neg ative only ; but ho w is it to be

ac qu ired ? S ome temporary relie f he says may be , ,

obtained through the medium o f A rt ; fo r in the


T R A N SL A T C R S P R EFACE . xi

apprehension of A rt we are raised out o f o u r bondage ,

contemplatin g obj ects of thought as they are in them

selves apart from their relations to o u r o wn ephemeral
,

exi s tence and free from any taint o f the will This
,
.

contemplation o f pure thou ght is destroyed when A rt

is degraded frem i ts lofty sphere and made an i n s tr u ,

ment in the bondag e o f the will H o w few of t h ose who

.

feel that the pleasure of A rt transcends all others could

gi v e such a strikin g exp l anation o f their feeli ng
But the hig hest ethical du ty and consequently th e ,

s u preme endeavour after happiness is to withdraw ,

from the struggle o f life and so obtain release from

,

th e misery which t hat stru ggle imposes upo n all even ,

upon those who are for the moment successful F o r .

as will is t he inmost kernel o f everything so it is ,

identical under all its manife st a ti o ns ; and through

th e mirror o f the world a man m a y arrive at the

kno wledg e o f himsel f The recognition o f the

.

identity o f our o wn nature with that o f oth ers is the

beg innin g and foundation of all true morality F o r .

once a man clearly perceives thi s solidarity o f the

will there is aroused in hi m a feelin g o f s ym p a thy
,

wh i ch is the mai n sprin g o f et hical cond u ct

-
Th is .

feeling o f sy m pathy must in any true moral syste m

, ,

prevent our obtaini n g success at the price o f others
los s Justice in this theory comes to be a noble
.
, , ,

enli g htened sel f interest it will forbid o ur doing

-

wrong to o ur fello w man because i n i nj uri ng him we

-
, , ,

T R A NSL A T C R S P R EFAC E

are inj uri ng ourselves o u r o wn nature which is ,

identical with his On the other hand the reco gn i

.
,

tion of this identity of the wil l must lead to com

miserationa feeling of sympathy with o u r fello w
su fferers to acts o f kindness and benevolence to the ,

manifestation o f what K an t in the Meta p hys w of ,

E thi cs calls the only ab s olute good the go o d wi ll

,
In , .

S chopenhauer s phraseology the human will in other

'

, ,

words p wg the love o f li fe is in itsel f t he ro o t o f all

, , ,

evil and g oodness lies in renouncing it

,
T heo reti .

cally hi s ethical doctrine is the extreme o f so cialism

, ,

in a large sense a reco g nition o f the inner identity

and equal clai m s o f a l l men with ourselves ; a
,

reco gnition is s uing in dy m ) universal benevolenceo

i

, ,

and a stiing o f particu l ar desires .

It may co m e as a surprise to those who a ffect to

h old S chopenhauer in abhorrence without perhap s , , ,

really knowing the n ature o f h is vie ws that in th i s , ,

theory o f the essential evil o f the hu m an will pws

,

f
the common selsh idea o l fe he is reectin g and
i

indeed probably borro wing what he describes as th e

fundamental tenet o f C hristian theology that the ,

who le cr ea ti o n gr o a n eth a n d tr a v a i l eth i n p a i n stand

1
,

in g in need o f rede m ption Though S chopenhauer .

wa s no friend to C hristian theology in its ordi n ary

tendencies he wa s very much in sympathy with some
,

o f the doctrines which have been connected wi th i t .

1 R o m a n s v ii i .
, 22 .
 6 6

T R A NS L A TO R S P R EFACE . x 11 1

In his O pinion the foremost tr uth which C hristianity

proclaimed to the world l a y in its recognition of
pessi m ism its vie w that the world wa s essentially
,

1
corrupt and that the devil was its prince o r ruler
,
.

It would be o u t of place here to inquire into the exact

meani n g o f this statement o r to deter m ine the pre
,

cise form of compensation provided fo r the ills o f life

under any scheme o f doctrine which passes fo r C hris
tian : and even if it were i n place the task would be ,

an extremely d i ffi cult one fo r probably no system o f

belief has ever undergone at various periods more
, ,

radical changes than C hristianity B ut whatever .

prospec t o f happiness it may have h eld o u t at an ,

early date of its history it soon came to teach that

,

t he necessary preparation for happiness as a posit i ve ,

spiritual state is r en u n ci a ti o n resi g nation a lookin g

, , ,

a way from external l ife to the inner life o f the soul

a ki n gd o m n o t of thi s wo r l d S o fa r at least as con
.
, ,

cerns its vie w o f the world itself and the m ai n lesson ,

and d uty whi c h life teaches there is nothin g in the ,

theory of pessimis m which does n o t a ccord wit h t hat

religion which is looked up to as the guide o f life over
a great part o f the civili s ed world .

What S chopenhauer does is to attemp t a meta

physical explanation o f the evil o f li fe with out any ,

reference to anythin g outside it P hilosophy he .

,

urges should be co s m o lo gy not theo l o gy ; an explana

, ,

1
Jo hn x ii .
, 31 .

i
x v TR A NSL A T C R S P R EFA CE .

tion of the world not a scheme of d ivine kno wled g e

,

it s hould leave the gods aloneto u s e an ancient

phrase and claim to be left alone in return S cho .

en h a u er wa s not concerned as the apostles and

p ,

fathers o f the C hurc h were concerned to formulate a ,

scheme by which the ills o f this li fe should be

remedied i n another a n appeal to the poor and
o ppressed conveyed often in a m aterial form as fo r
, , ,

instance in the story o f Dives and L az arus In his

,
.

theory o f life as the sel f assertion o f will he en dea v-

,

o urs to account fo r the s i n misery and iniquity of the ,

world and to point to the way o f escape the denial

,

o f the will to live .

Thou g h S chopenhauer s views o f life have this
much in common with certain aspects o f C hristian
doctrine they are in decided antag onism with another
,

theory which though comparatively speaking the

, , ,

birth o f yesterday ha s already been di gnied by the

,

name o f a religion and has no doubt a certain , , ,

number of fo llowers It is the theory whi ch looks .

upon the li fe of m ankind as a continual prog ress

to war ds a state o f perfection and hu m anity in its ,

nobler tend encies as itself worthy o f worship T o .

those who embrace thi s t heor y it will seem that ,

because S chopenhauer does not hesitate to declare the

evil in the li fe o f mankind to be far in excess o f the
good and that as long as the human will remains
, ,

what it is there can be no radical change for the

,

x vi T R A N S L A TO R S P R EFACE .

a question which may even come to generally be

raised in a not very di s tant f uture on behal f of som e
, ,

n e w conception o f C hristianity .

A n d from another poin t o f vie w let it be frankly ,

admitted that renunciation is incompatible with

ordinary practice with the rules o f life as we a re
,

compelled to formulate them ; and that to the vas t ,

maj ority the doctrine seems lit tle but a mockery a

, ,

hopelessly unworkable plan inapplicable to the con

,

d i ti o n s under which men have to exist .

In spite o f the fact that he is theoretically in

sympathy with trut hs which lie at the foundation o f
certain widely revered systems the world has n o t yet
,

accepte d S chopenhauer for what he proclaimed him

self to be a great teacher : and probably fo r the reason
,

that hope is not an element in hi s wisdo m of li fe a n d ,

that he attenuates love into something that is not a

,
f
real livin g orce a shado wy recognition o f the
identity o f the will F o r men are disinclined to
.

welcome a theory which neither a tter s their present

position nor hol d s out any prospect o f better thing s
to come Optimism the belief that in the end
.

everything will be for the bes tis the natural creed

o f mankind ; and a writer wh o o f s et purpose seeks

to undermine it by an appeal to facts is re g ar ded as

o n e who tries to rob humanity o f its ri g ht s Ho w .

s eldom an appeal to the facts within o ur reach i s

really made ! Whether the evil o f life a ctually out
 T R A N SL A T o R s

P R EFAC E . xv ii

weighs the g ood o r if we sh o uld look fo r better

,
-

things w hat is the possibility o r the nature o f a

,

F u ture L ife either fo r ourselves a s individ uals or as

, ,

part o f some great whole or again a s contributing to

, , ,

a comin g state o f p erfection s uch inquiries clai m an

amount o f attention which the m ass o f men every
where is un willing to give B u t in any cas e whether
.
, ,

it is a va gue assent to c urrent beliefs o r a blind reliance ,

o n a baseless certainty o r an impartial attempt to put

,

away what is false hope re m ains as the deepest
,

foundation of every faith in a happy fu t ure .

But it should be observed that this looking to the

future a s a complement for the pre s ent is dictated
m ainly by the desire to remedy existing ills ; and
that th e great hold which relig ion has o n mankind as ,

an incentive to present happiness is the pro m ise it ,

makes o f com in g perfection H ope fo r the future is .

a ta cit ad m ission o f evil in the presen t ; fo r i f a man

is co m pletely happy in this life and looks upon ,

happiness as the prevailin g order he will not t hink ,

s o much o f another S o a d iscus s ion o f the nature o f

.

happiness is not thou ght c o m plete if it takes account

only o f o u r present li fe and unless it connects what
,

we are now and what we do here with what we may

be hereaf ter S chopenhauer s theory does not profess
.

to do this ; it promises n o positive good to the i n

dividual ; at most only relief ; he break s the idol of
,

th e world a n d sets up n othin g i n its place ; and like

,

xviii T RA N SL ATO R S P R EF A C E

m any another iconoclast he has lon g bee n condemned ,

by those whose temples he has desecrated If there .

are optimistic theories o f li fe it is n o t life itsel f he , ,

would argue which g ives colour to them it is rather

,

the reection o f so m e g reat nal cause which humanity

ha s created as the last hope o f its rede m ption

Hea ven bu t the vi s i o n off fill ed

ul d es i re,
A nd hel l the s ha do w fro m a s o ul o n r e,
Ca st o n the da r kn es s i nto whi ch o ur s el ves ,

S o l a te em er ged f
ro m ,
s ha ll s o s o o n exp i e r .
1

S till hope it may be said is n o t knowle dge nor a

, , , ,

real ans wer to any question ; at most a mak eshift a , ,

moral support for intellectual weakness The truth .

is that as th eories both optimism and pessimi s m are

, ,

failures ; because they are extreme vie ws w here only

a very partial j udgment i s possible A n d in view o f .

the great uncertainty o f all ans wers most of those ,

who do n o t accept a stereotyped system leave the

question alone as being ei th er o f lit tle interest or o f
, ,

no beari n g on the welfare o f their lives which are ,

com m only satised with low aims ; tacitly ridiculing

those who demand an answer as the m ost press in g
a ffair o f exist ence But the fact that the nal pro
.

bl em s o f the world are still open makes in favour of ,

an honest atte m pt to think them o u t in spite o f all ,

previous failure o r still existin g di fculty ; and how

1
Om a rK h a yya m t ra ns al ted b y E . F i tz ge ra l d .

T R A NS L ATO R S P R E FA C E . xix

ever old these proble m s may be the endeavour to ,

solve them is o n e which it is al ways worth while to

encourag e afresh F o r the individual advantages
.

which attend a n e ffor t to nd the true path accrue

quite ap a rt from any success in reac h in g t he goal ;
and even thoug h the hei ght we strive to climb be
inacce s sible we can s t ill s ee and understand m ore
,

than those who never leave the plain The sphere it .

,

is true is enormous the study o f hu m an life and

,

destiny as a whole ; and o u r mental vision is s o ill

adapted to a range o f th i s extent that to aim at form
ing a complete scheme is to atte m pt the i m possible .

It must be recognised that the data are insu fcient fo r

l arg e vie ws and that we ou g ht n o t to go beyond the
,

facts we have the facts o f ordi nary life interpreted

, ,

by the common experience o f every day T hese form .

o u r only m aterial The vie ws we take must o f

.

f
necessity be ragmentary a mere collection o f a p er cu s ,

rou g h guesses at the undiscovered ; o f the same

nature indeed as a ll o u r possessions in the wa y of
, ,

knowled g e little tracts of solid land reclaimed from

the mysterious ocean o f the unkno wn .

But if we do not a dmit S chopenhauer to be a great

h
teac er because he is out of sy m pathy with the
,

hi ghest aspirati o ns o f m ankind a n d to o ready to ,

dog m a tise from partial v ie ws he is a very suggestive

,

wri ter and eminently readable H i s style i s brillian t

, .
,

animated forcible pungent ; althou g h it i s als o dis

, ,

TR A N S L A T o R s P RE F A C E

cursive irresponsible and with a tendency to su per

, ,

ci a l generalisation H e brin g s i n the most unexpected

.

t o pics without a n y very sure sen se o f their relative

place ; everything in fact seems to be fair game once
, , ,

he ha s taken up his pen H i s irony is noteworthy ;

.

for it extends beyond mere isolated sentences and ,

someti m es applies to whole pass a ges which must be ,

read cu m gra n o s a li s A n d if he ha s grave faults a s

.

f 2 7

well as excellences of literary treatment he is at least ,

always witty and amusin g and that to o in dealing , , ,

with subj ects as here for i n s ta n ce wi th the C onduct of

, ,

L ife o n which many others have been at once severe

a n d dull . It is easy to complain that though he is
witty and amusi n g he i s often at the same time bitter
,

and ill natured This is in some measure the u n

-
.

pleasant side o f his uncompromisin g devotion to truth ,

his resolute eag erness to dispel illusion at any cos t

those d efects o f hi s qualiti es which were intensied by
a solitary a n d until his last years unappreciated life
, , .

H e wa s naturally more disposed to coerce than to

atter the world into accep ti n g his views ; he wa s
above all t hings a n esp ri t fo r t and at ti m es brutal ,

in the u s e o f his s tre n gth I f it should be urged that

.
,

ho wever great his literary qualities he i s n o t worth ,

reading beca u se he takes a narro w view o f life and is

blind to some o f its g reat est bl essing s it will be well ,

to remember the profound truth o f that line which a

friend inscribed o n his earl iest biog rap hy : S i n o n

T R A NSL A T C R S PR EFACE . xx i

f t i l le i inus 1
er r a s s et ecer a a tru th which m s seldom,

without application whatever be the form o f hu m an

,

effort S cho penhauer cann ot be n e g lected because he

.

takes an unpleas a nt Vie w o f exi s tence fo r it is a View ,

which must present it s elf a t so m e time to every , ,

thoughtful person To be outraged by S chopenhauer

.

means to be ignorant o f many of the facts of l ife .

I n this one o f his s m aller works A p ho r i s m en e a r ,

L ebens wei s hei t S chopen hauer aband o ns his high meta

,

p hysical standpoint and discusse s wi th the sa m e zest

, ,

and appreciation as in fact marked his enj oyment o f

them some o f the plea s ures which a wise man will
,

seek to obtain health moderate possessions intel

, , ,

lectual riches A n d wh en as in this l ittle work he

.
, ,

comes to speak of the wisdom o f li fe as the practical

art of livin g the pessi m i s t vie w o f human destiny is
,

obtruded as li ttle as possible H i s r emarks pro fess to .

be the result o f
a compro ise a n atte m pt to treat
m

life from th e common standpoint H e is content to .

call these witty and instructive pages a series o f

aphorisms ; thereby indicatin g that he makes no claim
to expound a co m plete theory o f conduct It will .

d oubtless occur to any intelli g ent reader t hat his o h

s erv a ti o n s are b u t fragmentary thoughts o n various

ph a ses o f life ; and in reality mere a p ho s

,
r i m s i n the ,

o ld, Greek sense o f w

the ord pithy distinctions
denitions o f facts a marking o ff as i t were o f the
,
-
, ,

1 S l igh tly a l te r ed fro m Ma rt i a l . E p igra m I . xxii .


xxi i T R A N S L ATO R S P R E F AC E .

true from the false in so m e o f our ordinary notions o f

life and prosperity H ere there is little that i s not in
.

complete h armony with precepts to which th e world

has lon g been accustomed ; and in t his respect also , ,

S chopenhauer o ffers a su gg estive comparison rat her

th an a contrast with most wri ters on happiness .

The philos o p her in his study is conscious t hat the

world is never likely to embrace his h i g her m eta phy
s i ca l or ethical standpoint and a n n ihilate the will to ,

live ; nor did S chopenhauer himsel f do s o except so fa r

as he in co m mon with most serio us stude n ts o f life
, ,

avoided the ordinary aims o f mankind The theory .

which reco m mended universal benevolence as the

highest ethical duty came as a m a tter o f practice to , , ,

mean a formal stand in g aloof the n e p l u s u l tr a o f -

individualism The Wisdom of L i fe as the pra c tical

.
,

a r t o f livin g i s a compromise
, We are here not by .

any choice of our o wn and while we strive to make

the best o f it we must not let ourselves be deceived
, .

I f you want to be happy he says it will n o t do to , ,

cherish illusions S chopen hauer wou l d have found

.

nothin g ad m irable in the conclusion at which the late

M E dmond S cherer fo r i n s tance arrive d F o r t d e
.
, ,
.

v i v r e he w rote in his preface to A miel s Jo ur n a l e es t

, ,

de se
f
a i re u ne r a i s o n de ,
s o u s cr i r e o u c o m
p ro m i s de
, se

pr ter a ux c t o ns . S ch openhauer
conceives hi s mis
sion to be rather to d ispel illusion to tear the mask
, , ,

from li fe a violent o perati o n n o t al ways productive ,


xxiv T R A N S L A TOR S PR EFA C E .

what a man is in himsel f and that the pl easure h e

,

derives fro m these blessin g s will depen d entirel y upon

the extent to w hich his personality really allows hi m
t o ap p reciate t hem This is a rule whi c h runs some
.

risk o f bein g overlooked when a writer tries to

daz z le t he mind s eye by describin g all the possible
sources o f p l easure in the world o f o u r surroundin g s
but S ir John L ubbock in common with every o n e
,

who attempts a fundamental a ns wer to the question o f

happiness canno t afford to overlook i t
,
The truth o f .

the ru le is perhaps taken fo r g ranted in hi s account o f

li fe s pleasures ; but it is si gnicant that it is onl y

when he comes to speak o f li fe s troubles that h e
freel y admits the f orce o f it H a pp i n es s he say s in
.
, ,

this latter connection dep en ds m uch m o r e o n wha t i s

,

wi thi n tha n wi tho u t u s Y e t a ri gid app lication o f this

.

truth mi g ht perhaps discount the e ffect o f those

pleasures with which the world is said to abound .

That happiness a s well as unhappiness d epends mainly

u pon what is within is more clearl y reco g nised in the
,

case o f trouble ; fo r when troubles come upon a man ,

they inuence him as a rule much more deeply t han

, ,

pleasures H o w few even a mongst the millions to

.
,

whom these blessin g s are open health books travel , , ,

art real ly nd any true o r permanent h a ppiness in
them
While S chopenhauer s view o f the pleasures o f li fe

may be eluc i date d by comparin g it with that o f a .


T RA N S L A TOR S PR EFA C E . x xv

pop ular writer like S ir John L ubbock and by con ,

brasti n g the appeals they severally make to the outer

and the inner world as a source o f happiness ;

S chopenhauer s vi ew o f li fe itsel f will stand o u t more
clearly i f we remember the opinion s o boldly ex
pressed by the same E n g lish writer I f we r es o lu tely .

l o o k observes S ir John L ubbock I d o n o t s a y a t

, ,

the br i ght s i de o f thi n gs , bu t a t th i n gs a s they r ea lly

a re ; if we a va il o wrs elv es o
f the m a ni o f ld bl es s i n gs
whi ch s wrr o u n cl feel tha t l ife i s
us ; we ca n n o t bu t
i n d eed a gl o r i o u s i n her i ta n ce 1
There i s a splendid .

excess o f optimism about this statem ent which well

ts it to show u p the darker picture drawn by the
G erman philosopher .

Finally it should be remembered that though

S chopenhauer s picture o f the world is gloomy and
sombre there is nothin g weak o r unmanly in his
,

attitude I f a happ y existence he says not merel y

.
, ,

f
an existence ree from pain is denied us we can at
w
,

least be heroes an d face li fe ith courag e d a s

ho chs te wa s der Men s ch er l a ngen ha nn i s t ei n her o i s cher
'

L eben s l a u A noble character will never complain at

m i s fo rtu n e ; fo r i f a man loo k s ro und him at other

mani festations o f that which is hi s o wn inner n ature ,

the will he nds sorrows happenin g to his fellow men

,
-

hard er to bear than any that have come upon himse lf .

A n d the i d eal o f nobility is to deserve the praise

1 T h e P l ea s ures o f L i fe . P a rt p
. 5 .

B

xxvi T R A N S L A TOR S PR EFA C E .

which H amle ti n S hakespeare

s Trag edy o f P es s i m
ism gave to his friend
T ho u ha s t been
g

A s o n e, in su f eri n g a ll, tha t Si ers n o thi ng .

But perhaps S chopenhauer s theory carries with i t
its o wn correction H e describes existence a s a more
.

o r less violent oscillation between pain and boredom .

I f this were really the s u m o f life and we had to ,

reason from such a partial V ie w it is obvious that ,

happiness would lie in a cti o n and that li fe would be

s o constituted a s to supply t wo natural and inevitable

incentives to action and thus to contain in itsel f the

,

very conditions o f happiness L i fe itsel f reveals o u r .

destiny I t is not the stru ggle which produces misery

.
,

it is the mistaken aims and the low idealsw a s a ns

a l le bd n d i gt d a,
s Gem ei n e .

That S chopenhauer conceives li fe as an evil is a

deduction and possi bl y a mistaken de d uction from his
, ,

metaphysical theory Whether his scheme o f things is

.

correct o r not a n d it s h ares the common fate o f all
metaphy sical systems in bein g un v eri a bl e a n d to that ,

extent un pro ta bl e h e wil l in the last resort have

made g ood his cl a i m to be read by his insig ht into the
varied needs o f human li fe It may be that a future .

a g e will consi gn his meta physics to the philosophical

lumber room ; but he is a literary a rtist as well a s a
-

philosopher and he can make a bid fo r fame in either

,

c a pacity .
T B S . .
 C O NT E NT S .

C HA P .

I N T R OD U CT I ON
1 . D I V I S I ON O F T HE SU BJ E CT
11 . P ER SO NA L I TY ,
OR W H AT A MA N IS

III . P R OP E R TY , OR W H AT A MA N HA S

P OS I T I ON , O R A MAN P L AC E IN T I MA T I ON

IV . S T HE E S

OF OT H E R S

S ec t 1 R e puta ti o n
. .
59
2 . P rid e 68

3 R a nk
.
72

4 H o no
. ur

5 F . a m e 1 16
 I N T R O DU C T I O N .

I N these pag es I shall speak o f T he Wi s d o m of L ife in

the common meaning o f the term as the art namely
, , ,

o f orderi n g o u r lives s o as to obtain the greatest

possible amount o f pleasure and success ; an art the
theory o f which may be called E u doem o n o l o gy fo r it ,

teaches us how to lead a happy existence S uch an .

existence mi ght perhaps be dened a s o n e which ,

looked at from a purely obj ective point o f view o r , ,

,
f
rather a ter cool and mature re e t o c i n fo r the
ques tion necessarily involves subj ective considerations ,

would be decidedly preferable to non existence ; -

implyin g that we should clin g to it fo r its o wn sake ,

and not merely fro m the fear o f death ; and further ,

that we should never like it to come to an end .

N o w whether human li fe corresponds o r could ,

possibly correspond to this conception o f existen ce I s

, ,

a question to which a s is well k nown my phil o s o

,
-
,

p h i ca l s y stem returns a neg ative answer O n the .

eud a emonistic hypothesis however the question must

, ,

be answered in the afrmative and I have shown in ,

the second volume o f my chie f work (ch that .

this hypothesis is b a sed upon a fundamental mistake .

A ccordin gly in elaboratin g the s cheme o f a happy

,

existence I have had to make a complete surrender

,

o f the hi gher metaphysical and ethical stand o i nt to

p
 i N T R ODiiC T I o N .

which my o wn theories lead ; and everythin g I s h a l l

sa
y here wi l l to some extent rest upon a compromise ;
in s o fa r that is a s I take the common s ta ndpoint o f
, ,

every day and embrace the error which is at the

,

bottom o f it My r emarks there fore will possess

.
, ,

only a qualied value fo r the very word eu doem o n o ,

l o gy is a euphemism F urther I make no claims to

.
,

comple teness ; partly because the subj ect is i n ex

ha u s tib l e and partly because I should otherwi se have
,

to s a y over a gai n what ha s been already said by

others .

The only book com posed as fa r as I re m ember , ,

with a like purpose t o that which animates this

collection o f aphorisms is C ardan s D e u ti l i ta te ea :
,

a d ver s i s ca p i en d a which is well worth readi n g and

, ,

may be u s ed to supplement the present work .

A ristotle it is true has a few words o n e uda em o n o

, ,

logy in the fth chapter o f the rst book o f his

R heto r i c ; but what he says d oes not come to very
much A s compilation is not my business, I have
.

made no use o f these predecessors ; more especiall y

bec a use in the process o f compilin g individualit y o f
V iew is lost and individuality o f vie w is the k ernel
,

o f works o f thi s kind In g eneral indeed the wise.

, ,

in all ag es have always said the same thin g and the ,

fools who at all times form the immense m aj ority

, ,

have in t heir way too a cted alike and done j ust the ,

opposite ; and s o it wil l continue F o r as V oltaire .

,

says we s ha ll lea v e thi s wo r l d a s fo o l i s h a n d a s

,

wi cked a s we fo u n d i t o n o wr a rr i va l .
4 T HE WI S D OM OF L IFE .

The di fferences which come under the rst head are

those which N ature hersel f has set between man an d
man ; and from thi s fact alone we may at once in fer
that they in u ence the happiness or unhappiness o f
mankind in a much more vi tal an d radical way than
those contained under the two followin g heads which ,

are merely the e ffect o f human arran gements C om .

pared with gen u i n e p ers o n a l a dv a n ta ges such as a ,

great min d o r a great heart all the privileg es o f rank ,

o r birth even o f roy al bir th are but a s kin g s o n the

, ,

stag e to kings in real li fe The same thin g was sai d .

lo n g a go by Metro do ru s the earliest dis ciple o f ,

E picurus who wrote as the title o f o n e o f his chap t ers

, ,

T he ha pp i n es s we r ece i v e fr o m o u r s elv es i s gr ea ter

tha n tha t whi ch we o bta i n fr o m o u r s u rr o u n d i n gs 1
.

A n d it is an obvious fact which cannot be called i n ,

question that the principal element in a man s well
,

bein g indeed in the whole tenor o f his existence is

, , ,

what he i s made o f his inner constitution F or this

, .

is the imme d iate source o f that inward satisfac tion o r

dissatisfaction resultin g from the s u m total o f his
sensations desires and thou ghts whilst his surround
,

in gs o n the other hand exert only a m e d iate o r

, ,

i n direct inuence upon him This is why the same .

external events o r circumstances a ffect no two people

alike ; even w ith perfectly similar surroundi ng s every
o n e lives in a world o f his o wn F o r a man has .

immediate apprehension only o f his own ideas feelin g s ,

and volitions ; the outer world can inuence hi m only

in s o fa r a s it brings these to li fe The world in .

which a man lives shapes itself chiey by the way in

1 C f C l em
. en s A l ex S tro m. . II .
,
21 .
 D I V I S I ON OF THE SU B JE C T . 5

which he looks at it and so it proves di fferent to

,

di fferent men ; to o n e it is barren dull and super , ,

ci a l ; to another rich interesti n g and full o f meanin g

, , .

On hearin g o f the interestin g events which have hap

pened in the course o f a man s expe rience many people ,

will wish that similar thi n gs had hap pened in their lives
too completely forg ettin g that they s hould be envious
,

rather o f the mental aptitude which lent those events

the si gnicance t hey possess when he describes them ;
to a man o f g enius they were interestin g adventures ;
but to the dull perceptions o f an ordinary individual
they would have been stale everyday occurrences , .

This is in the hi ghest degree the case with many o f

G oethe s and Byron s poems which are obviously ,

founded upon actual facts ; where i t is open to a

foolish reader to envy the poet because s o many
deli ghtful thin g s happened to him instead o f envyin g ,

that mighty power o f phantasy which was capable o f

turnin g a fairly common experience into somethin g
s o g reat and beauti ful .

I n the same way a person o f melancholy temp era

,

ment wil l make a scene in a trag ed y out o f what

appears to the san guine m a n only in the light o f an
in teresting conic t and to a phlegmatic soul as some
,

thing without an y meani n g ; all o f which rests upon

the fact that every event in order to be realised and
,

appreciated requires the co operation o f two factors

,
-
,

namely a subj ect and an obj ect ; althou gh these are

,

a s closel y and necessarily connected as oxyg en and

h y drogen in water When there fore the obj ective o r

.

external factor i n an experience is actually the same ,

b u t the s ubj ect ive o r pers on a l a p pr e ciation o f it y a ri es ,

6 T HE WI S D O M OF L IF E .

the event is j ust a s much a different one i n the eyes o f

di fferent persons as i f the obj ecti v e factors had not
been alik e ; fo r to a blunt intelli g ence the fairest and
best obj ect in the world presents only a poor reality ,

and is there fore only poorly appreciated like a ne ,

landscape in dull weather o r in the reection o f a b a d

,

ca m er a o bs cu r a
. In plain lan guage every man i s ,

p en t up within the limits o f his o wn co n sciousness ,

and cannot directl y g et be y ond those limits any more

than he can g et beyond his o wn skin s o external a i d
i s n o t o f much use to him On the sta ge o n e man is
.
,

a prince another a minister a third a servant o r a

, ,

soldier o r a g eneral and so o ,

n mere external di ffer
,

en ces : the inner realit y the kernel o f all these appear

,

a n c es is the same a poor player with a ll the anxieties ,

o f his lot . I n li fe it is j ust the same D i ffe rences o f .

rank and wealth g ive ever y man his part to play but ,

this b y n o means implies a di fference o f inward happi

ness and pleasure ; here too there is the s a me bein g
, ,

in a ll a poor mortal with hi ,

hardships a n d troubles
s .

Thou gh these may indeed in every case proceed fr m

, ,
o

dissimilar causes they are in their essential nature

,

much the same in all their forms wi th degrees o f ,

intensity which vary no doubt but in no wise corre

, ,

s p o n d to the part a man has t o pla y to the presence o r ,

absence o f position and wealth S ince everythin g .

which exists or happens fo r a m a n exists only in his

consciousness and happens fo r it alone the most essen ,

tial thin g fo r a m a n i s the constitution o f this co n

s c io u s n es s w hi ch is in most e i ses fa r more important
,

tha n the circumstances which go to form its contents .

A 11 the pride a n d plea sure o f the world mirro red in ,

 t I SI o N OF T H E S U BJE CT . 7

the dull consciousness o f a fool is poor ind eed com ,

p a red with the ima gination o t C ervantes writin g his

'

D o n Qu ixo te in a miserable prison The obj ective hal f .

o f li fe and reality is in the hand o f fate and accord ,

i n gl y take s various forms in di fferent cases : the

subj ective hal f is oursel f and in essentials it always
,

remains the sam e .

H ence the li fe o f every man is stamped with the

same character throu ghout however much his exter ,

nal circumstances may alter it is like a series o f

variations on a single theme N 0 one can g et beyond .

his o wn individuality A n animal under whatever

.
,

circumstances it is placed remains within the narrow ,

limits to which natu re has irrevocably consi gned it ; so

that o u r endeavours to make a pet happy must alwa y s
keep within the compass o f its nature and be restricted ,

to what it can feel S o it is with man the m easure

.

o f the happiness he can attain is determined be fore

han d b y his individuality More especial ly is this the

.

case with the men tal powers which x once fo r all his ,

capacityforthe higher ki n ds o f pleasu re I f these powers .

are small no e ff orts from without nothin g tha t hi s

, ,

f ellow men o r that fortune can do fo r him wi ll su fce to

-

raise him above the ordinary degree o f human happi

ne s s and pleasure hal f animal thou gh it be his only
,

resources are his sensual appetite a cosy and chee rful ,

famil y li fe at the most l o w company and vulgar

,

pastime even education o n the whole can avail , ,

little i f anythi n g fo r the enlarg emen t o f his hori z on

, , .

F o r the hi ghest most varied and l a s tin g pleasures are

,

those o f the mind however much o u r y outh may

,

d eceive us on this point ; and the pleasu res o f the

8 T HE WI S D OM OF LIFE .

mind turn chi ey on the powers o f the mind It is .

clear then tha t our happiness depen ds in a great

, ,

degree upon what we a r e upon our indivi duality , ,

whilst lot or des tiny 1 s g enerally taken to mean only

what we ha v e o r o u r r ep uta ti o n Ou r l o t in this
,
.
,

sense may improve but we do not ask much o f it i f

,

we are inwardly rich : o n the other hand a fool ,

remains a fool a dull blockhead to his last hour even

, , ,

thou gh he were surrounded by ho u ris in paradise .

Thi s is why G oethe in the Wes t Os tl i cher D i v a n says

,
-

that every man whether he occupy a low position in

,

li fe o r emerg es as its victor testies to personality as

, ,

the g reates t factor in happiness

V o lk wa d K n echt u n d U eberwi n der

S ic ges tehen , z u j eder Z ei t,
H Ochs tes Glitch der E r den ki nder
'

S ei di e P ers bn li chkei t
'

n ur .

Every thin g conrms the fact tha t the subj ective

element i n li fe is incomparably more import a nt fo r
o ur happiness and pleasure than the obj e ctive from ,

such sayin g s as H u n ger i s the bes t s a u ce and Y o u th ,

a n d A ge ca n n o t l i v e to gether up to the li fe o f the ,

G eniu s and the S aint H ealth outwei g hs all other

.

blessing s s o much that one may really s a y that a

healthy be ggar is happier than an ailin g kin g A .

quiet and cheerful temperament happy in the enj oy ,

ment o f a perfectly sound phy sique an intellect clear , ,

lively penetrating and seein g thin gs as they are a

, ,

moderate and g entle will and there fore a g ood con

,

science these are privileg es which no rank o r wealth

can make up fo r o r re place F o r what a man i i n .
s
 D I V I S I ON OF T HE SU BJE CT . 9

himsel f w hat accompanies hi m when he is alone what

, ,

no o n e can g ive o r take away is obviously more ,

essential to him t han every thin g he has in the way o f

possessions o r even what he may be in the ey es o f
,

the world A n intellectual man in complete solitude

.

ha s excellent entertainment in his o wn thou g hts and

fancies whilst no amount o r diversity o f social
,

pleasure thea tres excursions and amusements can

, , ,

ward o ff boredom from a dullard A g ood temperate .

, ,

g entle character ca n be happy in needy circumstances ,

whilst a covetous envious and malicious man even i f

, ,

he be the richest in the world g oes miserable N a y ,

.

more ; to o n e who ha s the constant deli ght o f a special

individuality wi th a hi gh deg ree o f intellect most o f
, ,

the pleasures which are run after by mankind are

per fectly supe ruous ; they are even a trouble
and a burden A n d s o H orace say s o f himsel f that
.
, ,

however many are deprived o f the fancy g oods -

o f li fe
,
there is one at le a st who can live without
them
Gem m a s , m a rm o r , ebu r , T yrrhen a s igi lla ,
ta bel la s

A r gen tu m , ves tes Gcetu l o m u ri ce t i ncta s

S un t gu i n o n ha bea n t, es t qu i n o n cu ra t ha bere

and when S ocrates s a w various articles o f luxury

spread o u t fo r sale he exclaimed : H o w m u ch ther e i s
,

i n the wo r l d tha t I d o no t wa nt .

S o the rst and most essential element in o u r li fe s
hap piness is what we are our personal ity i f fo r no , ,

other reason than that it i s a constant factor comi n g

i n to play un d e r all Circumstances : beside s u n like the ,

blessings which are d e s cribed un d er the other two

10 T HE WI S D OM OF L IF E .

heads it is not the sport o f destin y and cannot be

,

wrested from us and s o fa r it is endowed with a n , ,

absolute value in contra st to the merel y relat ive

worth o f the other two The consequence o f this is .

that it is m u ch more di fcult than people commonly

suppose to g et a hold on a man from wit hout But .

here the all powerful a g ent Time comes in an d claims

-
, ,

its ri gh ts and be fore its inuence p hysical and

,

mental advant a g es g radually waste awa y Moral .

c haracter alone remains inaccessible to it In V iew o f .

the destructive e ffect o f time i t seems indeed as i f , , ,

the blessin g s name d unde r the other two heads o f ,

which time cannot directly rob us were superior to ,

those o f the r s t A nother advantag e mi g ht be

.

claimed fo r them namely that bein g in their very

, ,

nature obj ective and extern a l they are attai able ,

n
,

and every o n e is presented with the possi bility at ,

least o f comin g into posses s ion o f them whilst what is

,

subj ective is n o t open to us to acquire but makin g i ts ,

entry by a kind o f d i v i n e r ight it remains fo r li fe , ,

i m mutable inalienable an inexorable doom L et

, , .

me qu o te those lines in which G oethe describes how an

unaltera ble destiny is assig ned to every man at the hour
o f his birth s o that he can develope onl y in the lines
,

lai d down fo r him as it were by the conj unctions o f

, ,

the stars ; a nd ho w the S ibyl and the proph ets declare

that hi m s elf a m a n can never escape nor any power ,

o f time avail to chan ge the path o n which his li fe

is cast :
Wi e a dem T a g, der d ich der Wel t ver li ehen ,
n

D ie S o n/rte s ta n d z n m Gr us s e der P la n eten,

B is t a ls o ba ld u nd f o rt a n d f o rt ged i ehen ,
12 T HE W I S D OM OF L IFE .

two it is mani festly a wiser course to a i m at the

,

maintenance o f o u r health and the cultivation o f our

faculties than at the amassin g o f wealth ; but this
,

must not be mistaken as meanin g that we shou l d

neglect to acquire an adequate suppl y o f the n eces s a i ies
o f li fe We a l th in the strict sense o f the word that
.
, ,

is great supe r u i ty can do little fo r our happiness

,
-

and many rich people feel unhappy ust because they

are without any true mental culture o r knowledg e ,

and consequently have no obj ective in terests which

would quali fy t hem fo r intellectual occupations F o r .

beyond the satis faction o f some real and natural

necessities all that the possession o f wealth can achieve
,

has a very small inuence upon o u r happiness in the ,

proper sense o f the word ; indeed wealth rather dis ,

tu rb s it because the preservation o f property entails

,

a great many unavoidable anxieties A n d s till men .

are a thousand times more intent o n becomin g rich

than o n acquirin g culture thou gh it i s quite certain ,

that what a man i s contributes much more to h is

happiness than what he ha s S o you may See man y .

a man as in d ustrious a s an ant cea s elessly occupie d

, ,

from mornin g to ni g ht in the endeavou r to increase

his heap o f gold Bey ond the narrow hori z on o f
.

means to this end he knows nothi n g ; his mind is a

,

blank and consequentl y unsusceptible to any other

,

inuence The hi ghes t pleasures those o f the i n

.
,

t ell ect are to him inaccessible and he tries in vain

, ,

to replace them by the eetin g plea s ures o f sense in

which he indulg es lasting but a brie f hour and at,

tremendous cost A n d if he is lucky hi s stru ggles

.
,

result i n his having a r eally great pile o f gold which ,

 D I V I S I ON o r T HE S U BJ E CT . 13

he leaves to his heir either to make it still larg er o r

, ,

to squander it in extravagance A li fe like this .

,

thou g h pursued with a sens e o f earnestness and an

air o f importance is j ust as silly as many another
,

which has a fool s cap fo r its s y mbol .

Wha t a m a n ha s i n hi m s elf is then the chie f , ,

element in his happiness Because this is as a rule .

, ,

s o very little most o f those who are placed beyo n d

,

the stru ggle with penury feel at bottom quite as u n ,

happy as those who a rb still en gag ed i n it Their .

min d s are vacant their im a gination dull their S pirits

, ,

p oor
,
and s o they are driven to the company o f those w
o

like them fo s rn l i s i
r i i s m i l i ga ud et where they
make common pursuit o f pastime and entertainmen t ,

consisti n g fo r the most part in sensual pleas ure ,

amusement o f every kind and nally in exce s s , ,

and liber tini s m A y oun g man o f rich family enters

.

upon life with a larg e patrimony and o ften runs ,

through it in an incredibly short space o f time i n ,

V icious ext ravagance ; and why ? S imply because ,

here to o the mind is empty and void and s o the m a n

, ,

i s bored with existence H e was sent forth into

.

the world outwardly ri c h but inwa rd l y poor a n d hi s ,

vain endeavour wa s to make hi s ex t ernal wealth

compensate fo r his inner pover ty b y tryin g to obtain ,

everything fr o m wi tho u t like an ol d man who seeks,

to stren gthen himsel f as K in g D avi d o r Mar chal de

R etz tried to do A n d so in the end o n e wh o is i n
.

wa rdl y poor comes to be also poor outwardl y .

I need not insist upon the import a nce o f the other

two kinds o f blessin g s which make up the happine s s
o f human l i f e ; n o w a days the value o f possessi n g
- -

C
14 T HE WI S D OM OF L IF E .

them i s too well known to require advertisement .

The third class it is true may seem compared with

, , ,

the second o f a very ethereal character as it consists

, ,

only o f other people s Opin ions S till everyone has to .

strive fo r reputation that is to say a good name R ank

, , .
,

on the other hand shoul d be aspired to only by those

,

who serve the S tate and fame b y very few indeed

, .

In any case reputation is looked upon as a priceless

,

treasure and fame as the most precious o f a l l the

blessin gs a man can a t ta i n f
,

the G olden Fleece as it ,

were o f the elect : whilst only fools will pre fer rank
,

to property The second and third class es moreover

.
, ,

are reciprocally cause and e ffect ; so fa r that is as ,

P etronius maxim ha bes ha beber i s is true ; and con
, ,

v ers el y the f a v our o f others

,
in all its for m s o f ten
, ,

puts us in the way o f g etting what we wan t .

 C HA P T E R I I
P E RS ON A L IT Y ,
OR WH A T A MA N 18 .

WE have al rea dy seen in g eneral that what a man i s , ,

contributes much more to his happiness than what he

ha s o r ho w he is regarded by others
, What a man is .
,

and so what he has in his own person is always the ,

chie f thin g to consider ; fo r hi s individuality aecom

p a n i es him always and everywhere and gives its ,

colour to a l l hi s experiences In every kind o f e nj oy .

m ent fo r instance t he pleasure depends principally

, ,

upon the man hi m sel f E very o n e admits this in .

regard to phy sical and ho w much truer it is o f intel

,

lectual pleasure When we u s e t hat E n glish expres

, .

sion to enj oy onesel f
, we are employin g a very ,

striking and appropriate phrase fo r observe o n e

say s not he enj oys P aris but he enj oys himsel f i n
, ,

P aris . To a man possessed o f an ill conditioned -

individuality all pleasure is like delicate wine in a

,

mouth made bitter with gall Therefore in the bless .

,

ings as well as in the ills o f li fe less depends upon ,

what be falls us than upon the way i n which it is met ,

that is upon the kind and degree o f o u r general

,

u s ce tib i l i ty
p W hat a m a n is and has in h i msel f
.

i n ,

a word personality with all it entails i s the only i m

, , ,

mediate and direct factor in his happiness and wel fare .

A ll else is mediate and indirect and its inuence can ,

be neutralised and frustrated ; but the inuence o f

personality never This is why the env y which per
.

sonal q ualities excite is the most implacable o f a l l as ,

it is also the most care fully dissembled .

16 T HE WI S D OM OF L IF E .

F urther the constitution o f o ur consciousness is the

,

ever present and lasting element in all we do or su ffer ;

o u r individuality is persistently at work more o r less , ,

at every moment o f our li fe : all other inuences are

temporal incidental eetin g and subj ect to every
, , ,

kind o f chance and chan ge T his is why A ristotle .

say s : I t i s n o t wea lth bu t cha r a cter tha t la s ts 1

A nd .

j ust fo r the same reason we can more easily bear a

mis fortune which comes to us entirely from without ,

than o n e which we have drawn upon ourselves ; fo r

fortune may always chang e but not ch a racter , .

There fore subj ective ble s sing s a noble nat u re a

, , ,

capable head a j oyful temperament bri ght spirits

, , ,

a wel l constituted p erfectly so und physique in a

-

, ,

word m en s s a n a i n co rp o r e s a n o are the rst an d

, ,

most important elements in happiness ; so that we

should be more intent on promoting and preservin g
such qualities than o n the possession o f external weal th
and external honour .

A n d o f all these the one which mak es us the most

,

directly happy is a g enial ow o f good spirits ; fo r

this excellent quality is its o wn immedia t e reward .

The man who is cheerful and merry has al ways a g ood

reason fo r bei n g s o the fact namely that he is s o
, , , .

There is nothin g which like this quality can so com , ,

l etel replace the loss f every other blessi g I f

p y o n .

you k now anyone who is y oun g handsome rich an d , ,

es t eemed and you want to know further if he is

, , ,

happy a s k I s he cheerful and genial and if he is

, , ,

1
E th E . ud V ii 2 37 :
. .

a
y p b 5
( 1 0 19
I
B Eq v, m i 7 a Xp rjp a ra .
 P E R S ON A L IT Y ,
OR WH A T A MA N Is . 17

what does it matter whether he is youn g o r o l d ,

s trai ght o r humpbacked poor o r rich ,

h e is happy .

I n m y ea rl y days I once opened an o l d book and

found these words : I f yo u l a u gh a gr ea t d ea l yo u a r e ,

ha pp y ; if yo u cr y a gr ea t d ea l yo u a r e u n ha pp y ,

a very simple remark no doubt ; but j ust bec a use it

,

is so simple I have never been able to forget i t ,

even thou g h it is in the la s t de gree a truism S o i f .

cheer fulness knocks at o u r door we should throw it ,

wide open fo r it never comes inopportunely instead

,

o f that we o ften make scruples

,
about lettin g it in .

We want to be quite sure that we have every reason

to be contented then we are afrai d that cheerfulness o f
spirits m a y interfere with serious reections or weig hty
cares C heerfulness is a d irect and immediate g ain
.
,

the very coin as it were o f happiness and not like all

, , , ,

else merely a cheque u po n the bank ; fo r it alone

,

makes us imme d iatel y hap py i n the present moment ,

and that is the hi g hest blessin g fo r bein g s like us whose ,

existence is but an innitesimal moment between two

eternities To secure an d promote this feelin g o f
.

cheerfulness should be the supreme aim o f all our

endeavours after hap piness .

N o w it is certain that nothin g contributes so little

to cheerfulness as riches o r s o much as health ,
Is it , .

not in the lower classes the s o called working classe s

,
-

more especially those o f them wh o live in the

country that we s ee cheerful and contented faces ?
,

and is it not amon g st the rich the upper classes that , ,

we nd faces full o f ill hum o ur and vexation ? C o n

-

sequently we S hould try as much a s possible to main

tain a high degree o f health ; fo r cheerfulness is t he
18 T HE WI S D OM OF L IFE .

very ower o f it I need hard ly say what one must

.

do to be health y avoid every kin d o f excess a ll ,

violent and un pleasan t emotion all mental overstrai n , ,

take daily exercise in the open air cold baths and ,

s uch like hygienic measures F o r without a proper .

amount o f daily exerci s e no o n e can remain healthy

all the processes o f li fe demand exercise fo r the due
performance o f their functions exercise not only o f ,

the parts more immediately concerned but also o f the ,

whole body F o r as A ristotle ri ghtly says L ife i s

.
, ,

m o v em en t ; it is its very essence C easeless and rapid .

motion goes o n in every part o f the organism The .

heart with its complicated double systole and di astole

, ,

beats strongly and untirin gly ; with twenty ei ght -

beats it has to drive the whole o f the blood throu g h

arteries veins and capillaries ; the lungs pump like a
,

s team en gine without intermission ; the intestines are

-
,

always in peristaltic action ; the glands are a ll con

s ta n tl absorbin g and secretin g even the brain has a
y
double motion o f its o wn with every beat o f the,

pulse and every breath we dra w When people can .

g et no exercise at all as is the case with the countless

,

numbers who are condemned to a sedentary li fe there ,

is a glarin g and fatal disproportion between outward

inactivity and inner tumult F o r this ceaseless i n .

ternal m otion requires some external counterpart and ,

the want o f it produces e ffects like those o f emotion

which we are oblig ed to suppress E ven trees must .

be shaken by the wind i f they are to thrive The

,
.

rule which nds its application here may be mos t

briey expresse d in L atin o m n is m o tu s gu o celer i o r , ,

e0 m a
gi s m o tus ,
20

TIIE WI S D OM OF L IFE .

a nd be g enerall y g iven u p to s a d thoug hts T he .

ultima te cause o f this is un d oub te d ly to be foun d in

innate and therefore unalterable ph ysical constitution
, , ,

especially in the more or less normal relation o f a

man s sensitiveness to his muscular and vital energy .

A b n ormal sensitiveness produces inequalit y o f S pirits a ,

predominatin g melanchol y with periodical ts o f u n ,

restrained liveliness A g enius is one whose nervous .

po wer o r sensitiveness is lar g ely in excess ; as A ris

to tl e has very correctly observed Men d i s ti n gu i s hed
1
,

i n p hi l o s op hy, p o l i ti cs , p o etr y o r a r t, a
pp ea r to be a ll
of a m el a n cho l y tem p er a m en t
This is doubtless the .

passag e which C icero has in his mind when he says ,

as he o ften does A r i s to tel es a i t o m n es i n gen i o s o s

,

m el a ncho l i co s
2
es s e S hakespeare has v ery neatl y
.

expressed this radical and innate diversit y o f tempera

ment in those lines in T he Mer cha n t of V en i ce
N a tu re ha s f ra m ed s tra n ge f ell o ws i n her ti m e

So m e tha t wi ll everm o re p eep thro u gh thei r eyes ,

A n d la u gh, l i ke p a rr o ts a t a ba g p ip er ;
-

A n d o thers o f s u ch vi nega r a sp ect,

T ha t they l l n o t s ho w thei r teeth i n wa y of

'
sm il e,
T ho ugh N es to r s wea r the j es t be la u gha bl e .

This is the di fference which P l a to d raws between

o h s and St a x h s the man o f ea s an d the

'
a JK o o
y o m a n ,

o f d ii cu l t disposition i n proo f o f which he re fers

to the vary in g degrees o f susceptibility which di ffer
ent pe o ple show to pleasurable and pain f ul impres
sions ; s o that o n e m a n wil l lau gh at what makes another
despair A s a rule the stron g er t he susceptibility to u n
.
,

p lea s ant i m pres s ions the weaker is the suscep tibili ty to

,

2
1
P ro bl . xxx, e p . 1 . T us c i . .
, 33 .
 P E R S ON A L IT Y ,
OR WHA T A MA N IS . 21

pl easant one s and v i ce ver s a

,
I f it is equally possible .

fo r an event to turn o u t well o r ill the Bt x h s will ,

a o o

be annoyed or g rieved i f the issue i s un favourable ,

and will not rej oice should it be happy On the , .

'

other hand the t v s will neither wor ry n o r fret over

,
e K

an u n favourable issue but rej oice i f it turns out well

, .

I f the one is success ful in nine out o f ten u n d er ta k :

i ngs he will n o t be pleased but rather annoy ed that

, ,

o n e has miscarried ; whilst the other i f only a sin g l e ,

o n e succeeds wil l manag e to nd consolation in th e

,

fact and remai n cheerfu l But here is another .

instance o f the truth that hardly any evil is entirely

,

W ithout its compensation ; fo r the mis fortunes an d

s u e ri n s which the 5 30 k that is people

of
g 1 K o o c
, ,

gloomy and anxious chara cter have to overcome are , , ,

o n the whole more imag inary and there fore less real
,

than those which be fall the gay and careless ; fo r a

man who paints every thi n g black who constantl y ,

fears the worst and takes measures accordi n gly W l l l ,

not be disappointed s o o ften in this world as o n e who

al w
,

ays looks upon the bri ght side o f thin gs A n d .

when a morbid affection o f the nerves o r a deran ge ,

ment o f the di g est i ve organs plays into th e hand o f ,

an innate tendency to gloom this tendency may ,

reach such a h ei ght that permanent discom fort pro

duces a weariness o f li fe S o arises an inclination to .

su i cide which even the most trivial unpleasantness

,

actually bri n g about ; n a when the tendency

m a
y y ,

att a ins its worst form it may be occasione d by ,

nothin g in particular but a m a n may resolve to put

,

an en d to his existence simply because he is per ,

m a n en tl un ha p and then cooll and rm l carr

y p y ,
y y y
22

T HE W I S D OM OF L IFE .

o ut determination a s may be seen by the wa y in

hi s
which the su fferer when placed under supervision , ,

as he usually is eag erl y waits to sei z e the rst

,

ung uarded moment when without a shudder with , , ,

o u t a stru ggle o r recoil he may use the n o w natural ,

and welcome means o f e ecti n g his release 1

E ven .

the healthiest perhaps e v en the most c heer ful man

, ,

may resolve upon death u n der certai n circumstance s

when fo r instance his su ffering s o r his fears o f some
, , ,

inevitable mis fort une reach such a pitch as t o out ,

~

weigh the terrors o f death The only di fference l ies .

in the degree o f su ffering necessary to bri n g about the

fatal act a degree which will be hi g h i n the case o f a
,

cheerful and low in that o f a gloom y man The

,
.

greater the melancholy the lower need the degree he ,

i n the end it may even sink to z ero

,
But i f a m a n .

is cheerful and his spirits are supported by good

,

health it requires a hi gh deg ree o f s n e ri n g to make

,

him lay hands upon himself There are countless .

'

steps in the scale between the t wo extremes o f suicide ,

the suicide w hich sprin g s merel y from a morbid

intensication o f innate gloom a n d the suicide o f the ,

health y and cheerfu l man who has entirely obj ective ,

g rounds fo r puttin g an end to his existence .

Beauty is partly an affair o f heal th It may be .

reckoned as a personal a dvant a g e ; thou g h it does not ,

properly speakin g contribute directl y to o ur happi

,

ness I t does so indirectly by impressin g other

. ,

people ; and it is no unimportant advantag e even in ,

man Beauty is an open letter o f recommendation

.
,

1
F or a . d e ta il ed d es cr ipt i o n o f thi s c o n d i ti o n o f m in d f
o .

E s qu ir o l D es m a l a di es m en ta les .
 P E RS ON A L IT Y ,
OR WH A T A MA N Is . 23

predisposin g the heart to favour the person who

presents it A s is well said in those lines o f H omer
.
,

the gift o f beauty is not lightly to be thrown away ,

that glorious gift which none can besto w save the

gods alone

o ii rO I dn dhnr 30
'
7 2 06 81/ p t d a

r o t 36 0 w, c O OI i K d1!
'
OO O a ' '

K V a v
'
rt s

The most g eneral survey S ho ws us that th e two foes

o f human happiness are pain and bore d om We may .

g o further and say that in the d e g ree in which we

,

are fortunate enoug h to g et away from the o n e we ,

approach the other L i fe presents in fact a more o r .

, ,

less violent oscillation between the two The reason .

o f this is that each o f these two poles stands in a

double antag onis m to the other external o r obj ective , ,

and inner o r subj ective N eedy surroundin g s and .

poverty produce pain ; while if a man is more than ,

wel l o he is bored A ccor d ingly whi le the lower

,
.
,

classes are en g aged in a ceaseless struggle with nee d ,

in o t her words with pain the upper carry o n a con , ,

stant and o ften desperate battle with bore d om 2

The .

inner or subj ective antag onism arises from the fact

that in the individual susceptibility to pain varies
, ,

inversely with susceptibility to bore d om because sus ,

c epti b i li ty is directl y proportionate to mental power .

L et me explain A d ull mind is as a rule associated

.
,

with dul l sensibilities nerves which no stimulus can ,

1 I li a d 3, 6 5 .

2 A n d the e x trem es m e et fo r th e l o wes t s ta te o f c iv il i z a ti o n ,

a no m a d or wa n d eri n
g li fe ,
n d s i ts c o un terp a rt i n th e highes t ,
wh er e e v eryo n e is a t ti m es a to u ri s t T he a rli er s ta ge wa s a
.
e
se o f n ec es s i ty th e l a tt er i s a re m e d fo r b o redo m
ca y .
24

T HE WI S D OM OF L IFE .

affect a temperament in short which d oes not feel

, , ,

p a in o r anxiety very much ho wever g reat or terrible

'

it may be N o w in tellectual dulness is at the

.
,

bottom o f that v a cu i ty of s o u l which is stamped o n

s o m any faces a state o f min d which betrays itsel f by
,

a constant and lively attention to all the trivial cir

cu m s ta n ces in the external world This is the true .

source o f boredom a continual pantin g a fter excite

ment in order to h ave a pretext fo r givin g the mind
,

and spirits something to occupy them The k in d .

o f thin g s people choose fo r this purpose S hows t h at

the y are n o t very particular a s witness the miserable ,

pastim es they have recourse to and their ideas o f ,

social pleasure and conversation : o r ag ai n the number ,

o f people wh o g ossip o n the doorstep or g ape o u t o f

the window It is mainly because o f this inner
.

vacuity o f soul that people g o in ques t o f society ,

diversion amusement luxury o f every sort which

, , ,

lead many to extrava g ance and misery N othin g is .

so g oo d a protection a g ainst such mi s ery as inward

wealth the weal th o f the min d because the g reater it
, .

g rows the less room it leav es fo r boredom The i n

,
.

exhaustible activity o f thou g ht ! ndin g ever new

material to work upon in the multifario u s phenomena
o f sel f and nature an d able an d read y to form new
,

combinations o f them there yo u have somethin g ,

that invi g orates the m ind and apart from moments o f ,

relaxation sets it fa r above the reach o f boredom

,
.

But o n the other hand this hig h d e gree o f i n tel li

, ,

g ence is rooted in a hi g h de g ree o f susce ptibilit y ,

g reater stren g th o f will , g reater passionateness ; an d

from the uni on o f these qu a li ties comes an i ncreas ed
 P E R S ON A L IT Y , OR WH A T A MA N IS . 25

cap a city fo r emotion an enhanced sensibility to all

,

menta l and even bo d il y pain g reater impatience o f ,

obstacles g reater resentment o f interruption a l l o f

,

which tendencies are au g mented b y the power o f the
imag ination the vivi d character o f the whole ran g e
,

o f thou g ht inclu din g what is disag reeable

,
This .

applies in vary in g de grees to every step in the lon g

, ,

sca le o f mental power from the veriest dunce to the ,

greatest g enius that ev er lived There fore the nearer .

any one is either from a s ubj ective o r from an o bj ec

,

tive point o f view to one o f t hese sources o f su fferin g

,

in human li fe the farther he is from the ot her A n d

, .

s o a man s natural bent wil l lea d him to make his

obj ective world con form to his subj ective as much as

possible ; that is to s a y he will take the greatest ,

measures against that form o f su fferin g to which he is

most liable Th e W i se man will above all strive after
.
, ,

free d om from pain and annoy ance quiet and leisure , ,

consequently a tranquil modest li fe with as few en , ,

counters as m a y b e ; and s o after a little experience ,

o f his s o calle d fellow men

-
he will elect to live in-
,

retirement or eve n , i f he is a m a n o f g reat intellect

, ,

in solitu d e F or the more a man ha s in himsel f the

.
,

less he will want from other people the less indeed , , ,

other people can be to him This is why a hi g h .

de g ree o f intellect ten d s to make a man unsocial .

T rue i f qu a l i ty o f intellect co u ld be ma d e up fo r by
,

q u a n ti ty it mi
, g ht be w orth while to live even in the
g reat worl d but unfortu n atel y a hundred fool s
, ,

to g ether will not make o n e wise man .

But the indivi d ual who stan d s at the other end o f

the scale is no sooner free from the pan g s o f n eed
26 T HE WI S D OM . OF L IFE .

than he endeavours to g et pastime and society at a n y

cost tak in g up with the rs t person he meets and
, ,

avoidin g nothin g so much as himsel f F or i n solitu d e .

,

where every one is thrown upon his o wn resources ,

what a man has in himsel f comes to li ght ; the fool in

ne ra iment g roans under the burden o f his miserable
personality a burden which he can never throw o ff
, ,

whi lst the man o f talent peoples the waste places with
his animatin g thou ghts S eneca declares that fol ly is
its o wn bur den
.

0 m n i s s tu lti ti a
,
l a bo r a i fa s ti di o s u i ,

a very true sayin g with which ma y be compared ,

the words o f Jesus the son o f S irach T he life of a fo o l

, ,

i s wo r s e tha n d ea th 1
A n d as a rule it will be found
.
, ,

that a man is sociable j ust in the deg ree in which he

is intellec tually poor and g enerally vul g ar F o r one s .

choice in this world d oes not g o much beyond solit ud e

o n one side an d vul g arity on the other It is said .

that the most sociable o f all people are the neg roes ;
and t hey are at the bottom o f the scale in intellect .

I re m ember readi n g once in a F rench paper that the 2

blacks in N orth A merica whether free or enslaved , ,

are fond o f shuttin g t hemselves u p in larg e numbers

in the smallest space because they cannot have too ,

much o f one another s snub nosed company -
.

The brain may be re g arded as a kind o f parasite o f

the org anism a pensioner as it were who d wells with
, , ,

the body : and leisure that is the time one has fo r , ,

the free enj oy ment o f one s consciousness o r indi
v i du a l i ty is the fruit or produce o f t he rest o f exis t
,

ence which is in g eneral onl y labour and e ffo rt B u t

, .

1 E c cl e s i a s t i c u s , 11 .

2
L e Co m m erce, Oc t 1 9 th, 1 837
. .
28 T HE WI S D OM OF L I FE .

war d si gn th a t it is ban k rupt in thou ght Becaus e .

people have no thou ghts to deal in they deal card s , ,

an d try and win one another s money I d iots ! But

.

I do not wish to be u nj ust s o let me remark that it

may certai nly be said in d e fence o f car d p l ay i n g that -

it is a preparation fo r the world an d fo r business life ,

because o n e learn s thereb y how to m ake a clever use

o f fortuitous but unalterable circumstances ( cards in , ,

this case ) and to g et as much o u t o f them as o n e can :

,

and to do t his a man must learn a little dissimulation ,

and ho w to put a g ood face upon a bad business But .

,

on the other han d it is exactl y f o r this reason that

,

card p l ay in g is so d emoralisi n g s ince t he whole obj ect

-
,

o f it is to emplo y every kind o f trick and mac hination

in order to wi n W hat belon g s to another A n d a .

habit o f this sort l earnt at the car d tab l e strikes root

,
-
,

and pushes i ts way into practical li fe and in the

a a i rs o f every d a
'

y a man g raduall y comes to re g ard

m eu m and tu u m in much the same li ht as cards and
g ,

to consider that he ma y use to the utmost whatever

advantag es he possesses so lon g as he d oes not come
,

w ithin the arm o f the l a w E xamples o f what I mean .

are o f d aily occurrence i n mercantile li fe S ince .

,

then leisure i s the ower o r rat her the fruit o f ex

, , ,

i s ten ce a s it puts a man into possession o f himse l f

, ,

those are happy indee d who posse s s somethi n g rea l i n

t hemselves But w hat d o Y OU g et from most peo ple s
. .

leisure onl y a g oo d fo r no thi n g fellow wh o i s ter

- -

ri bl bored an d a burden t himsel f L t us there

y o e .
,

d o u b t, a thin g
f the p a s t, a t a n y ra t e a m o n g t th e
o s
na ti
us o f
n o rth ern E u ro p e . f
T h e p re s e n t a s hi o n i s ra th er i n fa v o ur o f a

d il etta n te i n t e res t in a rt o r li te ra t ure .

 P E RS ON A L IT Y ,
OR WH A T A MA N Is . 29

fore ,
rej oice de a r brethren fo r we a re n o t chi ldren of
, ,

the bo n dwo m a n but of the fr ee ,

.

Further as no land is s o well o ff as that which re

,

quires few imports o r none at all s o the happies t man

, ,

is o n e who has enou g h in hi s own inner wealth and r e ,

uires little o r n o thi n g f rom outside f or b is maintenance

q ,

fo r imports are expensive things reveal dependence eu , ,

tail d anger occasion trouble and when all is said and

, , ,

d o n e are a poo r substitute fo r home produce

,
N0 .

man ou g ht to expect much from others or in g eneral , , ,

fro m the external world What o n e human bein g

.

c a n be to ano ther is not a very g reat deal in the end

every o n e S tands alone and the important thing is ,

who it is tha t stands alone H ere then is another .

, ,

ap plication o f the g eneral truth which G oethe recog

n i s es in D i chtu n
g u n d W a hr hei t (
Bk I I I ) that in .
,

every thin g a man has u l timately to ap peal to himsel f ;

o r as G oldsmith p u ts it in T he T r a v el l er
,

S ti ll to o u rs el ves in ever y p l a ce co ns i n
g d
Ou r o w nfeli ci ty we m a ke or n d .

H imsel f is the source o f the best and most a man

can be or achieve The m ore thi s is s o the more a
.

man nds hi s sources o f plea s ure in himsel f the

happier he wil l be There fore it is with g reat truth
.
,

that A ristotle says T o b ha pp y m ea ns to be s elf

1
,
e

s ui ci en t F o r a l l other sources o f happiness are in

.

their nature most uncertain precarious eetin g the , , ,

sport o f ch ance and s o even under the most favour s

able circumstan ces they can e a s ily be exhausted nay ,

this is unavoidable because they are not al ways ,

1
E th E
. ud .
,
v ii . 2
.

D
30 T HE W I S D OM OF L IFE .

wi thin reach A n d i n old ag e these sources o f h a ppi

.

ness most necessarily d ry u p z love leaves us th en ,

an d wit desire to travel d eli g ht in horses aptitu d e

, , ,

fo r social intercourse ; f rien d s and relations too are , ,

taken from us by d eath Then more than ever it .

,

de pends upon what a man ha s in himsel f ; fo r this

wi ll stick to him lon g est and at an y period o f life it
it is the only g enuine and lastin g source o f happines s .

There is not much to be got anywhere in the world .

It is lled wi th misery and pain ; an d i f a m a n

escapes these boredom lies in wait fo r hi m at every
,

corner N a y more it is evil which g enerall y has t he

.

upper han d and folly makes the most noise F ate is

, .

cruel and mankin d pitiable I n such a world as this

,
.
,

a man who is rich in himsel f is like a bri g ht warm , ,

happy room at C hristmastide whi le without are ,

the frost and sno w o f a D ecember ni ght There fore .

,

W ithout d oubt the happiest destin y o n earth is to

,

have the rare gi ft o f a rich in divi d uality and more , ,

especially to be possessed o f a g oo d endowment

,

o f intellect ; this is the happiest destiny thou g h it ,

may not be a fter all a very bri lliant one There wa s

, , .

g reat wis d om in that remark which Q ueen C hristina

of S we d en made in her nineteenth y ear about
, ,

D escartes who had then lived fo r twenty years i n

,

th e deepest soli tude in H olland and apa rt from , ,

report wa s kno wn to her onl y by a sin g le essay : M

, .

D es ca r tes s he sai d i s the ha p p i es t of m en a nd his co n

, , ,

d i ti o n s eem s to m e m u ch to be en v ied 1
Of course a s .
,

wa s the case with D escartes external circumstances ,

must be favourable enou gh to allow a man to be

1
V i e dc D es ca rtes ,
p a r B a il l et . L iv . V ii .
, ch . 10 .
 PE R S ON A L IT Y ,
OR WH A T A MA N IS . 31

master o f his li fe and happiness ; o r, as we read in

E cc les i a s tes , Wi s d o m i s
1
g d to e
oo
g ther w i th a n i n her i
ta n ce, a n d p r ota bl e u n to them tha t s ee the s un The .

man to whom nature and fate have g ranted the

blessing o f wis d om will be most anxious and care ful ,

to keep open the fountains o f happiness which he has

in himsel f and fo r this independence a n d leisure are ,

necessary To obtain them he will be willi n g to

.
,

mo derate his desires and harbour his resources a l l the ,

more because he is not like others restricted to , ,

the external worl d fo r his pleasures S o he will not .

be misle d by exp ectations o f o ffice o r money o r , ,

t he favour and applause o f his fellow men into sur -

,

renderin g himsel f in or d er to con form to l o w desires

and vul gar tastes ; nay in such a case he wil l follow ,

the advice that H orace g ives i n hi s epistle to

Ma ecenas 2
It is a great piece o f folly to sacrice the
.

inner fo r th e outer m a n to g ive the whole o r the ,

g reater part o f one s quiet leisure and independence
fo r splen d our rank pomp titles and honour
,
This i s, ,
.

what G oethe di d My good luc k d rew me quite in .

the other direction .

The truth which I am insistin g upon here the ,

truth namely that the chie f source o f human happi

, ,

ness is internal is conrmed by that most a ccurate

,

observation o f A ri s totle in the N i cho m a chea n E thi cs 3

,

that every pleasure presupposes some sort o f ac t ivity ,

1 V ii 1 2
. .
3
i 7a
. n d vii . 1 3, 1 4 .

2
L ib . ep . 7 .

N ec s o m num p lebi s l a u do , s a tu r a lti li u m ,

n ee

Oti a di vi ti i s A ra bu m li berri m a m u to .
32 T HE WI S D OM OF L IF E .

the applic a tion o f so m e sort o f power without w hich ,

i t cannot exist The d octrine o f A ristotle s that a
.
,

man s happiness consists in the free exerc ise o f hi s
hi g hest faculties is also enunciated by S to b a eu s in his
,

exposition o f the P eripatetic phil o s 0 phy : ha pp i n es s

1
,

he says m ea n s v i go r o us a n d s ucces sfu l a cti v i ty i n a l l

,

o ur u n d er ta ki ngs ; and he explains that by v i go u r

y
(a i )
c l m he means m a s te r
y in any thin g whatever it be ,
.

N o w the ori g inal purpose o f those forces with which

,

nature has endowed man is to enable him to struggle

a g ainst the di fculties which beset him on all sides .

B u t i f this stru ggle comes to an end his unemploye d ,

forces become a burden to hi m and he has to set to

w ork a n d pla y with t h em use them I m ean fo r no , , ,

p urpose at all beyond avoi,

d in g the other so urce o f
human su fferin g boredom to which he is at once ex
, ,

posed I t is the upper classes people o f wealth who

.
, ,

are the g reatest victims o f boredom L ucretius lon g .

ag o desc ribed their miserable sta te an d the truth o f ,

his d escri ption m a y be still recognised to day in the -

,

li fe o f every great ca pital where the rich man is

seldo m in his o wn halls because it bores him to be ,

there an d still he returns thither because he is no

, ,

better o ff o utside o r e l se he is away in post

haste to his house in the country as i f it were on re ; ,

an d he is no sooner arrived there than he is bore d ,

ag ain and seeks to forg et every thin g in sleep o r else

, ,

hurries back to town once more .

E xi t s a epe fo r a s m a gn i s ea : (edi bus ille,

E do m i gu em p er ta es u m es t, s ubi to r even ta t
ss e gu e
Q u ipp e fo ri s n i hi lo m eli u s qu i s en ti a t es s e .

1
E cl . e th . ii .
,
ch . 7 .
 P E R S ON A L IT Y , OR WH A T A MA N Is . 33

Gti rri t, a gen s m a m n o s, a d vi lla m p r ecip i ta n ter ,

A u xili u m tecti s qu a s i ferr e a r d en ti bu s i n s ta n s

Os ci ta t extem p lo , teti gi t qu u m li m i n a v illa e

A ut a bi t i n s em na m gra vi s , a tqu e o bli vi a qu a er i t

1
A u t eti a m r
p po er a n s u r bem p eti t a tqu e revi s i t .

I n theiryouth such people must have

,
had a super
u i ty o f muscular an d V ital energ y powers which , ,

unlike those o f the min d cannot m aintain their ful l ,

de gree o f vig our very lon g ; an d in later y ears they

either have no mental powers at all or cannot d evelope ,

any fo r want o f employment which would brin g them

into play ; so that they are in a wretched pli ght .

Wi ll however they still possess fo r this is t he only

, , ,

power t hat is inexhaustible and they try to stimulate

t heir will b y passionate excitement such as g ames o f ,

chance fo r high s takes un d oubtedly a most deg radin g

form o f vice A n d one may s a y g enerall y that i f a
.

man nds himsel f with nothin g to d o he is sure to ,

choose some amuse m ent suited to the kind o f power

in which he excels bowls it m a y be o r c hess ; hunt
, , ,

in g o r painting ; horse racin g o r music ; cards o r -

,

poetry heraldry philosoph y or some other d ilettante

, , ,

interest We mi ght classi fy t hese interests m etho di

.

cal ly by re d ucin g them to expressions o f the three

,

fundamental powers the factors that is to say which g o , , ,

to m ake up the physiolog ical constitution o f man an d

further by consi d erin g these powers by themselves
, ,

and apart from any o f the denite aims which they

may subserve a n d simpl y as affo rdin g three sources
,

o f possi ble pleasure o u t o f w h ich every man will,

choose what suits him accordin g as he excels in o n e ,

direction o r anothe r .

1
III . 1 0 73 .
34 T HE WI S DOM OF L I F E .

First o f all come the pleasures o f v i ta l en ergy ,

o f food drink di g estion rest and sleep

, ,
and there are ,

parts o f the world where it can be said that these are

characteristic and national pleasures S econ d ly there .
,

are the pleasures o f m u s cu l a r en ergy such as walkin g , ,

runnin g wr estli n g dancin g fencing ridin g and simil a r

, , , ,

athletic pursuits which sometimes take the form o f ,

sport and sometimes o f a military li fe an d real war

,

fare . Third ly there are the pleasures o f s en s i bi li ty

, ,

such as observation thou ght feelin g o r a taste fo r , , ,

poetry o r cu l ture music learnin g readi n g meditation

, , , , ,

invention philosoph y an d the like A s reg ards the

, .

value relative worth and duration o f each o f these

,

k in d s o f pl easure a g reat d eal mi g ht be sai d w hich

, , ,

however I leave the rea d er to suppl y But every one

,
.

will see that the nobler the power which is brou ght
into pla y the greater will be the pleasure w hich it
,

g ives ; fo r pleasure always involves the u s e o f one s
o wn powers and happiness con s ists in a frequent
,

repetition o f pleasure N o o n e will deny t hat in this .

respect the pleasures o f sensibility occupy a hi gher

place than either o f the other two fun d amental kin d s ;
which exist in an equal na y in a g reater d e gree in , ,

brutes it is his preponderatin g amount o f sensibility

which distin g uishes man from other anim a ls N o w :

.
,

o u r mental powers are forms o f sensibili ty and there ,

fore a preponderatin g amount o f it makes us capable

o f t h at kind o f pleasure which has to do with mind ,

s o called intellectual pleasure ;

-
and the more sensi
bi l i ty predominates the greater the pleasure will b e ,
1
.

1
N a ture exhi bi ts a co n tin ua l p ro gres s s t rtin g f o m t he ,
a r

m ech a n i ca l a nd ch em ica l a c ti v i ty o f the i n o rga nic wo rl d ,

p r o
 36 T HE WIS D OM OF L IFE .

constant excitement o f t he will i s never a n unmixed

g ood to say the least ; in other words it involves
, ,

pain C ard playing that u niversal occup a tion o f

.
-
,

g ood society everywhere is a device fo r providin g ,

this kind o f excitement and that to o by me a ns o f , , ,

interests so small as to pro d uce sli ght and momen

tary instead o f real and permanent pain Card play
, ,
.
-

1
in g is in fact a mere tickl in g o f the will
, ,
.

On the other hand a man o f powerful intellect is ,

capable o f takin g a vivi d in terest in thin g s i n the

way o f mere kn o wl edge with no admixture o f wi ll ; ,

nay such an interest is a n ecessity to hi m

,
It places .

him in a sphere where pain i s an alien a diviner air ,

where the gods live serene

1
V u lga ri ty is , a t b o tto m ,
th e ki n d o f co n s ci o u s n es s i n whi ch
th e will p l etel y p re d o m in a tes o v er th e i n te ll ec t, wh ere the
co m

l a tter d o es n o thi ng m o r e tha n p er o rm th e s erv i ce o f i ts m a s ter, f

th e will f
T here o r e, wh en t he wil l m a k es n o d em a n d s , s up pli es
.

no m o ti v es , s tro n g o r wea k , the i n tel l ect en t i r el y l o s es i ts p o wer,

a nd th e r es ul t is co m pl e te va ca n cy o f m in d . N o w wi ll wi tho u t
i n tell ect i s th e m o s t v ul ga r a nd co m m o n th i n g i n the wo rl d ,

p o s s e s s ed by e v ery b l o ckh ea d , who ,

i n th e gra t ica ti o n o f hi s

pa s s i o n s , s ho ws t h e s tu ff o f whi ch h e i s m a de T hi s is th e co n
.

d itio n o f m in d ca ll ed vu l ga r i ty, i n wh i ch t he o n l y a cti ve el em en ts

a re th e o rga n s o f s en s e , a nd tha t sm a ll a m o unt o f i n tel l ec t .

whi ch i s n ec e s s a ry fo r a ppr eh en d i n g th e d a ta O f s en s e . A c co rd

i n gl y, th e vul ga r m a n i s c o n s ta n tl y o p en t o a ll s o rt s o f i m p r es
s io n s , a nd im m e di a t el y p ercei v es a ll th e li tt l e t riin g th in gs
tha t go o n in hi s e n vi ro n m en t : th e l ightes t whi s p e r , t h e m o st

t ri v i a l circum s ta n ce , is s ui ci en t to ro u s e hi s a t ten ti o n ; h e i s

j us t l ik e a n a nim a l . S u ch a m a n s m e n ta l c o n di ti o n re v ea ls
f
i ts el i n hi s fa ce ,
in hi s wh o l e ex teri o r a nd hen c e tha t v ul ga r,

r ep u l s i ve a pp ea ra n ce , whi ch i s a ll th e m o re o en s i v e , i f, a s i s
u s ua ll y th e ca s e , hi s wil l th e o n l y fa ct o r in hi s c o n s c i o u s n e s s
is a ba s e , s el s h a n d a l to ge th er b a d o ne .
 PE RS ON A L IT Y ,
OR WHA T A MA N I s . 37

06 0 2 beta !a i m /7 6 9 .
1

L ook on these t wo pictures the li fe o f the masses ,

one lon g dull record o f str ugg le and e ffort entirely

,

d evote d to the petty in terests o f personal welfare to ,

misery in all its forms a li fe b eset by i ntolerable

,

bo redom as soon as ever those a ims are satise d and

the man is thrown back upo n hims el f whence he can ,

be roused ag ain to so m e sort o f movement only by

the wild re o f pas s ion O n the othe r side y ou have
.

a man e n do wed with a hi g h d e g ree o f mental p o wer ,

leading an existence rich in thou g ht and ful l o f li fe

an d meanin g occupie d b y worthy and interestin g
,

obj ects as soon as ever he is free to g ive himsel f to

them hea ri n g I n himsel f a source o f the noblest plea
,

su re What external promptin g s he wants come from

.

the works o f nature and fro m the contemplation o f

,

human affairs and the achievements o f the great o f all

ag es an d countries which are thorou g hly appreciated
,

by a man o f this t ype alone as being the o n ly o n e ,

who can quite understand and feel with them A nd .

s o it is fo r him alone that those g reat ones have really

lived ; it is to hi m that they make their appeal ; the

rest are but cas ual hearers who only hal f understand
either them o r t heir fol lowers Of course this c har .
,

a cte ri s ti c o f the intellectual m a n imp l ies that he has

o n e more need than the others the nee d o f readin g , ,

observin g studyin g meditatin g practisin g the need

, , , , ,

in s hort o f undisturbed leisure F or as V oltaire ha s

, .
,

very ri g htly said ther e a re n o r ea l p lea s u r es witho u t

,

r ea l n eed s ; and the need o f the m i s why to such a

1
Odys s ey I V .
, 80 5 .
38 TH E WI S D OM OF LIF E .

man pl e asures are accessible wh i ch are denied to others

the varied beauties o f nature and art and literature
,

l o heap these round people who do not want them

an d ca n not appreciate them is like expectin g gre y ,

hairs to fall in love A man who is privile g e d in this

.

respect leads two lives a personal and an intellectual

, ,

li fe ; and the latter g radually comes to be looked upon

as the true one an d the form er as merely a means to
,

it . Other people make t his shallow empty and ,

troubled existence an end i n itsel f To the li fe o f the .

intellect such a m a n will g ive the pre ference over all

hi s other occupations : by the constant g rowth o f i n
si ght and knowle dg e this intellectual li fe like a
, ,

S lowl y formin g work o f art wil l acquire a consistency

-
, ,

a permanent intensity a u n i ty whi ch becomes ever

,
e

more and m ore comple te ; compared with which a ,

li fe devote d to the attain m ent o f personal com fort ,

a li fe that may broaden in d ee d b u t can never be ,

deepened makes but a poor S ho w and y et as I have

, ,

sai d people make this ba s er sort o f existence an en d

,

in itsel f .

The ordi n ary li fe o f every da y so fa r as i t is n o t ,

moved by pas s ion i s tedious and insipid and i f it is

,

s o move d it soon becomes pain ful

,
Those al one are .

happ y whom nature ha s favoured with some super

u i ty o f intellect somethin g beyond w ha t is j ust
,

necessary to carry o u t the behests o f th eir will ; fo r i t

enables them to lead an intell ectual li fe as well a li fe ,

unattende d b y pain an d full o f vivid interests Mere .

leisure that is to s a y intellect unoccupied in the s er

, ,

v ice o f the will is not o f itsel f su fcient : there must

,

be a real s u per ui ty o f power s et free from the s er ,

 PE R S ON A L IT Y , OR WH A T A MA N IS . 39

vice o fthe will and devoted to t ha t o f the intel lect ;

fo r as S eneca says o ti u m s i n e l i tter i s m o r s es t et v i v i
, ,

ho m i n i s s ep u l tu r a illiterate leisure is a form o f

d eath a livin g tomb V ary i n g with the amount o f
, .

the s u per u i ty there will be countless developments

,

in this second li fe the li fe o f the mind ; it may be the

,

mere collection and labelling o f insects bi rds mineral s , , ,

coins o r the hi ghest achievements Of poetry an d phil

,

osophy The li fe o f the min d is n o t onl y a protection

.

ag ai n st bore d om it also wards Off the pernicious e ffects

,

o f boredo m it keeps us from bad compan y from the ,

many d an g ers mis fortunes losses and extravag ances

, ,

which the man who places his happiness entirel y in

the obj ective world is sure to enco unter My phil .

osop hy fo r instance has never broug ht me in a s i x

, ,

pence but it has sp a red me man y an expense .

The ordinary man places his li fe s hap piness in
thing s external to him in property rank wi fe an d , , ,

children friends society and the like s o that w hen

, , , ,

he loses them or nds the m d isappointin g the tounda ,

tion o f his happiness is destroyed In other wor d s .

,

his centre o f g ravity is not in himsel f ; it is constantly

chan ging i ts place with every wish and whim I f h e
, .

is a man o f means one da y it will be his house in the

,

country another bu yin g horses o r entertainin g frien d s

, , ,

o r
travellin g a li fe in short o f g eneral luxury the , , ,

reason bein g t hat he seeks his pleasure in thin gs Ou t

si d e hi m L ike one whose he a lth and stren g th a r e
.

g one he tries to reg ain by the u s e o f j ellies and d ru g s

, ,

instead o f by d evelopin g his o wn vital power the true ,

source o f what he has lost Be fore procee d in g to the .

Opposite let us compare with thi s common type the

,
40 THE WI S D OM OF L IF E .

man who comes midway bet ween the two endowed , ,

it may be not exactly with d istinguished powers o f

,

mind but with somewhat more than the ordinary

,

amount o f intellect H e wil l take a dilettante interest

.

in art o r devote his attention to some branch o f

,

science botan y fo r example or physics astronomy

, , , ,

h is tory and nd a g reat deal o f pleasure in suc h

,

studies and amuse himsel f with them when external

,

sources o f happiness are exhausted or fail to satisfy

hi m a n y more Of a man like this it may be sai d that
.

his centre o f g ravity is partl y in himsel f B u t a .

dilettante interest in art is a very d ifferent thin g from

c reative activity ; an d an amateur pursuit o f science is

a
p t to be supercial and not to penetrate to t h e heart

o f the matter A man cannot entirely identi fy himsel f

.

with such pursuits o r have his W hole existence s o

,

completely lled and permeated with them t hat he

loses a l l interest in everythin g else I t is only the .

hi g hest intellectual power what we call geni us that , ,

attains to this deg ree o f intensity makin g all time ,

an d existence its theme and strivi n g to express its ,

peculiar conception o f the world whether it contem ,

plates li fe as the subj ect o f poetry o r o f philosop hy .

Hence undist u rbed occupatio n with himsel f his own

, ,

thou g hts and works is a matter o f urg ent necessity

,

to such a man ; solitude is welcome leisure is the ,

hi g hest g ood and everythin g else is unnecessary nay

, , ,

even bur d ensome .

This is the only ty pe o f man o f whom it can be

sai d that his centre o f g ravity is entirel y in himsel f
which explains why it is t h at people o f this sort
d they are ver rare no matter how excellent their
a n
y
 P E R S ON A LITY . OR WH A T A MA N IS . 41

character may be do not S ho w that warm and u n

,

limited i n terest i n frien d s famil y and the community

, ,

in g eneral o f which others are so o ften capable ; fo r

,

i f they have only themselves the y are n o t inconsolable

fo r the loss o f every thin g else This gives an isola .

t ion to their character Which is all the more e ffective

,

S ince other people never really quite satis fy them as ,

bein g o n the whole o f a di fferent nature : nay more

, , ,

since this di fference is constantl y forcin g itself upon

their n otice the y g et accustomed to move about
,

amon gst mankind as alien being s and in thinking o f ,

humanity in g eneral to say they instead o f we

,
.

S O the C onclusion we come to is that the man

whom nature has endowed with in tellectual wealth is
the happiest ; so true i t is that the subj ective concern s
us more than the obj ective ; fo r whatever the latter
may be it can work only indi rectly secon d arily and
, , ,

throu g h the me diu m o f the former a truth nely ex
pressed by L ucian
I I /\Oiir o s (i l v xiis n ho iir o s ,a dr o s
ij s g
r 1t
(
e

T dhha O xet dr i p wheto va 11 31 K r eoi vco v
! /
l

the wealt h o f the s o ul is the only t ru e wealth fo r ,

with all other riches comes a bane even g reater than

the y The man o f inner wealth wants nothin g from
.

outside but the negative g i ft o f undisturbed leisure ,

to develop and mature hi s intellectual fac ul ties that ,

is to enj oy his wealth ; in shor t he wants permission

, ,

to he him s el f hi s W hole li fe lon g ever y day and every

, ,

h our. I f he is d e s tine d to impress the character o f

his min d upon a whole race he has onl y one measure ,

1 E p igra m m a ta ,
12 .
 T HE W I S D OM OF L IFE .

o f h appiness unhappiness to succeed o r fail i n

or

perfecti n g his powers a n d completi n g his work A l l .

else is o f small conse quence A ccord in g ly the greates t .

,

minds o f all ag es have set the hi ghest value upon

un d isturbed leisure as worth exactly a s much a s t he
,

m a n himsel f H a pp i n es s a pp ea rs to co n s i s t i n lei s ur e
.
,

say s A ristotle ; an d D io g enes L a erti u s reports that

1

S o cr a tes p r a i s ed leis ur e a s the fa i r es t of a ll p o s s es s i o n s .

S O in the N i cho m a chea n E thi cs A ristotle conclude s

, ,

that a li fe devoted to philosophy is the happiest ; o r ,

as he says in the P o l iti cs the fr ee exercis e of a ny

2
,

o w r wha tev er i t m a be i s ha i n es s This a g ain

p e , y pp ,
.
, ,

tallies with what G oethe says in Wil hel m Meis ter : T he

m a n who i s bo r n wi th a ta l en t whi ch he i s m ea n t to
i n d s hi s i n es s i n u s i n
u s e,
f gr ea tes t ha
pp g i t .

But to be in possession o f un d isturbed leisure is ,

fa r from bein g the common lot ; nay it is somethin g ,

alien to human nature fo r the ordinary man s destiny ,

is to spend li fe in procuri n g what is necessary fo r the

subsistence o f himsel f and his famil y ; he is a s o n o f
stru gg le an d ne ed not a free intelli gence S o people
,
.

as a rule soon g et tire d o f un d isturbe d leisure an d it ,

becomes burdensome i f there are no ctitious an d

force d aims to occupy it play pastime and hobbies o f , ,

every kind F o r this very reason it is full o f possible

.

dan g er an d d iici l i s i n o ti o gu i es is a true sayin g

, ,

i t is d i fc ult to keep quiet i f you have nothin g to

do On the other han d a measure o f intellect fa r
.
,

surpassin g the ord inary is as unnatural as it i s ,

abnormal But i f it exists and the man en d owe d

.
,

with it is to be hap py he will want precisely that ,

2
1
E th N i ch o m
. . x . 7 . iv 1 1 . .
i
ts T HE W I S D OM OF L IFE .

hears it said an d said too wi th some plausibility

, , , ,

that th e narrow minde d man is at bottom the -

happiest even though his fortune is unenviable I

, .

shall make no attempt to forestal l the read er s own
u d g m ent on this point ; more especially as S ophocles
j
hi m sel f has gi ven uttera n ce to t wo diametrically
O pposite O pin i o n s :

H o h h) T O (bpo vei v et iOa LII O I/ la s

7r
p ii
c ro v in roipxet .
1

he says in one placewisdom is the g re a test part o f

happiness and ag ai n I n another passa g e he declares , ,

that the li fe o f the thou ghtless is the most pleasan t

o f all

v ij dw r o s
E d OE Bl 2
bpo vei v

v c
y p nn os .

The philosophers o f the Old T es ta m en t nd them

selves in a like contradiction .

T he life o f a fo o l i s wo rs e tha n d ea th 3

and
I n m u ch wis do m i s m u ch gri e f;
a nd he tha t i n crea s eth kn o wledge i n crea s eth s o rr o w .
1

I m a y remark however that a man who has no

, ,

mental nee d s because hi s intellect is o f the narrow

,

and normal amount is in the strict sense o f the word , , ,

what is called a p hi l i s ti n e a n expression at rs t
peculiar to the G erman lan g uag e a kin d o f slan g term ,

a t the U n iversities af terwards use d by analog y in a, , ,

3 E ccl es ia s ti c u s
A n t igo n e , 1 347 8 -
.
,
xxii . 11 .

1
554 E ccl e s i a s te s , i 18
9 A j

a x, . . .
 P E R S ON A L IT Y ,
OR WH A T A MA N IS . 45

hi g her sense thou g h stil l in its o rI gI n a l meanin g as

, ,

d enotin g o n e who is n o t a S o n o f the Mu s es A .

philistine I S an d remains it/ s ii 7p I shoul d pre fer

( L o ve o
'

( i/ 7 .

to take a hi g her point o f view an d apply the term ,

hi l i s ti n e to people who are alway s seriously occupie d

p
with realities which are no realities ; but as such a
denition woul d be a transcen d ental o n e and there ,

fore not g enerally intelli g ible it would hardly be in ,

place in the present treatise which aims at bein g ,

popular The other d enition can be more easily

.

eluci d ated indicatin g as it d oes satisfactorily enou g h

, , , ,

the essential nature o f all t hose q ualities which dis

ti n gu i s h the philistine H e is dened to be a
.

m a n wi tho u t m en ta l n eeds F rom this it follo ws .

,

rstly i n r ela ti o n to hi m s elf that he has n o i n tel

, ,

l ectu a l p l ea s u r es ; fo r as was remarked be fore there

, ,

are no real p l easures without real needs The philis .

tine s li fe is animated by no desire to gain knowle dg e
a n d insi g ht fo r their o wn sake or to experience that ,

true a esthe tic pleasure which i s so n earl y akin to them .

I f pleasures o f this kind are fashionable and the ,

philistine n d s himsel f compelled to pay attention to

them he will force himsel f to do so but he will take as
, ,

little interest in them as possible H i s on l y real pleasures .

are o f a sensual kind an d he thinks that these in d emni fy

,

him fo r the loss o f the others T o him oysters and c ham .

pag ne are the hei g ht o f existence ; the aim o f his li fe

is to procure what will con tribute to his bo d ily wel fare ,

an d he is i n d ee d in a happy way i f this causes him some

tro uble I f the luxuries o f li fe are heaped upon him
.
,

he will inevita bly be bore d an d a g ainst bore d om he ,

has a great many fancie d remedies balls theatr es , , .

E
46 T HE WI S D O M or L IF E .

parties cards gambli n g horses women drinking

, , , , , ,

travellin g and s o o n ; all o f which can not protect a

man from being bored for whe r e the r e are no intel ,

lectual needs no intellectual pleasures are possible

,
.

The peculiar characteristic o f the philistine is a dull ,

dry kind of grav ity aki n to that o f animals N othi n g ,

.

really p l eases or excites o r interests him for sensual

, , ,

pleasure is quick l y exhausted and the society of

'

philistines soon beco m es burdensome and o n e may ,

eve n g et t ired o f playing cards True the pleasures .

,

o f van i ty are left pl ea s u res whi ch h e enj oys in his

,

o wn wa y either by feeling himself superior in point

,

o f wealth or rank or in fl u ence and po wer to other

, ,

people who thereupon pay him honour ; o r at any

, ,

rate by g oing abou t with t hose W h o have a super

,

ui ty o f t hese blessings sunnin g himself i n the ,

reection o f their splendourwhat the E nglish call

a sno b
.

rom the essential nature o f the philistine it fol lows

F ,

secondly i n r ega r d to o ther s j tha t as h e possesses n o

, ,

intellectual but only physical nee ds b e will see k the

, ,

society o f those who can satis fy th e latter but not ,

the former The last thing he will expect from his

.

friends is the possession of any sort o f intellectual

capacity ; nay if he chances to meet with it it will
, ,

rouse hi s antipathy and even hatred si m ply because

in addition to an unpleasant sense o f inferiority h e ,

experiences in his heart a dull kind o f envy which

, , ,

has to be carefully concealed eve n from himself .

N evertheless it sometimes g ro ws into a secret feeling

,

o f rancour But for all that it will never occur to

.
,

h i m to make his o wn ideas o f worth or value conform

 P E RS ONAL I T Y ,
on WH AT A MA N IS . 47

to the standard o f such qualities he will continue to

give the preference to rank and riches po wer and ,

inuence which in his eyes see m to be the only

,

genuine advanta g es in the world ; and his wish will

be to excel in t hem himself A ll this is the co n s e
.

u en ce o f hi s being a man wi tho u t i n tel l ec tu a l n eed s

q .

The g reat a f ic tion o f all philistines i s th a t they ha ve

no interest in i dea s and that to escape being bored
, , ,

t hey are i n constant need o f r ea li ti es N ow r ealities .

are either unsa tisfactory or dang erous ; W hen they

lose their i nterest they become fatiguing But the
, .

ideal world is ill i m itable and cal m ,

s o m ethi n g a fa r
F ro m the sp her e f
o o ur s o rro w .

N O T E I n these re m arks on the personal qual ities

.

which go to make ha ppiness I have bee n mainly co n

,

cerned with the physical and intelle ct u al n a ture o f

m a n. F o r an account o f the direct and imm ediate
inuence o f m o r a li ty u po n happiness let m e refe r to ,

pr iz e es s a y o n F o u n d a ti o n S
m
y ( e c .
 C HA P TE R II I .

P RO P E RT Y ,
o n WH A T A MA N HA S .

E PI C URU S divides the needs o f mankind into three

classes and the di v ision made by this great professor
,

o f happiness is a tr u e and a ne one F irst co m e .

natural and necessary needs such as when not satis , ,

ed produce pain food and clothi n g v i ctu s et

, , ,

a m i ctu s needs which can easily be satised

,
S econdly .
,

there are those needs which thou gh natural are n o t , ,

necessary such as the g ra tication o f certain o f the

,

senses I may add ho wever that in the report given

.
, ,

by D iogenes L a e rti u s E picurus does not mention ,

which o f the senses he means ; s o that o n this point

my account o f his do c trine is s omewhat m ore denite
and exact t han th e original T hese are needs rather .

more di fcult to satis fy T he third class consis ts of .

needs which a re neither natural nor n ecessary the ,

need of luxury and prodig ality sho w and splendour , ,

which never co m e to an end and are ve ry hard to ,

satis fy 1
.

It is di fcult if n o t i m possible to dene the limits

, ,

wh ic h reaso n should i m pose on the desire fo r wealth

fo r t h ere is no absolute or denite amount o f wealt h
which will satis fy a man T he amount is al ways .

relative that is to s a y ust s o much a s will maintain

, ,

1
C f D io gen es L a erti u B k x ch xxvii pp 1 27 a n d 1 49
. s , . .
, . .
,
.

a l s o C i ce r o d e i bu i 13 a s
,
. .
 PR O P E RT Y OR WHAT A
,
MA N HAS . 49

the proportion bet ween what he wants and what he

gets ; for to measure a m a n s happiness only by what he

gets and not also by what he expects to g et is as futil e

, ,

as to try and express a fraction which shall have a

nu m erator but no denominator A man n ever feel s .

the loss o f things which it never occurs to him to a s k

fo r ; he is j ust as happy wit hout them ; whilst a n
other who m a y have a hundred times a s much feel s
, ,

miserable because he has not got the one thing wh i ch

he wants In fact here too every man ha s an horiz o n
.
, ,

of hi s o wn and he will expect just as much as he

,

thinks it possible for him to g et I f an obj e ct withi n .

his horizon looks as thou g h he could condently

reckon on g etting it he is happy ; b u t if difcul ties ,

co m e in the wa y he is miserable What lies beyond

, .

hi s horizon ha s no e ffect at all upon him S o it is .

that the va s t possessions of the rich do n o t agitate

the poor and conversely that a wealthy m a n is not
, ,

consoled by all his wealth fo r the failure o f his hopes .

R iches o n e may s a y are like sea water ; the more yo u

, ,
-

drink the thirstier yo u bec o me and the sa m e is true

,

o f fa m e The loss of wealth and prosp e rit y leave s a

.

m a n as soon as t he rs t p a n gs o f g rie f are over

,
in ,

very m u ch the sa m e habitual te m per as before ; and

the reason o f this is that as soo n as fate d iminishes ,

the amount o f his po s sessions he himsel f i m m ediately ,

reduces the amoun t o f hi s claims But when m i s fo r .

tune comes upon u s to reduce the amount o f our ,

claims i s just what is most painful ; once that we have

don e s o the pain becomes less and less and is felt n o
, ,

more ; like an o ld wound which ha s healed C o n .

v ers ely when a piece o f good fortune befalls us our

, ,
50 T HE WI S D O M or L IFE

cl ai m s mount hig her and higher as there is nothing ,

to regulate the m it is in t hi s feeling of expansio n

t hat the deli g ht o f it lies But i t l a sts no lon g er than
.

the process itself and when the expan s ion is co m plete

, ,

the delight ceases ; we have become accu s to m ed to the

increase in o u r cl aims and consequently indi fferent to
,

the amount o f wealth which satises t he m There is .

a passag e in the Od ys s ey illustrating t his truth of

1
,

which I m a y quote the last t wo lin e s

T o to ; ydp V 60 9 30 7 21! i n exeo v i wv dv dp uim o v

Olo v 3d) p p y
d es wa
a r
b i 8,0 631!
e o l/
l
9 6 6312

the thoughts of man that d wells on the earth are as

the da y granted him by the father o f g ods and men .

Discontent springs from a constant endeavour to i n

crease the amount o f o u r claims when w e are po wer ,

less to increase the amount whi ch will sati s fy them .

When we consider ho w full o f needs the human

race is ho w its whole existence is based upon them it
, ,

is n o t a matter for surprise that wea l th is held in

m ore sincere esteem nay in greater honour tha n
, , ,

anyt hi n g else in the world nor ou ght w e to wonder

that g ain is m ade the only g oal o f li fe and everything ,

that does not lead t o it p u shed aside o r thrown over

board p hilosophy for i nstance by those who profess
, ,

it P eople are o ften rep roached for wi s hin g fo r money

.

above all things and for lovin g it more than a nythin g

,

else but it is natural and even ine v itable for people

to love that which like an un wearied P roteus is
, ,

al ways ready to turn itself into whatever obj ect their

wandering wishes or m a nif o ld desires may for the
1
xviii 1 30 7 .
-
.
52 T HE WI S D O M O F L I FE .

m en ; moreover th e kind of
,
work t hey do is alway s

i n demand ; so that what the proverb says is quite

tr u e a u s efu l tr a de i s a m i n e of go l d But with
,
.

artists a n d professionals o f every kind the case i s

uite di fferent and that is t he reaso n wh they are
q , y
well paid . They ought to b u ild up a capita l out o f
t hei r earnin g s ; but they recklessly look upon the m

a s m erely interest and end in ruin ,

On the other .

h a n d people who inherit mon ey kno w at least ho w

, , ,

to dis tingui s h between capital and interest and most ,

o f th em try to make t heir capital secure a n d n o t

encroach u p o n it ; n a y if they can th ey put by at
, ,

least an eigh th o f th eir interest in order to m e et

future contingencies S o most of them maintain
.

their position T hese few remarks about capital and

.

interes t are not applicable to co m mercial life fo r ,

merchants look upon m oney only as a means o f

f urther gain j ust as a workman regards hi s tool s so
,

even i f their capital has been entirely the result o f

their o wn efforts they try to preserve and increase it
,

by u s ing it A ccordi ng ly wealth is nowhere S O mu ch

.
,

at hom e as in the m erc hant class .

I t will generally be found that those who know

what it is to have been in need and destitution are
very much less a fraid o f it and consequently more ,

inclined to extravag ance than those who kno w poverty ,

only by hearsay P eople who ha v e been born and

.

bred in g ood circu m s tances are a s a rule much more

careful about the fu ture more economical in fact , , ,

than those who by a piece o f goo d luck have s u d ,

d en ly pas s ed from poverty to wealth This looks as .

i f pover ty were not really such a very wretched thing

 P R O P E RT Y ,
OR WHAT A MA N HA S . 53

a s it appears from a distance The true reason .

,

ho wever is rather the fact that the man who has

,

been born into a p osition o f wealth co m es to look

upon it as so m ething wit hout which he could no more
live than he could live without air ; he g uards it as
he does his very li fe ; and so he is generally a lover
o f order prudent and economical
,
But the man who .

ha s been born into a poor posi tion look s upon it as

the natural o n e and i f by any chance he comes in for
,

a fortune he r egards it as a s u per u ity S o m ething to

, ,

be enj oye d or was ted because if i t co m es t o an e n d

, , ,

h e can g et o n just as well as before with o n e anxiety ,

the less o r as S hakespeare says in H enry V I

,
1
.
,

the da ge m us t be veried
a

T ha t begga rs m o u n ted ru n thei r ho rs e to d ea th .

But it should be said that people o f this kind have a

rm and excessive trust partly in fate partly in the , ,

peculiar means whi c h have already raised them out

O f need and poverty a trust not only o f the head but
, ,

o f the heart also ; and s o they do n o t like the man ,

born rich look upon the shallows o f poverty as

,

bottomless but con s ole themselves with the thought

,

that once they have touched g round agai n they can ,

t a ke another up ward i g ht It is this tra i t in human .

character which explains the fact that wo m en who

were poor be fore their marriag e O ften make g reater
claims and are more extravagant t han those who
, ,

have brought their husbands a rich do wry ; because

as a rule rich g irls bring wi th them not only a
, ,

fortune but also more eagerness nay more o f the

, , ,

P a rt A ct 1 S o 4
1
, . .
54 T HE W I SD O M OF LI FE .

inherited instinct to preserve it than poor g irl s do

, ,
.

I f any o ne dou bts the truth o f this and t hinks that it ,

is j ust the opposite he will n d authority fo r hi s ,

vie w in A ri o s to s rst S atire ; but o n the other hand , ,

D r Johnson ag rees with my O pinion : A wo m a n of

.

b i s ed to the ha n d l i n g o
f o r tu n e he says
,
e n g u , f m one
y ,

s en ds i t j u d i c i o u s l y ;
p b u t a w o m a n who gets the

co m m a n d of m o n ey fo r the r s t ti m e up o n her m a r

r i d ge, ha s s u ch a gu s to i n s p en d i n g i t tha t s he thr o ws

,

it a wa y wi th gr ea t p r ofu s i o n :l
A n d i n any case let
me advise anyone who marries a poor girl not to
leave he r the capital but only the interest and to ,

take especial care t h at S h e has n o t the management

o f the c h ildren s fortune

.

I do not by any m eans think tha t I am touching

upon a subj ect which is not worth my while to
mention when I rec o m m end people to be care ful to
preserve what they have earned or inherited F o r to .

start life wi th j us t as much as will make o n e inde

pendent that is allo w one to live co m fortably W ith
, ,

out havi n g to work even i f o n e ha s only j ust enough

fo r onesel f n o t to s peak o f a fa m ily i s an advan tag e
,

which cannot be over esti m ated ; fo r i t m eans ex em p -

tion and i m m unity from that chronic disease o f

p enury wh ich fast ens o n the life o f man like a
,

plague ; it is emancipation from t hat forced labour

which is th e natural l o t o f every mortal Only un d er .

a favourable fate l ike this can a m a n be said to be

born free to be in the proper sense o f the word s ui
, , ,

ur i s m aster O f his o wn t ime and po wers and able to

j , ,

s a y every mornin g T hi s d a y i s m y o wn ,
A n d j ust .

1 B o s well s Li f e o f Jo hn s o n

a nn 1 776 a eta t : 6 7 , .
 PRO P E R T Y ,
OR WHAT A MA N HA S . 55

fo r the same reason the di fference between th e man

wh o has a hun dred a year and the man who has a
thousand is inni t ely smaller than the di fference b e
,

t ween th e former and a m a n who has nothin g at all .

But in herited wealth reaches its utmost value when i t

falls to the indivi dual endowed with mental po wers
o f a hi gh order who is resolved to pursue a line o f
,

li fe not co m patible with the m akin g o f money ; for

h e is then doubly endowed by fate and can live fo r
his g enius ; and h e will pay his debt to m ankind a
hundred times by achieving what n o other could
,

achieve b y pro ducing some work which c o ntributes

,

to the general good and redounds to th e honour o f

,

humani ty at larg e A nother again may u s e hi s

.
, ,

wealth to f urther philanthropic schemes and make ,

himself well deserving o f his fellow men But a man

- -
.

who does none o f these thin g s who does not even try ,

to do t hem who never attempts to study thoroughly

,

some o n e branch o f kno wle dge s o that he may at

least do what he can towards promoting i t such a
o ne,
born as h e is i nto ric hes is a mere idl e r a n d ,

thief o f time a conte m ptible fello w H e will not

,
.

even be happy because i n his ease exemption fro m

, , ,

need delivers hi m up to the ot her extreme o f human

su fferin g boredom which is such martyrdom to h im
, , ,

that he would have b een better o ff if poverty had

g iven hi m so m ething to do A n d as h e is bor e d he is
.

apt to be extrava g ant and s o lose the a d v a n ta ge o f

,

wh ich h e sho wed hims e lf un worthy C ountless numbers .

o f people nd t h ems e lv e s in want simply because when , ,

t hey ha d money they spent it only to get m o mentary

,

reli e f from t he feelin g o f boredom which oppres s ed them .

56 T HE WI S D OM OF LIF E .

It

is quite another matter if one s obj ect is success in
poli tical life where fa v our friends a n d connections
, ,

are all i m portant in ord er to mount by their aid step

-
,

by step o n the ladder o f promotion and perhaps gai n ,

the topmost run g I n t his kind o f li fe it is much

.
,

better to be ca st o n the world with ou t a penny and

i f the aspirant is not o f noble fam ily b u t is a man o f ,

some talent it will re dound to hi s advan tage to be an

,

absolute pauper F o r what every o n e most ai m s at

.

in ordinary contact with his fello ws is to prove th em

in ferior to himself ; and how much more is this the
case in politics N o w it is only an ab s olute
.
,

pau per who has such a thorou gh conviction o f his

o wn complete pro found and positive inferiority fro m
,

every point o f Vie w o f his o wn utter i n s ign i ca n ce

,

and worth lessness that h e can take hi s place quietly

,

in the political machine 1

H e i s the only one who
.

ca n keep o n bo win g l o w enough and even go ri gh t ,

do wn upon his face if n ecessary ; h e al on e ca n sub

mit to every thin g and lau gh at it he alone kno ws the
entire worthlessness o f merit ; h e alone uses hi s
loudest voice and hi s boldest type whenever he has to
speak o r write of those who are placed over his head ,

o r occ u py any position o f inuence and if they do a

little s cribbli n g h e is ready to applaud it a s a master
,

work . H e alone understands how to beg and s o ,

1
T ra n s l a to r
s N ta S cho p en ha u er i s pr o b a b l y h e r e m a k i n g
e

o n e o f h i s m a n y vi r ul en t a tta ck s u p o n H e ge l ; i n thi s ca s e o n

b e th e p hi l o s o p h er s a b j ect

a cc o un t o f wha t he t h o u gh t to

s e rvi l i ty t o t he go ve rn m e t o f h i s d a y n T h o ugh th e H egel i a n

.

s ys t em ha s b een t he fr u i tf u l m o th e r o f m a n y l ib e r a l id ea s the r e ,

ca n b e n o d o ub t th a t H egel s i n u en ce i n h i s o wn l i f e t im e wa s
-
, ,

a n effe ctive s upp o r t o f P r u s s i a n b u r ea u cr a cy .

 P RO P E R T Y OR WHA T A MA N HAS
, . 57

b etimes , when
he is hardly o ut o f his boyhood h e ,

becomes a high priest o f that h idden mystery which

Goethe bring s to light

U eber s N i eder tr a chti ge
'

N i em a n d s i ch bekla ge
D en n es i s t da s M d chti ge
Wa s m a n di r a u ch s a ge
i t is n o u s e to complain o f l o w aims ; for whatever ,

pe o ple may s a y they rule the world , .

On the other hand the man who is born with ,

enough to live upon is g eneral ly O f a some what inde

pendent turn o f m i nd he is accustomed to keep his
h ead up ; he has n o t learned all the arts o f the
begg ar ; perhaps he even presumes a little upon the
possession o f talents which as he ou ght to kno w can , ,

never co m pete wi th crin g in g mediocrity ; in t he long

run he comes to recognise the in feriority of those who
are placed over his head and when th ey try to put ,

insults upon hi m he becomes refra c tory and s hy

, .

Thi s is not the way to g et o n in the world N ay .

,

such a man may at last incl ine to the opinion freely

expressed by V oltaire : We ha ve o n ly two d a ys to l i ve
i t is no t wo r th o ur whi l e to sp en d them i n cr i n i n
g g to
co n tem p ti ble r a s ca ls
But alas let me O bserve by th e
.

wa y that co n tem p ti bl e r a s ca l is an attribute which

,

may be predicated of an abo m inable number o f people .

W h a t Ju v en a l says i t is d i i cu l t to ri s e i f your
poverty is greater than your talent
Ha ud f a ci l e em er u n t i i rtu ti bu s o bs ta t
) g qu o ru m
r
,

R es a ngu s ta do m i

i s more applicable to a c areer Of art and literature

than to political a nd social ambition
58 T H E W I SD O M O F LI F E .

Wife and children I have not reckoned amon gst a

man s possessio n s : h e is rath er in t heir possession It
.

would be easier to include friends under that head ;

but a m an s frien ds belo n g to him n o t a whit more
th an h e belon g s to the m
.
60 T HE W I S D OM O F LI FE .

If the feeling o f h onour rests upon this peculiarity

o f human nature it may have a very salutary e ffect
,

upon the wel fare of a great many people as a s ubs ti ,

tute fo r mor a lity ; but upon their ha ppiness more ,

especially upon that peace of mind and independence

which are so essential to happiness its e ffect will be ,

disturbing a n d prej udicial rather than salutary .

T herefore it is a d vi s able from o u r point o f Vie w , ,

to s et limits to this weakness and duly to con ,

sider and rightly to esti m ate the relative value o f a d

vantag es and thus temper as fa r as possible this great
, , ,

susceptibility to o ther people s opinion whether the ,

opinion be o n e attering to o u r vanity o r whether it ,

causes us pain ; for in either case it is the same feel

in g which is touched Other wise a man is the slave o f
.
,

what other people are pleased to think a n d ho w ,

little it re quires to disconcert o r soothe the mind that

is gree dy o f praise

S i c lec e, si c p a r vu m es t, a n i m a m
qu o d la u di s a ra ru m
1
S u bru i t
a c r e ci t .

There fore it will ve ry much conduce to o u r happi

n ess i f we duly com pare the val u e o f what a man is

in and fo r hi m s el f with what he is in the eyes o f

others U nder the former comes everyt hing that lls
.

up the sp a n o f o u r existence and m akes it what it is ,

in shor t all the advantag es alrea dy considered and

,

summed U p under the heads of personality and pro

perty and the sph ere in which all t his takes place is

the man s own consciousness O n the other hand the .
,

1
H o ra ce, E p is t II ,
1 , 1 80 .
 R E PU T A T I ON . 61

sphere o f wha
t we are for other people is their con

s c io u s n es s not ours ,
it is the kind o f gure we make
in their eyes to g ether with the though ts which this
,

arouses 1
But this is somethin g which has no direct
.

and immediate existence for us but can affect us only ,

med iately and indire ctly so fa r t hat is as other , , ,

people s be haviour to war ds us is directed by it ; and
even then it ought to affect us only in s o fa r as it can
move us to modi fy wha t we a r e i n a n d fo r o u r s elv es .

A part from t his what g oes o n in other people s con

s ci o u s n es s is as such a matter o f indi fference to us

, ,

and in ti m e we get really indi fferent to it when we ,

come to s ee ho w super cial and futile are most people s

t hou ghts ho w n arro w their ideas ho w mean their

, ,

senti m ents ho w perverse their O pinio n s and ho w

, ,

much o f erro r there is in most o f them ; when w e

learn by experience with what depreciation a man
w il l speak o f his fello w when he is not oblige d to fear ,

hi m or thinks t hat wh at h e says will not come to hi s

,

ears A n d if ev er we have had an O pportunity o f

.

seein g ho w the greatest o f m en will meet with nothi n g

but sli g ht from half a dozen blockheads we shall - -

understan d t hat to lay great value upon what other

people s a y is to pay them too much honour .

A t all events a man is in a very bad wa y who n ds

, ,

no source o f happiness in the rst t wo classes of bless

ing s already treated of but has to s ee k i t in the third
, ,

i n other wor ds not in what he i s in himself but i n

, ,

1
L et m er em a rk tha t p eo pl e i n th e highe t p o s itio n s i n l i fe s ,

wi th a ll t h ei r b ri ll i a n ce p o m p d i pl y
, a gn i c e n ce a n d gen e r a l
,
s a ,
m

s ho w m , y w
a e ll s a y
O ur h a pp i n e s li e s en ti r el
y o u ts
s id e us fo r ,

i t exi s ts o n l y in th e hea ds o f o the r s .

F
62 T HE WI S D O M OF L I FE .

what he is in the opinion o f others F o r a fter all .

, ,

the foundation o f our whole nature and there fore o f , , ,

o u r happiness is our physique and the most essential

, ,

factor in happines s i s health and next in importance , ,

after healt h th e abili ty to maintain ourselves in inde

,

p e n d en c e and freedom from care There can be no .

competition o r compensation bet ween these essential

factors o n the one S ide and honour pomp rank a n d
, , ,

reputation o n the other ho wever much value we may

,

s et upon the latter N O o n e would h esitate to sacri

.

ce the latter for the former i f it were necessary ,

.

We S hould add very much to o u r happiness by a

timely recogniti o n o f the simple truth that every

m an s chief and real existence is in his o wn skin and ,

n o t in other people s opinions ; and consequently that , ,

the actual conditions o f o u r personal li fe h ea 1th , ,

tempera m ent capacity i n com e wi fe children friend s

, , , , , ,

home are a hundred times more important for o u r

,

happiness than what other people are pleased to think

O f us : other wise we shall be m iserable A n d if people .

insist that honour is dearer than li fe itsel f what t hey ,

really mean is that existence and well bein g are a s -

nothing compared wi t h other people s O pinions Of .

c o urse this may be only an exagg erated wa y Of stat

,

in g the prosaic truth that rep u tation that is the , ,

O pinion others have o f us is indispensable i f we are ,

to make any prog ress in the world but I shall co m e

back to t hat presently W hen we see that almost .

everythin g men devote their lives to at t ain spari n g ,

n o e ffor t and encounterin g a thousand toils and da n ger s

in the process ha s in th e end no further obj ec t t ha n

, , ,

to rais e themselve s in the estimation of O thers whe n

 R E PU T AT I ON . 63

we that not only O fces title s decorations but also

s ee , , ,

1
wealth n a y even knowledge and art are striven fo r
, , ,

only to O btain as the ultimate goal o f a l l effort

,
.
,

g reater respect from one s fello w m en is

n o t this a -

lamentable proof o f the extent to wh i ch human folly

can go ? To set much to o hi g h a value o n other
p eople s Opi n l o n I s a common error every where ; an

error it may be rooted in human nature itself o r the

, , ,

result o f civili s ation a n d social arra n g e m ents gener

ally ; but whatever its source it exercises a very
, ,

i m moderate inuence o n all we do a n d is Very prej u ,

d i ci a l to o u r happiness We can trace it from a .

timorous and slavish regard fo r what other people

will s a y up to the feeling whic h made V i rgi n i u s
,

plung e the dagger into his daughter s heart or induces ,

many a man to sacrice quiet ric h es health and even , ,

li fe itsel f fo r posthumous glory Un doubtedly this

,
.

feeling is a very convenient instrument in the hands

o f those who h ave the control o r direction o f their

fello w men ; and accordin gly we n d that i n every

-

sc heme for trainin g up humanity in the wa y it should

go the maintenance and stre n gt henin g o f t he feel i n g
,

O f hon o ur occupies an important place But it is .

quite a di fferent m atter in its e ffect o n human happiness ,

O f which it is here our o bj ect to treat ; and we should

rather be careful to dissua de people from s ettin g to o

much store by what others thi n k o f them D aily ex .

ri en ce S hows us ho w ever that t h i s is t the mis

p e , u s ,

take people persist i n making ; m ost men s et t he

utmost value precisely o n what other people t hink ,

1
S ci re tu u m n ihi l es t n i s i te re ho c s ci a t a lter (P e rs i us i
s ci
, . 27)
-
k n o wl edge i s l
n o u s e un es s o the r s k n o w tha t yo u ha ve i t .
64 T HE W I S D O M O F LI F E .

and are more concerned about it than about what go es

o n in their o wn cons i o usness which is the thing most
c
,

i m mediately and d irectly present to them They .

reverse the natural o rder re g arding the O pinions o f

,

others as real existence and their o wn consciousne s s

as something shado wy ; making the derivative and
secondary into the principal and considering the ,

picture they present to the world of more importance

than their o wn selves By thus trying to get a direct
.

and immediate result o u t o f what has no really direct

or immediate existence they fall into the kind o f folly
,

which is called v a n i ty the appropriate t erm fo r that

which has no solid or intrinsic value L ike a miser .
,

suc h people forget the end in their eagerness to Obtain

the means .

T he tr u th i s t h at the value we s et upon the opinion

of others and o u r constant endeavour i n resp ec t o f it
, ,

are each q uite o u t o f proportion to any result we may

reasonably hope to attain ; so that this attention to

other people s attitude may be reg arded as a kind o f
universal m ania which everyone inherits In a l l we .

do almost t he rs t thi n g we think about i s what will

, ,

people s a y ; and n early hal f the troubles a n d bothers

o f li fe may be traced to o u r anxiety o n t hi s score it
is the an x iety which is at the botto m o f all that
feeling o f self importance wh ich is so O ften mortied
-
,

because it is so very morbidly sensitive It is solici .

tud e a b o u t wha t oth ers will s a y t hat underlies all o u r

vanity and pretension yes and a l l o u r S ho w and

, ,

s wagg er to o Without it there would not be a tenth

.
,

part o f th e luxury which exists P ride in every form .

,

o i n t d ho n n eu r and u n ti l i however varied their
p p c o ,
 R E P U T AT I ON . 65

kind or sphere are at bottom nothing but this

,

an xiety about what others will s a y a n d what sacri

ces it o ften costs ! On e can see i t even in a child ;
and thou g h it exists at every period o f life it is ,

strongest in age ; because when the capacity for ,

sensual pleasure fails vanity and pride have only

,

avarice to S hare their dominion F ren chmen perhaps .

, ,

a fford the best exam ple o f this feel ing and amon g st ,

them it is a re g ular epidemic appeari n g sometimes in ,

the m ost absurd ambition o r in a ridiculous kind of ,

national va n ity and the most shameless boastin g .

H o we v er they frustrate their o wn aims fo r other

, ,

people make fu n O f them and call them l a gr a n de

na ti o n .

By wa y o f specially illustrating t his perverse and

exu berant re s pec t for other people s opinion let me ,

take a pas s ag e from th e T i m es o f March 31 s t 1 846 , ,

giving a detailed account o f the execution o f o n e

Thomas Wi x an apprentice who fro m m otives of
, ,
.

vengeance had murdered his master H ere we have

, .

very unusual circumstances and an extraordinary

cha racter though o n e very suitable for o u r pur po s e ;
,

and these combine to g ive a stri kin g picture of this

folly which is s o deeply rooted in human nature and
, ,

allo w us to form an accurate notion Of t he ex tent to

which it will go On the m orning o f the execution
.
,

says th e report the r ev o r d i n a r y wa s ea r l y i n

, .

a tten d a n ce u po n hi m bu t Wi x beyo n d a qu i et
, ,

d em betr a yed n o i n ter es t i n hi s m i n i s tr a ti o n s

ea n o u r , ,

a pp ea r i n g to feel a n xi o u s o n l y to a cqu i t hi m s elf

br a v ely befo r e the sp ecta to r s of hi s i gn o m i n i o u s

en d . I n the p r o ces s i o n Wi s: fel l i n to hi s
66 T HE W I SD O M O F LI F E

p ro
p er
p l a ce wi th a la cr i ty, a n d, a s he en ter ed the
C ha p el ya r d r em a r ked s uici en tl y l o u d to be hea r d
-
, ,

by s ev er a l p er s o n s n ea r hi m

N o w then a s Dr Do dd , , , .

sa i d, I s ha ll soon kn o w the gr a n d s ecr et . 0n r ea c h
i n g the s ea
o l d , the m i s er a bl e wr etch m o u n ted the
dr o p wi tho u t the s l i ghtes t a s s i s ta n ce, a nd when he
go t to the he bo wed to the sp ecta to r s twi ce a
cen tr e, ,

r o ceed i n g whi ch ca ll ed fo r th a tr em en d o u s cheer

p
r o m the d egr a d ed cr o wd ben ea th
f .

T his is an admirable exa mple o f the way in which a

m a n with death in the most dreadful form before hi s
,

very eyes a n d eternity beyond it wil l care fo r

, ,

not hing but the i m pression he makes upon a cro wd o f

gapers and the opinion he leaves behind him in th eir
,

heads There wa s much the same kind of thing in

.

the case o f L ecomte who wa s executed a t F rank furt , ,

als o in 1 846 for an attempt on the ki n g s life A t th e
,
.

trial h e wa s very muc h annoyed that he wa s n o t

allo wed to ap pear in decent attire before the U pper , ,

H ouse ; and on the day o f the execution it wa s a

special grie f to him that he wa s n o t perm itted to
s have It i s not only in recent ti m es that this ki nd
.

o f thi n g has been kno wn to happen Mateo A leman .

tells us in the Intro duction to hi s celebrate d rom ance

, ,

Gu z m a n d e A lfa r a che th at m any in fatuated cri m inals , ,

i nstead o f devoting t h eir l ast hours to t he wel fare o f

their souls a s they ought to have done n eglect this
, ,

duty fo r the purpose o f preparin g and co m mitting t o

m e m ory a s peech to be made from the sca ffol d .

I take these extre m e cases a s being the best illus

tra t i o n s o f what I m ean for t h ey g ive us a mag nied
re e c tion o f our Own n a tu re T he anxieti es o f all o f .
68 THE W I S D O M O F LI FE .

from this univers al folly the result would be such an

,

addition to o u r peace of mind and cheer fulness as at

present seems inconceivabl e ; people would present a
rmer and more condent front to the world and ,

g enerally behave with less embarrassment and re

straint It is observable that a retired mode of life
.

has an exceedingly benecial in uence o n our peace o f

mind and this is mainly because we thus escape
,

having to live constantly in the sight o f others and ,

pay everlasting r egard to their casual O pinions in a

word we are able to return upon ourselves
,
A t the .

same time a good deal of positive misfortune might be

avoide d which we are n o w drawn into by striving
,

after shado ws o r to speak more correctly by i n d ul g

, , ,

in g a mischievous piece o f folly ; and we should con

sequently have more attention to g ive to solid realities
and en j oy them with less interruption than at present .

But x hen d 1 5 K a tha what is worth doing i s hard to do

a L .

S ecti o n 2
.

P r i de .

The folly o f o u r nat u re whi c h we are discussing

p u ts forth thre e S h oots ambition vanity and pri d e
, ,
.

The di fference bet ween the last two i s this : p r id e is

an established conviction o f one s o wn paramount
w orth in some particular respect while v a n i ty is the
desire o f rousin g such a conviction in others and it is ,

generally a c companied by the s ecret hope o f ul ti

mately com i n g to the sam e conviction onesel f P ride .

work s fr o m w ithi n ; it is th e direct appreciation o f

onesel f V anity is the de s ire to arrive at this a ppre
.

ci a ti o n i n di r e ctl yfr
,
o m wi tho u t S O we nd that vain
.
 P R ID E . 69

people are talkative and proud taciturn B ut the

, , .

vain person ou ght to be a ware that the g ood opinion

o f ot h er s which he strives for may be O btained much
, ,

more easily and certainly by persistent silence than by

speech even t h ough h e has very g o od things to say
, .

A nyone wh o wishes to a ffect pride is n o t therefore a

proud man ; b u t he will soon have to dro p th is as ,

every other assum ed c h aracter

,
.

It is only a rm unshakeable conviction o f pre

,

eminent worth and special value wh i c h makes a man

proud in the true sense o f the word a conviction ,

which may no doubt be a mis taken o n e o r rest o n

, ,

adva ntag es which are O f an adventi tious and co n v en

t i o n a l c harac ter : still pride is not the less pride fo r
all that S O lon g as it be present in real earnest A n d
, .

since prid e is thus rooted in convicti o n i t resembles ,

every other form o f kno wled g e in not being within

our o wn arbitram ent P ride s worst fo e

. I mean its ,

g reatest obst a cle is vanity which courts the a p
, ,

l a u s e o f the world in order to g ain the necessary

p
foundation fo r a high O pinion o f one s o wn worth

W hilst pride is based upon a pre existi n g conviction -

O f it
.

I t is q uite true t hat pride is so m ething which is

g enerally found fault with and cried do wn ; but ,

usually I imagine by t h ose wh o have nothin g upon

, ,

whic h th ey can pride th emselves I n Vie w o f th e .

i m pudence and foolhardine s s o f most people anyo n e ,

wh o posses es any kind o f superiority or merit will

s

d o we l l to keep his eye s xed o n i t if he does n o t ,

want it to be entire l y forg otten ; for i f a m a n is good

na tured e n o u gh to ignore his o wn privileges a n d ,
70 T HE W I S D O M OF LI FE .

hob nob with the g enerality of oth er people as if h e

-
,

were quite on their level t h ey will be sure to treat

,

hi m ,
frankly and candidly a s o n e o f t he m selves , .

This is a piece o f advice I would s pecially O ffer to

those whose superiority is o f the highest k ind real
superiority I mean o f a purely personal nature
, ,

which cannot like orders and titles appeal to t he eye

, ,

o r ear at every moment as other wise they will n d

, ,

t h at familiarity bree ds contempt o r as the R omans , ,

used to say s u s Mi n er v a m
,
Jo ke wi th a s l a v e a n d
.
,

he l l s o o n s ho w hi s heel s is an excellent A rabian

proverb nor ought we to despise what H orace says ,

Sa m e s up erbia m

Qu ces i ta m m eri ti s .

usurp the fame you have deserved N O d oubt .

,

when modesty wa s m a de a virtue it was a very a d ,

v a n ta geo u s thin g for the fools fo r everyb o dy is

expected to speak o f himself as if he were one T his .

is lev ellin g do wn indeed ! for it comes to look as i f

there were nothing b u t fools in the world .

The cheapest sort of pride is national pri d e for if

a man is proud of his o wn nation it argues that he ,

ha s no q ualities of his o wn o f wh ich he can be pro u d ;

otherwise he would not have recourse to those whic h
,

he S hares with s o many millions o f his fellow m en -

.

The man who is endo wed with i m portant pers onal

qualities will be only too ready to s ee clearly in what
respect s his o wn nation falls short S ince their faili n g s ,

will b e constantly before his ey es B ut every m iser .

able fool who ha s nothing at all of which he can b e

72 THE W I SD O M OF LI FE .

na m e for the particular form which the l ittl en ess ,

perversity and baseness o f mankind take i n every

country I f we becom e disg usted with o n e we prai se
.
,

another until we get disg usted with this too E very

,
.

n ation m ocks at ot h er nations and all are right , .

The contents o f this chapter which treats as I , ,

have said o f what we represent in the world o r what

, ,

w e are in the eyes o f others may be further d i s tri ,

buted under three heads honour rank and fame , .

S ecti o n 3 R . a nk .

L et us tak e rank rst as it may be dismissed in a ,

few words although it plays an important part in

,

the eyes of the masses and o f the philistines and is a ,

most u se ful wheel in the machinery o f the S tate .

It h a s a purely conventional value S trictly .

speaking it is a sham ; its method is to exact an

,

articial respect and as a m atter o f fact the whole

, , ,

thing is a mer e farce .

Orders it may be said are bills o f exchan g e drawn

, ,

o n pub l ic opinion and the mea s ure o f their value i s

,

the credit o f the dra wer Of course as a substitute .

,

f o r pensions they save the S tate a g ood deal o f

,

money and besides they serve a very useful purpose

, , ,

i f t he y are distributed with discrimination and j udg

m ent F o r people in g eneral have eyes and ca rs it is
.
,

true but n o t much else very little j udgment indeed , ,

o r even m emory There are many services to the

.

S ta te quite beyond the ran g e o f their u nderstandi n g

oth ers again are appreciated and made m uch of fo r a
, ,

ti m e a n d t hen soon forgotten It seems to m e th ere

,
.
,
 H ONOUR .
73

fore very proper that a cross or a star should

, ,

proclai m to the mass of people a l ways and every

where T hi s m a n i s n o t l i ke yo u ; he ha s d o n e
,

s o m ethi n g But ord ers lose their value when they

.

are distri buted unjustly or without due selection or , ,

in to o g reat numbers : a prince S hould be as careful in

.

con ferring them as a man o f business is in si g ning

a bill It is a pleonas m to inscribe o n any order fo r
.

d is ti n gu is hed s er v i ce for every order ou g ht to be fo r

distinguished service That stands to reason
. .

S ecti o n
h Ho n o ur .

H on our is a much larg er q uestion than rank and ,

more di i c u l t to discuss L et us begin by trying to

.

dene it .

If I were to s a y H o n o u r i s exter n a l co n s cien ce ,

a n d co n s ci en ce i s i n wa r d ho n o ur no d oubt a g ood

many people would assent ; but there would be more

s how than reality about such a denition and it ,

would hardly go to the root o f th e matter I prefer .

to s a y H o no u r i s o n i ts o bj ectiv e s i d e o ther p eop l e s

, , ,

o i n i o n of wha t we a r e wo r th ; o n i ts s u b j ti i d
p ec v e s e ,

i t i s the r esp ect we p a y to this o p in i o n F rom the .

latter point o f view to be a m a n of ho n o u r is to

,

exercise what is often a v ery wholesome but by no ,

m eans a pure l y m oral inue n ce ,

.

The feeling s o f honour and Shame e x ist in every

man who is n o t utterly depraved and honour is ,

every where rec o gni s ed as som ethi n g par ticularly

,

valuable The rea s on o f this is a s follo ws By and

. .

in himsel f a man can accomplish very little ; he

74 T HE WI S D OM OF LIF E .

is like R obins on C rusoe o n a desert island I t is onl y .

in society t hat a man s po wers can be called into full

activity H e very soon nds this o u t when his

.

consciousness be g ins to develop and there arises i n ,

h im th e desire t o be looked upon as a usef u l member

o f society as o n e that is who is capable o f playing
, , ,

his part as a man p r o p a r te v i r i li thereby a cqui r

i n g a rig ht to the benets of social life N o w to be .
,

a useful member o f society one must do t wo thing s : ,

rstly what everyone is expected to do everywhere ;

,

and secondly wha t one s o wn particular position in the

, ,

world de m ands and requires .

But a man soon discovers that everything de

pends upon hi s bein g use ful not in his o wn O pinion , ,

but in the O pinion Of oth ers ; and s o he tries his best

to mak e tha t favourable impres s ion upon the world ,

to which he attaches such a high val ue H ence this .

,

pri m itive and innate c haracteristic o f human nature ,

which is called th e feeling of honour o r und e r , ,

another aspect the feelin g o f shame v er ecu n di a

,
It .

is this which brings a blush to his cheek at the

tho ug h t of having suddenly to fall in the estimation
o f ot h ers even when he kno ws that he is innocent
, ,

nay even if his re m i s sne s s exten d s to no absolute

,

obli g ation but onl y to o n e which he ha s taken upon

,

hi m self Of his o wn free will C onversely nothing in .

,

li fe gives a man so much courage as the attainment

o r rene wal of th e conviction that other people regard

him with fav our ; b ecause it means that everyone

j oins to g ive him help and protection which is an ,

inn itely stronger bul wark against the ills o f life

than an ything he ca n do himself .
76 T HE W I S D O M O F LI F E

no more than mere abuse is a ki n d o f summary S lander

,

with a suppression o f the reasons What I mean may .

be well pu t in the Greek phrase not quoted from

any author EO T V ] A d p O /8 A ) O
S
'
CS
'
'

L 7 OL oIt is i a la 0 ?
'

U V T O LL
I

true that if a man abuses ano t her he is S imply S ho w ,

ing that he has no real or true causes of complaint

ag ainst him ; as o ther wise h e woul d bring these
, ,

forward as the premises and rely upon his hearers ,

to draw the conclusion themselves : instead o f which ,

he g ives th e conclusion a n d leaves o ut th e premis es ,

trusting t hat people wil l suppose t hat he ha s done s o

only for the sake o f being brief .

C ivic honour draws its existence and name from

the middle classes ; but it appli es equally to all n o t ,

excepting the high est N O man can disregard it and

.
,

it is a very serious thing o f which every o n e s hould

,

be careful not to m ake li ght The man wh o breaks .

condence has fo r ever forfeited condence whatever ,

h e may do and whoever he may be ; and the bitter

,

consequences of the loss o f condence can never be

averted .

T here i s a sense in whic h honour may be said to

have a n ega ti ve c haracter in opposition to the p o s i ti ve
character Of fame F o r honour i s n o t the opinion
.

people have o f particular qualities which a man may

happen to posse s s exclusively : it is rather the opinion
they have o f the qualities which a man m a y be ex
ct ed to exhibit and to which he s h ould n o t prove
p e ,

false H onour t here fo re m eans t hat a m a n is n o t

.
, ,

exceptional ; fame that he is ,

F am e is somet hing .

which must be wo n ; honour only so m ethin g which ,

mu s t not be lost The absence o f fame is obscuri ty

.
,
 H ONOUR . 71

which is only a negative but loss of honour is S hame ,

which is a positive quality This negative character

.

of honour m u st not be confused with anything p a s s i ve

fo r honour is above all things active in its working It .

is the only q ual ity which proceeds di r ectly from the

man who exhibits it : it is concerned entirely with
what he does and leaves undone and ha s nothing to ,

do with the actions o f others o r the O bstacles they

place in hi s wa y It is somethi n g entirely in o ur o wn
.

power 7 63v Edi t/ e v This distinction as we shall s ee

L .
,

presently mark s o ff t rue honour from the sham honour

,

o f chi v alry .

S lander is the only weapon by which honour can be

attacked from without ; and the only way to repel
the attack is to con fute the S lander with the proper
amount o f publicity and a due unmaskin g o f him who
,

utters it .

The reason why respec t is paid to age is that old

people have necessarily S hown in the course o f their
lives Whether or not they have been able to maintain
their honour unble m ished ; while that o f young people
has not yet been put to the proof though they are ,

credited with the possession of it F o r neither length .

o f years , equalled as it is and even excelled in the

-
, , ,

case o f w
some of the lo er animals nor ag ain experi , , ,

ence w hich is only a closer knowledg e of the world s

,

ways can be any su fcient rea s on for the respect

,

which the you n g are everywhere required to S ho w

to wards the o l d : fo r i f it were merely a matter o f
y ears the weak ness which attends o n age would call
,

rather fo r consideration than fo r respect It is how .

,

ever a r emarkable fact that white hair al ways com

,

G
78 T HE W I S D O M O F LI FE .

mands reverencea reverence really innate and i n

s ti n c tiv e Wrinkles a much surer S ign Of Old ag e
.

command no reverence at all : you never hear any o n e

speak o f v en er a ble wri n kles but v ener a ble whi te ha i r
is a common expression .

H onour has only an indirect value F o r as I ex .

,

plained at the begi nning o f this chapter what other ,

people think o f us i f it a ffects us at all can a ffect us

, ,

only in so far as it governs their behaviour towards

us and only j ust s o lon g as we live with o r have to
, ,

do with them But it is to society alon e that we O we

,
.

that safety which we and our possessions enj oy in a

state O f civilisation in all we do we need the help of
others and they i n th eir turn must have condence
, , ,

in us before they ca n have anythin g to do with us .

A ccordingly their O p i n i on of us i s indirectly a matter

, , ,

o f g reat importance though I cann ot see ho w it can

have a d irect o r immediate value This is an opinion .

also held by C icero I qu i te a gr ee he writes wi th

.
, ,

wha t C hr ys ipp u s a nd D i o gen es u s ed to sa th t

y a, a

go o d re
p u ta ti o n i s not wo r th r a i s i n g a fi n ger to o bta i n ,
if i t wer e not tha t i t i s
f This truth s o use ul
ha s .
1

been insisted upon at g reat length by Hel v e ti u s in hi s

chief work D e l E s p r i t the conclusion o f which is
2
,

th a t we l o ve es teem n o t fo r i ts o wn s a ke bu t s o l el y fo r ,

the a dv a n ta ges whi ch i t br i n gs A n d as the means .

can never be more th an the end that saying o f which , ,

so much is made H o n o u r is de a r er tha n l ife i ts elf is

, , ,

as I have remarked a very ex a ggerated s tatement , .

S o much then for civic ho n our

, , .

1 D e n ibu s i i i .
,
17 .

2
D is c : i i i .
,
13 .
80 T HE W I S D OM O F LI FE .

S ub o rdinate to the honou r o f official personages

comes that o f those wh o serve the S tate in any other
capacity as doctors la wyers teachers anyone in
, , , , ,

short who by g raduatin g in any subj ect or by any

, ,

other public declaration that he is qualied to ex er

cise some S pecial S kill claims to prac tise i t ; in a
,

word the honour o f all those who tak e any

,

pub lic pled g es whatever U nder this head comes

.

military honour in the tr ue sense o f the word the

, ,

O pinion that people who have bound thems elves to

defend their country really possess the requis ite
qualities which will enable them to do so especially ,

courag e personal bravery and strength and that they

, ,

are perfectly ready to defend their country to the

death and never and under no circumstances desert
,

the ag to which they have once s worn alleg iance I .

have here taken Ofcial honour in a wider sense than

that i n which it is generally used namely the respect , ,

due by citizens to an O fce itself .

In treatin g o f s ens ua l ho n o u r and the principles o n

which it rest s a little more attention and analysis are
,

necessary and what I shall say will support my con

-

tention that all honour really rests upon a utilitarian

basis T here are two natural divisions o f the subj ect
.

the honour o f women and the honour of men in ,

either side is s uin g in a well understood esp r i t de co rp s

-
.

T h e former is b y far the more important o f the two ,

because the most essential feature in woman s life is
her relati on to m a n .

F e m ale honour is the g eneral O pinion in regard to a

girl that S he is pure and in re gard to a wife t hat s he
,

is faithful T h e i m portance of this opinion r es ts upon

.
 Ho N o U R . 81

th e follo wi n g considerations Women depend upon

.

men in all the relations of life ; men upon wo m en it ,

might be said in o n e only S O an arrangement is

, .

made fo r mutual interdependence man underta king

responsibility for all woman s needs and also fo r the

children that spring from their union a n arrange
ment o n which is based the wel fare o f the whole
female race To carry o u t this plan women have to
.
,

band together wit h a sho w o f esp r it d e co rp s and ,

present o n e undivided front to their co m mon enemy ,

m a n who possesses all the good things o f th e earth in

, ,

v irtue o f his superior physical and intellectual power ,

i n order to lay siege to and conquer him and so get ,

possession o f him and a share o f those g ood thing s .

To this end the honour of all women depends upon

the en force m ent o f th e rule that no woman S hould give
hersel f to a man except in marriage in order that ,

every man may be forced as it were to surrender and

, ,

ally himself with a woman ; by this arran g ement pro

vision is made fo r the whole o f the female race This .

is a result however which can be obtained only by a

, ,

strict observance o f the rule and accordin gly wo m en

, ,

every where S ho w true esp r it d e co rp s in care fully i n

sisting upon its maintenance A n y girl who com m its
.

a breach o f the rule b e trays the whole female race ,

because its wel fare would be destroyed if every woman

were to do likewise s o s h e is cast o u t with s hame as
o n e who has lost her honour N o woman will have
.

an ything more to do with her ; S h e is avoided like

the plague The same doom is a warded to a woman
.

who breaks the marriage tie ; fo r in s o doin g s he is

false to the terms upon which the man capitulated ;
82 T HE WI S D O M OF LI F E .

and as her conduct is such as to frighten other men

from makin g a similar s urrender it imperils the wel ,

fare Of all her sisters N ay more this deception and

.

coarse breach of troth is a crime punishable by the

loss n o t only o f personal but also o f civic honour
, , .

T his is why we minimise the shame of a girl but not ,

o f a wife ; becau s e in the former case m arria g e can

, ,

restore honour while in the latter no atonemen t can

, ,

be made fo r the breach of contract .

Once this esp r i t d e co rp s is ackno wledged to be the

foundation of female honour and is seen to be a ,

wholesome nay a necessary arrangement as a t bottom

, , ,

a matter of prudence and interest i ts extreme import ,

ance for the wel fare o f wome n will be recognised But .

it does not possess anything more than a relative

value It is no absolute end lying beyond all other
.
,

aims o f existence and valued above life itself In .

this view there will be nothin g to applaud in the

,

forced and extravagant conduc t o f a L ucretia o r a

V i rgi n i u s conduct which can easily degenerate i n to
trag ic farce and produce a t erri ble feeli n g o f revulsion
,
.

The conclusion o f E m i li a Ga lo tti fo r instance makes , ,

o n e leave the theatre completely ill at ease and o n the ,

other hand all the rules of female honour cannot pre

,

vent a certain sy m pathy with C lara in E gm o n t To .

carry this principle o f female honour too far is to

forg et the end in thinking o f the meansa n d th i s 1 8
j ust what people O ften do ; fo r such exag geration
su gg ests that the value of sexual hono ur is absolu te
while the truth is that it is more relative than any
other kind On e might go s o far a s to s a y that i ts
.

value is p urely conventional when o n e se es fro m ,

84 T HE WI S DOM O F LI FE .

t he Government o f the country F rom her point of .

View s h e occupies an exceptional position and does ,

not come under the ordinary rules of sexual honour

fo r s h e has merely g iven herself to a man who loves
her and who m S he loves but cannot marry A n d in
, .

general the fact that the principle of female honour

,

has no ori g i n in nature is S hown by the many bloody

sacrices which have been Offered to i t the murder
,

,

of children and the mother s s uicide N o doubt a girl .

who contravenes the code commits a breach of faith

against her whole s ex but this faith is o n e which is
only secretl y taken for grant ed and not s worn to ,
.

A n d since i n most cases her o wn prospects su ffer

, ,

most immediately her folly is innitely greater than

,

her crime .

The corresponding virtue in men is a product o f

the o n e I have been discussing It is their esp r i t de .

co rp s which demands that once a man has made that

, ,

surrender of himself in marriag e which is so a dv a n

ta geo u s to his conqueror he shal l take care that the
,

terms o f the treaty are maintained ; both in order

that the agreement itself may lose none o f its force
by the permission of any laxity in its Observance and ,

that m en having g iven up everythin g may at least

, , , ,

be assured o f th eir barg ain nam ely exclusive posses , ,

sion A ccordi n gly it is part o f a man s honour to
.
,

resent a breach o f the marriage tie o n the part of his

wife and to punish it at the very least by separating
, ,

from her If he condones the Offence his fellow men

.
,
-

cry s hame upon hi m ; but the S hame in this case is

not nearl y s o foul as that of the woman who has lost
her honour ; the stain is by no means o f so deep a
 H ONO U R . 85

dye l ev i o r i s n o ta e m a c u la ; because a m an s relatio n

to woman is subordinate to many other and more

i m portant a a i rs in his life The two great dramatic
'

poets o f modern times have each taken man s honour
as the theme o f t wo plays ; S hakespeare in Othel l o
and T he Wi n ter s T a le and C alderon in E l m edi co d e

,

s u ho n r a (
,
the P hysician o f his H onour ) and A s ecr eto ,

a gr a v i o s ecr eta v en ga n z a (fo r S ecret Ins

,
u lt S ecre t

V en g eance ) It S hould be said however that honour

.
, ,

deman d s the punishment of the wi fe only to punish

her p a ramour to o is a work o f supererogation This
,
.

conrms the v ie w I have tak en that a man s honour ,

ori g i n ates in esp r it de co rp s .

The k ind o f honour which I have been discussing

hith erto has al ways existed in its various forms an d
principles amongst all nations and at a l l times ;
altho u gh th e history o f female honour shows that its
principles have u ndergone certain local modications
at di fferent periods But there is another species O f
.

honour which di ffers from this entirely a species o f ,

honour of which the Greeks and R omans had no co n

c e ti o n and up to this day it is perfectly unkno wn
p ,

amongst C hinese H indoos o r Mohammedans It is a

, .

kind o f honour which arose only in the Middle A ge ,

and is indigenous only to C hristian E urope nay only , ,

to an extremely small portion o f the populatio n that ,

i s to say the higher classes o f society and those who

,

ape them It is kn i ghtl y ho n o u r or p o i n t d ho n n eu r
.
, .

Its principles are quite di fferent from those whic h

underlie the kind of honour I have been treating
until now and in some respects are even opposed to
,

the m . The sort I am referring to produces the

86 T HE WI S DO M O F LI FE .

ca v a while the other k ind creates the m a n of

l i er ;
ho n o ur A s this is so I shall proceed to give an
.
,

explanation o f its principles a s a k ind o f code o r ,

mirror of k nightly courtesy .

T o beg in with ho nour of this sort co nsists n o t

, ,

in other peopl e s O pinion of what we are worth but ,

wholly and entirely in whether they express it o r not ,

no matter W hether they really have any O pinion at all ,

let alone whether they k n o w o f reasons fo r havin g

o ne . Other people m a y entertain the worst opinion
o f us in consequence o f what we do and may despise ,

us as much as they like ; so long as no o ne dares to

g ive expression to his O pinion our honour remains ,

untarnished S o if o ur actions and qualities compel

.

the highest respect from other people and they have ,

no option but to give this respect a s soon as anyone ,

-
,

no matter how wicked o r foolish he may be utters ,

som ething depreciatory of us o u r honour is o ffended , ,

nay gone fo r ever unless we can manag e to restore it

, , .

A superuous proof o f what I say namely that , ,

k ni g htly honour depends not upon what people think

, ,

but upon what they say is furnished by the fact that

,

ins ul ts can be withdra wn o r if necessary form the, , ,

subj ect o f an apology which mak es them as thou g h

,

they had never been uttered Whether the O pinion .

which underlay the expression has also been rectied ,

and why the expre s sion should ever have been use d ,

are questions which are per fectly unimportant : so

long as the statement is with d rawn all is well The ,
.

truth is that conduct o f t his kind a i m s not at earning ,

respect but at extorting it

,
.

In the second place t his s o rt of honour rests, ,

 T HE WI $ O M OF L I FE .

become your friends ,

i f your whole being is a S tanding
reproach to them
W k g l a s
a s t d u ii ber F ei n de 9 .

S o ll ten S o lche j e werden F reun de

D en en d a s Wes en wi e du bis t,
,

I m s till en ei n ewi ger V o r wu rf i s t ?

I t is O bvious that people o f this wor thless des cri p

tion have g ood cause to be thankful to the principle
o f honour because it puts them on a level with people
,

who in every ot h er respect stand fa r above them If .

a fellow likes to insult any o n e attribute to hi m for , ,

example some bad quality this is taken p r i m a fa ci e

, ,

as a well founded opinion true in fact ; a decree as it

-
, ,

were with all the force o f l a w ; n a y if it is not at

, ,

once wiped o ut in blood it is a j udgment which ,

holds good and valid to all time In other word s the .

,

man who is insulted remains i n the eyes o f all

ho n o ur a ble p eop le what the man who uttered the
insult even though he were the greatest wretch on
earth wa s p l eased to call hi m ; for he ha s p u t up
wi th the insult the technical term I believe , .

A ccordingly all ho n o u r a ble p eop le will have nothing

,

more to do with hi m and treat h i m like a leper and , , ,

it may be refuse to go into any company where h e

,

may be found and s o on , .

This wi s e procee din g may I think be traced back , ,

to the fact that in the Middle A ge up to the fteenth ,

century it wa s not the accuser in any criminal

,

process who had to prove the g uil t o f the accused but ,

the accused who had to prove his innocence 1

This .

1
S e e C G v o n Wa cht er s B ei tra ge z v/r deu tschen Ges chichte
. .
t
,

e s p eci a ll y th e cha p te r o n c r im i n a l l a w .
 H ONOUR . 89

he could do by s wearing he was not guilty ; and his

backers co n s a cr a m en ta es had to come and s wear
l
that in their O pinion he wa s incapable o f perjury If .

h e could nd no one to hel p h im in this wa y o r the ,

accuser took obj ection to his backers recourse was ,

had to trial by the Ju dgm en t of Go d which generally ,

m eant a d uel F o r the accused wa s n o w i n di s gr a ce

.
1
,

and had to clear himsel f H ere then is the origin o f .

, ,

the notion o f disgrace and o f that whole system ,

which prevails n o w a days amongst ho n o u r a ble p eop le

- -

only that the oath is omitted This is also the

,

explanation o f that deep feel in g o f indignation which

ho n o ur a ble p eo p le are called upon to sho w if they are
g iven the lie ; it is a reproach which they s a y must

be wiped o u t in blood I t seldom comes to this .

pass however though lies are o f common occur

, ,

rence ; b u t in E n gland more than else where it i s a , ,

superstition which ha s taken very deep root A s a .

matter o f order a man who threatens to kill another

,

fo r telling a lie should never have told o n e himself .

The fact is that the criminal trial o f the Middle A ge

,

also admitted o f a shorter form In reply to the charge .

,

the accused answered : T ha t i s a li e ; whereupon it wa s

l eft to be decided by the Ju dgm en t of Go d H ence .
,

the code o f kn ightly honour prescribes that wh en the ,

lie is g iven an a ppeal to arms follo ws as a matter o f

,

course S o much t he n for the theory of insult

.
, , .

But there is something even worse t han insult ,

1 T ra n s la to r

s N o te . It is t rue tha t thi s expr es s io n ha s
a no r a n d S p eci a l m ea ni n g i n the te chn ica
th e l t e rm i n o l o gy o f
C hiva lry b u t i t i s the n e res t E n gl i s h eq uiva l en t whi ch I
a ca n n d

,

fo r the G e r m a n ei n B es cho lten er .

90 T HE WI S D O M OF LI FE .

somethin g so dread ful that I must beg pardon o f all

ho n o u r a ble p eop le fo r s o much as mentionin g it in
this code o f knightly honour ; fo r I know they will
'

shiver and their hair wil l S tand o n end at the very

, ,

thou ght o f i t the s u m m u m m a lum the greatest evil ,

o n earth worse than death and da m nation

, A man .

may give a nother ho r r i bi le d i ctu !a slap or a blo w .

This is such an a wful thi n g and s o utterly fatal to all ,

honour that while any other species of insult may be

, ,

healed by blood letting this can be cured only by the

-
,

co u d e gr d ce
p
- -
.

In the third place this kind of honour has ,

absol ute l y nothin g to do with what a man may be in

a n d fo r h imself or a g ain with the ques tion whether
, ,

his moral character can ever become better or worse ,

and all such pedan tic inquiries If your honour .

happens to be attacked o r t o all appearan ces gone it , ,

can very soon be restored in i ts entirety if yo u are

only quick enou gh in havin g recourse to the o n e

universal remedy a d uel But if the aggressor does .

n o t belo n g to the cla s ses w hich recognise the code o f

kn i ghtly honour o r ha s him s elf once o ffended against

,

it there is a safer wa y o f meeting any atta ck u pon

,

your honour whether it consists in blo ws or merely

, ,

in words If yo u are armed you can s trike do wn

.
,

your o pponent o n the spot o r perhaps an hour later , .

This will restore your honour .

But if yo u wi s h to avoid such an extrem e step from ,

fear o f any u npleas an t consequences arisin g there from ,

or from uncertainty as to whether the a gg ressor is

subj ect to the laws o f knightly honour o r n o t there is ,

another means o f making your position goo d namely , ,

92 THE W I SD O M O F LI FE .

we can at once annul his superiority and o ur o wn

shallowness and in o u r turn be superior to him by
, ,

being i nsulting and o ffensive F o r rudeness is better .

than any arg ument ; it totally eclipses intellect If .

o u r O pponent does not care for o ur mode o f attack ,

and will not ans wer still more r udely so as to p l ung e ,

us into the ignoble rivalry O f the A va n ta ge we ,

are the victors and honour is o n o ur side Truth .

,

kno wledge understandin g intellect wi t must beat

, , , ,

a retreat a n d leave the eld to this almighty

insolence .

H o n o ur a bl e p eo p le immediately mak e a S h ow o f
mounting th eir wa r horse if anyone utters an opinion
-
,

adverse to theirs o r S hows more intelligence than they

,

can muster ; and if in any controversy they are at

a loss for a reply they loo k about fo r some weapon o f
,

rudeness which will serve as well and come readier to

,

hand S O they retire masters o f the position It must .

n o w b e obvious that people are quite right in applaud

in g this principle of honour as havin g ennobled the

tone Of society This principle sprin g s from a nother
.
,

which form s the heart and soul o f the en tire code .

F ifthly the code implies that the hi ghest court

,

to which a man can appeal in any di fferences h e may

have with another o n a point o f honour is the court
o f physical force that is o f brutality
,
E very piece o f
,
.

rudeness is strictly speak ing an appeal to brutality

, ,

fo r it is a declaration that intellectual strength and

moral insi ght are incompetent to decide and that the
battle must be fou g ht o ut by physical force a
,

stru ggle which in the case o f m a n whom F ranklin

, ,

denes a s a to o l m a ki n g a ni m a l is decided by the

-
,
 H ONOUR . 93

weapons peculiar to the species ; and the decision is

irrevocable This is the well known principle o f the
.
-

r i ht o
f gm i ht o f course like the wi t o f a
g irony ,
fo o l , ,

a parallel phrase The honour o f a knight may be

.

called the glory o f m i g ht .

L astly if as we s a w above civic honour is very

, , ,

scrupulous in the matter o f m eu m and tu um payin g ,

great respec t to O bligations and a promise once m ade ,

the code we are here discussing displays o n the other ,

hand the noblest li berality

, There is only o n e word .

which may not be broken the wo r d of ho no u r upon ,

o ,
a
my ho u r as people s y the presumption being o f
n ,

co urse that every other form of promise may be broken

, .

N ay i f the worst comes to the worst it is easy to brea k

, ,

even one s word o f hono ur and still remain honour ,

able ag a in by adopting that un i versal re m edy the ,

duel and ghting wit h those who maintain that we

,

pledg ed our word F urther there is one debt and

.
, ,

o n e alone that under no circu m stances must be le f t

,

unpaid a gamblin g debt which has accordin g ly been ,

cal led a d ebt of ho no u r In all other kinds o f debt you

.

may cheat Jews and C hri s tians are much as you

like ; and your knightly honour remains without a
stain .

T he unprej udice d reader will see at once that such

a strange sav ag e and ridiculous code of honour as
,

this has no foundation in human nature nor any ,

warrant in a healthy view o f hu m an affairs The .

extremely narro w sp h ere of its O peration ser v es only

to inte n si fy the feelin g whic h is excl usively conned
,

to E urope since the Middle A ge and the n only to the ,

upper classes Oi cers and soldiers and people who

, ,

H
94 T HE wI s no M 0 F L I F E .

i mitate them N either Greeks nor R omans k n ew

.

anyt hin g of this code o f honour o r o f its principles ;

n o r the hi g hly civilised nations o f A sia ancient o r ,

m odern .A m o n g s t them no other kind o f honour i s

reco gn ised but that which I di s cussed rst in v irtue ,

O f w h ic h a man is wh at he sho ws himself to be by hi s

action s n o t what any wagg in g tongue i s pleas ed to

,

o f hi m They thou g ht that what a man said

sa
y . or

did mi ght p erhaps affect hi s o wn honour but not any ,

other man s To them a blow wa s but a bl o w and

.
,

any horse o r donkey could g ive a harder o n e a blo w

.

w hich un der certain circumstances m ight m ake a man

an g ry a n d d emand i m m e diate ven g eance ; but it ha d
nothing to do with honour N o o n e kept account o f .

blo ws o r insultin g words o r o f the s a ti sfa cti o n which

,

wa s d emanded o r omitted to be de m anded Y et in .

personal bravery a n d contempt o f death the an cients ,

were certainly not in ferior to the nation s o f C hristian

E uro pe , T he Greeks and R o m an s were thoroug h
heroes, i f yo u like ; but they knew nothing about

o i nt d ho n n eu r If they had idea o f a due l it
p . a n
y ,

wa s totally unconnected with the li fe o f the nobles ;

it wa s merel y the exhib i tion o f mercenary gladiators
,

slaves d evote d t o sla u ght e r co n d e m ned cri m inals , ,

wh o alternat ely with wild beasts were set to butc her

, ,

o n e another to make a R o m an h oliday When C hris ,

ti a n i ty wa s introduced gla diatorial sho w s were d one

,

a way wit h and their place taken i n C hristi a n ti m es

, , ,

b y t he d ue l wh ic h wa s a wa y o f settling d i fficulties
,

by the Ju dgm en t o f Go d I f t he gladiatorial gh t was

.

a cruel sacrice to the prevailing desire for grea t

spectacles d u elling is a cruel sacr ice to existi ng pre
,
96 T HE WI S D o M OF LI F E .

and h e bore it all mildly On ce for instance when .

, ,

somebody kicked hi m the patience with which he ,

took the insult surprised o n e o f hi s friends D o yo u .

thi nk said S ocrates tha t if a n a s s ha pp en ed to ki ck m e

, , ,

I s ho u l d r es en t i t ? 1
On another oc casion when he ,

wa s asked H a s n o t tha t fello w a bus ed a n d i n s u l ted yo u ?

,

N o wa s his ans wer wha t he s a ys is n o t a dd r es s ed to

, ,

m e
2
. S to b eeu s has preserved a long passag e from
Mu s o n i u s from which we can s ee ho w the ancients
,

treated insults They knew no other form o f satis

.

faction than that which the l a w provided and wise ,

people despised even this If a Greek received a box .

o n the ear he could get satisfaction by the aid O f the

,

l a w ; a s is evident fr o m P lato s Go rgia s where ,

S ocrates opinion may be found The same thin g .

may b e seen in the account given by Gel li us o f o n e

L ucius V era ti u s who had the audacity to g ive some
,

R oman citizens whom he met on the road a box o n

the ear without any provocation whatever ; but to avoid
,

any ulterior consequences he told a slave to brin g a ,

bag o f small money a n d on the spot paid the trivial ,

legal penalty to the men whom he had astonished by

his conduct .

C rates th e celebrated C ynic philosopher got such

, ,

a box on the ear from N i co dro m u s the musician that , ,

his face swelled up and becam e black and blue ;

whereupon he put a label o n his forehead with the ,

inscription N i co dr o m us feci t which brought much

, ,

disg race to the u tepl a yer who had co m mitted such

a piece Of brutality u pon the man who m all A thens
a erti u s , ii
1 Di o ge n es L 21 .
.
,
9
I bi d 36 .
 H ONOUR . 97

hon oured as a household g od A n d in a letter t o .

1

Mel es i ppu s D io g enes of S inope tells us that he got a

,

beating from the drunken sons Of the A t henians but

2
he adds that it was a m atter o f no i m portance A nd .

S eneca devotes the las t fe w chapters o f his D e C o n

s ta n ti a to a leng thy discussion o n
insult co n tu m eli a ;
in order to S how that a wise man will ta k e no not i ce
o f it . In C hapter X I V he says Wha t s ha l l a wi s e .
,

m a n d o , if he i s gi v en a bl o w ? Wha t C a to d i d, when
n o t ir e u o r
s om e o n e s tr u ck hi m on the m o u th f p
a v en ge the i n s u l t, or ev en r etur n the bl o w but s i m p l y
,

i gn o r e i t .

Y you y but th
es , sa , w es e m en er e p hi l o s o p her s A nd
y o u are fools eh P
,
recisely .

It is clear that the whole code o f knig htly honour

was utterly unknown to the ancients for the simple
reason that they al ways took a natural and u n pr e
u di ced v iew of human a ffairs and did n o t allo w
j ,

themselves to be inuenced by any such vicious and

abominable folly A blo w in the face wa s to them a
.

blo w and nothing more a trivial physical inj ury ,

whereas the moderns make a ca tastrophe o u t o f it a ,

theme for a tragedy ; as for i n stance in the C i d of , ,

C orneille o r in a re cent Ger m an co m e dy of m iddle

,

class li fe called T he P o wer of C i r c um s ta n ce which

, ,

should have been entitled T he P o wer of P r ej udi ce If a .

member O f the N ational A ssembly at P aris got a blow

on the ear it would resound from o n e end o f E urope
,

to the ot her T he examples which I have given of

.

the wa y in which such an occurrence would have been

1
D i gen es L a erti u s v i 87 a n d A p u l : F l o r : p 1 26
o , .
, . .

2
C f C a s a ub o n s N o te d D i o g L a e r t v i 33

.
,
a .
,
. . .
98 THE W I S D OM O F LI F E

treated in classic times may not suit the ideas o f

ho n o u r a bl e p eop l e ; so let me recommend to their
notice as a k ind o f antidote the s tory o f Monsieur
, ,

D es gl a n d s in D iderot s masterpiece Ja cq ues l e fa ta

,

l i s te I t is an excellent speci m en of m odern k n i gh tly

.

honour which no doubt they will nd enj oyable and

, , ,

1
edifyi n g .

F rom what I have said it must be quite evide n t

that the principle o f kni ghtly honour has no essential
a n d S pont a neous ori g in in h u m an nature It is an .

articial product and its source is n o t hard to n d ,

.

Its existence O bviously dates fro m the time when

people used their sts more than their heads when ,

priestcraft ha d ench ained the human intellec t the ,

much bepraised Middle A ge with its s y s te m o f ,

chivalry That wa s the ti m e when people let the

.

1
T ra n s la to r

s N o te . T he s to ry to whi ch S cho p en ha ue r he re
refers is b r i e y
fo ll o ws : T wo gen tl em en o n e f who m wa s
a s ,
o

n a m ed D es gl a n d s wer e p a yi n g c o u r t t o t h e s a m e l a dy
, As .

th ey s a t a t ta b l e s i d e b y s i d e wi t h th e l d y o pp o s i te D e s gl a n d s
,
a ,

did hi s b es t t o c h r m h er wi th hi s c o nve rs a ti o n ; b u t S h e p re
a

t en d e d n o t to h ea r hi a n d k ep t l o k i n g a t h i s r i v a l
m ,
I n the o .

a go n y o f j ea l o u y D e gl a n d s a s h e wa s h o l d i n g a fr e s h egg i n h i s
,
s s ,

ha n d i nvo l u n ta r i l y c ru s h ed i t ; th e s he ll b r o k e a n d i t s c o n t en ts
, ,

b es p a tt e r e d hi s r iva l s f a c e S eei n g h i m r a i s e hi s ha n d D es

,
.

g l a n d s s e iz e d i t a n d w h i p e r e d : S i r I ta ke i t a s
s
g i en T h e ,
v .

n ex t d a y D es gl a n d s a pp ea r e d wi th a l a r ge p i e ce o f b l a c k s ti c k

i n g pl a s t er u p o n hi s r ight c heek
-
I n th e d u el wh i ch f o ll o wed .
,

D e s gl a n d s s eve r el y wo u n d e d h i s r iva l u p o n whi ch h e r ed uce d

th e s i e o f t h e pl a s t e r
z W hen his r iv l r e co ve r ed th ey ha d
. a ,

a n o th e r d ue l D e s gl a n d s d r e w b l o o d a g i n a n d a ga i n m a d e hi s a ,

pl a s te r a l i t tl e s m a ll e r a n d s o o n fo e o s i x t im es A ft er r v r .

eve ry d u e l D e gl a n d s pl a s t e r gr ew l e s a n d l es s u n t i l a t l a s t hi s

s s
,

riv l wa s k i l led
a ,
1 00 T HE W I SD O M O F LI FE .

you were to prove the warmth of your room by holdin g

your hand on the thermo m eter and s o make it rise .

In fact the ke rnel o f the matter is this : whereas

,

civic honour ai m s at peaceable intercourse and con ,

sists in the O pinion o f other people that we des er v e

u l l co nd en ce because we pay unconditional respec t
f ,

to their rights ; knightly honour o n the other han d , ,

lays down that we a r e to be fea r ed as being deter ,

mined a t all costs to maintain o u r o wn .

A s n o t much reliance can be placed upon human

integ rity the principle that it is more e s sential to
,

arouse fear than to invite condence woul d n o t ,

perhaps be a false o n e if we were living in a state o f

, ,

nature where every man would have to protect him

,

sel f and directly maintain his o wn rights But i n .

civilised li fe where the S tate undertakes the pro tec

,

tion o f o u r person and property the principle is no ,

long er app l icable : it stands like the castles and ,

watch to wers o f the ag e when might wa s ri g ht a

-
,

useless and forlorn O bj ect amidst well tilled elds and

,
-

frequented roads or even rail ways ,

.

A ccordingly the application o f kni g htly honour

, ,

which stil l r ecog nises this principle is conned to ,

those small cases o f personal assault which meet with

but S li ght punishment at the ha n ds O f the law o r ,

even none at all for d e m i n i m i s o

n
,
n mere trivial ,

wrongs committed s o m e times only in j est

,
The co n .

se quence Of this limited application of the prin ciple is

that it has forced itself into an ex a gg erated respect
for th e v alue o f the person a respect utterly alien to
,

f
the nature constit ution o r destiny o man which it
,

h a s elevated into a species of sanctity and a s it con

 H ONOUR . 101

siders that the S tate ha s imposed a very insufcient

penalty on the com m ission o f suc h trivial inj uries it ,

takes upon itsel f to punish them by attacking the

aggressor in life or limb The whole thin g mani festly .

rests upon an excessive deg ree O f arrogant pride ,

which completely forgettin g what man really is

, ,

claims that he shall be absolutely free from all attac k

or even censure T hose who determine to carry o u t
.

this principle by main force and announce as their , ,

rule o f action who ever i n s u lts o r s tr ikes m e s ha l l d i e !

,

1
ought for their pains to be banished the country .

A S a palliative to this rash arrogance people are ,

in the habit o f givin g way o n everything I f t wo .

intrepid persons m eet and neither will give wa y the , ,

1
K ly ho n o ur i s th e chil d o f prid e a n d fo lly a n d i t i s n eed
n i ght , ,

n o t pr i d e wh i ch i s th e h e ri ta ge o f th e h u m a n r a ce
,
I t i s a very .

r em a rk a b l e fa ct tha t this extr em e f o rm o f prid e s ho u l d b e fo u n d

ex c l u s ivel y a m o n gs t t h e a dhe r e n ts o f th e r el i gi o n whi ch t ea ch es

th e d e ep es t h u m il i ty S till t hi s pr id e m u s t n o t b e p u t d o wn to
.
,

r el igio n b u t ra the r to the f euda l s ys tem whi ch m a d e eve ry

, , , ,

n o b l em a n a p etty s o ver eign who r eco gn is ed n o hu m a n j u d ge ,

a n d l ea rn e d to r e ga r d hi s p e r s o n a s s a c r e d a n d i nvi o l a b l e a n d ,

a n y a tta c k u p o n i t o r a n y b l w o r i n s u l t i n g wo r d a s a n o ffe n ce
,
o ,

p u n is ha bl e b y d ea th T h e pri n cipl e o f k n ightly h o n o u r a n d o f

.

th e d ue l wa s a t r s t co n n e d t o th e n b l e s a n d l te r o n a l s o t o o , ,
a ,

o f cer s i n t h e a r m y wh o e n j o yi n g a k i n d o f Off a n d o n r el a ti o n
, ,
- -

s hi p wi t h t h e u pp e r c l a s s es th o ugh th ey we r e n eve r i n co rp o r a t e d
,

wi th t he we r e a n x i o u s n o t to b e b ehi n d th em
m ,
I t i s t r u e tha t .

d u el s we r e th e pr o du ct o f the Ol d o r d ea l s ; b u t the l a t t er a r e n o t
th e f o un d a t i o n b u t r a th e r t h e c o n s e q u en c e a n d a ppl i ca ti o n o f
,

th e pr in ci pl e o f h o n o u r t h e m n who r eco gn i s ed n o hu m a na

j u dge a pp ea l ed to the d ivi n e Or d ea l s ho weve r a r e n o t p eo u .

, ,

l i a r to C hri s ten d o m they m a y b e fo un d i n grea t fo rce a m o n g

th e H in d o o s es p e c ia lly o f a n c i en t tim es ; a n d the re a re tra ces o f
,

t h em even n o w ,
1 02 T H E W I SD O M O F LI FE .

s li ghtest di fference may cause a sho wer o f abuse then ,

s ti cu ffs and nally a fatal blow : so that it would

, , ,

really be a more decorous proceed ing to omit the

intermediate steps and appeal to arms a t once A n .

appeal to arms has its o wn special form alities ; and

t hese have d eveloped into a rigid and precise system
o f laws and regulations to g ether for m ing the most
,

sol emn farce there is a reg ular temple of honour

,

dedicated to folly ! F o r if two intrepid persons dis

pute over some trivial matter (more important affairs ,

are dealt with by l a w) one o f t he m the cleverer of the

, ,

t wo wi l l of course yield ; and they will a g ree to di ffer

,
.

That t his is s o is proved by the fact that co m mon

people o r rather the numerou s cla s ses o f the co m
, , ,

munity who do not ackno wledge the principle o f

knightly honour let any dispute run its natural
,

course A m ong st these classes homicide i s a hundred

.

fold rarer than among those and they amount per ,

haps in all to hardly o n e in a thousan d who pay

, ,

hom a ge to the principle : and even blows are o f n o

very frequent occurrence .

Then it has been said that the manners a n d to ne o f

good society are ultimately based upon this principle
o f honour which with its system o f duels is m ade out
, , ,

to be a bul wark ag ainst the assaults o f sava g e ry and

rudeness But A thens C orinth and R ome could
.
,

a ssuredly boast o f good na excellent society and

y , , ,

manne rs and tone o f a high order without a n y sup ,

port from the bogey of knightly honour It is true .

that women did not occupy that prominent place in

an cient society which they hold n o w wh en conversa ,

t ion ha s taken o n a fri volous a n d tri in g ch a racter to ,

1 04 T HE W I S D OM O F LI FE .

i n the s ha f t of en v
y tha t f
even m en o wi s do m a nd wo r th
f i n d i ts w o und a p a i nfu l o n e ; and no where in t h e

world except perhaps in a few reli g ious sects is an

, , , ,

insult o r a blo w taken with equani m ity A n d yet a .

natural view o f either would in no case demand any

thing more than a requi tal proportionate to the O ffence ,

and would never g o the length o f assigning dea th as

t he proper penalty for anyone who a ccuse s anot h er of
lyin g or s tupi d ity o r cowardice The o l d Germ an
.

theory of blo o d fo r a blo w is a revolting superstition

O f the age of chivalry A n d in any case t he return
.

o r re q uital of an insult is dictated by anger and not ,

by any such O blig ation Of honour and duty as the a d

v o ca t es o f chivalry seek to attach to it The fact is .

that the greater the truth the g reater the slander ;

, ,

a n d it is cl ea r that the slightest hint O f some real

delinqu ency will g ive much greater o ffence than a

most terrible accusation which is perfectly baseless :
so that a man who i s quite sure that he ha s done
nothing to deserve a reproach may treat it with con
tempt and will be safe in doing s o The theory o f
,
.

honour demands that h e shal l S ho w a suscep tibility

wh ich he does not possess and take bloody vengeance
,

fo r insults which h e cannot fe el A man m ust hi m

.

self h ave but a poor O pinion o f his o wn worth who

hastens to prevent the utterance o f an unfavourable
O pinion by giving hi s enemy a black eye .

True appreciation o f his o wn value will mak e a man

really indi fferent to insult but if he cannot help resent
ing it a little shrewdnes s and culture will enable hi m
,

to save appearances and dissemble hi s an ger I f we .

co uld only get rid o f thi s su perstition about hono ur

 HONO U R . 105

the idea I m ean that it disappears when yo u are i n

, ,

s u l te d and can be restored by returnin g the insult ;

,

if we could only stop people from thinking that wron g ,

brutality and insolence can be legalised by expressi n g

readiness to g ive satisfaction that i s to ght in de
, ,

fence Of it we S h ould all soon come to the g eneral

,

O pinion that insult and depreciation are like a battle in

which the loser wins ; and that as V ince n zo Monti says
, ,

abuse resembles a church procession because it al ways

-
,

returns to the point from which it s et o u t I f we .

could only get people t o look upon i n sult in this ligh t ,

we should no longer have to s a y so m ething rude in

order to prove that we are in the right N ow u m .
,

fortunately if we want to take a seri ous v ie w o f any

,

question we have rst o f all to consider whether it

,

will not g i ve o ffence in some wa y o r other to the

dullard who g enerally shows alarm and resentment at
,

the merest S i gn of intelli g ence : and it may easily

happen that the head which contains the intelli g ent
view has to be pitted against the noddle which is
empty o f everything but narrowness and stupidity .

If all this were done away wi th intellectual s u peri o ,

rity could take the leading p l ace in society wh ich is

its due a place now occupied though people do not,

like to confess it by excellence o f physique mere

, ,

ghtin g pluck in fact : and the natural e ffect o f such

,

a change wou ld be that the best kind o f people would

have o n e rea son the less fo r withdrawing from society .

T his would pave the way for the introduction o f real

courtesy and g enui nely g ood society such as u n ,

doubtedly existed in A thens C orint h and R ome , .

If anyone wants to s ee a good example Of what

106 T HE WI SD OM O F LI FE .

1 mean ,
I Sh ould like hi m :
to read X enophon s
Ba n
q u et .

T he last arg ument in d efence of kni ghtly honour

no doubt is that but fo r its existence the world
, , ,

awful thou ght l would be a regular bear g arden To -

.

wh i ch I may briey rep l y that nine hu ndred and !

ninety nine people o u t o f a thousand who do not re

-

cognise the code have of t en g iven and received a blow

,

without any fatal consequences : whereas amon g st the

adherents o f the code a blo w usually means death to
o n e o f the parties But let me examine this arg ument
.

more closely .

I have O ften tried to n d some tenable or at any ,

rate plausible basis other than a merely conventional
,

o n e some positive reasons t h at is to say for the , ,

rooted conviction which a portion o f mankind enter

tains that a blow is a very dreadful thing but I have
,

looked fo r it in vain either in the an i m al o r in the

,

rational side of hu m an nature A blo w i s and al ways .

,

will be a trivial physical inj ury which one man can

,

do to another ; provin g th ereby nothin g more than , ,

his superiority in strength or S kill or th at his enemy ,

wa s o ff his g uard A nalysis will carry us no furth er

. .

The same kni g ht who re g ards a blo w fro m the human

hand as the g reatest o f evils if he gets a ten ti m es ,

harder blow from his horse will give you the assur a nce , ,

as he li m ps a way in suppressed pain that it is a ,

matter o f no conse q u ence whatever S o I have come .

to think that it is the human hand which is at t he

bottom o f the mischief A n d yet in a battle the .

kni ght may get cuts and thrusts from the same h an d ,

and sti l l assure yo u that hi s wounds are n o t worth

1 08 T HE WI SD O M O F LI FE .

imag inary misfortunes which brin g real ones in their

,

train : and yet this is the precise e ffect of the super

s ti ti o n which thus proves itsel f at once stupid and
,

malign .

I t does not seem to me wise O f governments and

legislative bodies to promote any such folly by
attempting to do away with oggi n g as a punishment
in civil or military life Their idea is that they are
.

acting in the interests o f humanity ; but in point o f ,

fact they are doin g j ust the opposite ; for the abolition
,

o f ogging will serve only to strengthen this inhuman

and abominable superstition to which s o many sacri

,

c es have already been m ade F o r all O en ces except

'

.
,

the worst a hea ti n g is the obvious and therefore the

, ,

natural penalty ; and a man who will not listen to

reason will yield to blows It seems to me ri g ht and
.

proper to administer corporal punish m ent to the man

who possesses not hing and therefore cannot be ne d ,

o r cannot be put in prison because his master s interests

would su ffe r by the l o ss o f his services There are .

really no arguments against it only mere talk about

the d ign i ty o f m a n tal k whic h proceeds not from ,

any clear notions on the subj ect but from the per ,

n i ci o u s superstition I h ave been describi n g That it .

is a superstition which lies at the bottom of the whole

business is proved by an almost lau g hable example .

N o t lon g ag o in the m ilitary discipline o f many

,

countries the cat wa s replaced by the stick In either

,
.

case the Obj ect was to produce p hysical pain but the
latter method involved no disgrace and was not ,

derog atory to hono u r .

By pro m oting th i s superstition the S tate is playing,

 H ONOUR . 1 09

into the hands o f th e principle o f k nightly honour ,

and therefore of the duel while at the same time it

is trying o r at any rate it pretends that it is trying
, ,

to abolis h th e duel by leg islative enactment A s a .

natural consequence we nd that this fragment o f the

theory that m i ght i s ri ght which has come do wn to
,

us from the most savage days of the Midd l e A ge has ,

still in this nineteenth century a g ood deal o f life left

in i t more shame to us ! It is high time fo r the
principle to be driven o u t bag and baggag e N o w a .
-

days no o n e is al lo wed to set dog s o r cocks to ght

,

each other a t any rate in E ngland it is a penal,

o ffence but men are plun g ed into deadly strife

, ,

ag ainst their will by the operation o f this ridiculo us

, ,

superstitious and absurd principle which imposes ,

upo n us the O bligation as its narro w minded s up

,
- ~

porters and advocates declare o f ghting with one ,

another like gladiators fo r any little trie L et me

,
.

recommend o u r purists t o adopt the expression ba i ti n g 1

,

instead o f du el which probably comes to us not fro m

, ,

the L atin d u el lu m but from the S panis h du el o

, ,

meaning su ffering nuisance annoyance

, ,
.

I n any case we may well l a u g h at the pedantic

,

excess to which this foolish syste m ha s been carried .

It is really revoltin g that this principle with its absurd ,

code can form a power with i n the S tate i m p er i u m

,

m
i i p er i o a p o wer to o easily put in m otion which
n , ,

recog nisin g no right but m i ght tyrannises over the ,

classes which come within its range by keeping u p a ,

sort of in quisition before which any one may be haled

,

o n th e most imsy pretext and there and then b e ,

1
R i tterhetz e .
1 10 T HE W I SD OM O F LI FE .

tried o n an issue o f life and death between himself and

his opponent This i s the lurking place from which
.

every rascal if h e only belongs to the cl asses in ques

,

tion may menace and even exterminate the noblest and

,

best o f men who as such must o f course be an obj ect

, , ,

of hatre d to him Our system o f j ustice and police

.

protection ha s made it impossible in these days fo r

any scoundrel in the street to attack u s with Y o ur
o u r li e ! and common sens e ought n o w to
m o ne
y o r
y f
be able to prevent rogues disturbing the peaceable
intercourse o f society by comin g at us with Y o u r
ho n o u r o r yo u r life A n end should be put to the
burden which weighs upon the higher classes the
burden I m ean o f h avin g to be ready every moment
, ,

to expose life and li m b to the mercy o f anyone who

takes i t into his rasca lly head to be coarse rude -

, ,

foolish o r malicious It is perfectly atrocious that a

.

pair o f silly passionate boys should be wounded

, ,

maimed o r even killed si m ply because they have ha d ,

a few words .

The strength o f this tyrannical power wi thin the

S tate and th e force o f the superstition may be
, ,

measured hy the fact that people who are prevented

from restoring their knightly honour by the superior

or inferior rank o f their a ggressor o r anything else ,

that puts the persons on a di ffe rent level o ften come ,

to a tragic comic end by committing suicide in sh eer

-

despair Y o u may g enerally know a thing to be

.

false and ridiculous by n din g that if it is carried to ,

its lo g ical conclusion it results in a contradiction ;,

a n d here too we have a very glarin g absurdity

, ,
F or .

an o i cer is forbidden to tak e pa rt i n a duel ; but if

112 T HE WI SD O M O F LI F E .

o f
me to try rs t o f all whether he c a n s hee t or fence
better than I ; as i f h e can he will not onl y have
, ,

wron g ed me but have taken my life into the barg ain

, .

It is R ousseau s O pinion that the proper wa y to
aven g e an insult is not to g ht a duel with your
,

aggressor but to assassinate him

, a n opinion h o wever , , ,

which he is cautious enough only to barely indicate in a

mysterious note to one o f the books o f his E m i l e .

T his sho ws the philosop h er so co m pletely under the

inuence of the medi a eval supers tition o f kni ghtly
honour that he considers it j ustiable to murder a
m a n who accuses you o f lying : whilst he must have

kno wn that every man and himself especially has , ,

deserved to have the lie given him times without

number .

The prej udice which j usties the killin g o f your

adversary s o long as it is done in an open contest and
,

with equal weapons obviously looks upon might as

,

really right and a duel as the inter ference o f God

,
.

T he Italian who in a t of rag e falls upon his

, ,

agg ressor wherever he nds him and despatches him ,

without any ceremony acts at any rate consistently

, , ,

and naturally : he m a y be cleverer but h e is not ,

worse than the duellist

,
If yo u say I a m j ustied
.
,

in killing my adversary in a d uel because he is at the ,

mo m ent doing his best to kill m e I can reply that i t

is your chal l e n g e which has placed h im under the
necessity o f defending hi m s el f and that by mut u ally
puttin g it o n the g roun d of sel f de fence the combat -

ants are seeking a plausible pretext for committin g

murder I should rather j usti fy the deed by the leg al
.

maxim V o l enti n o n fi t i nj u r i a ; because the partie s

 Ho N OU R . 113

mutual ly ag ree to set their life upon the issue This .

argument may ho wever be rebutted by sho wing that

, ,

the injured party is not inj ured v o l ens because it is

this tyrannical principle o f kni g htly honour with i ts ,

absurd code which fo rcibly drags o n e at least O f the

,

combatants before a bl oody inquisition .

I have been rather prolix o n the subj ect o f k n ightly

honour but I had good reasons for bein g s o because
, ,

th e A ugean stable of moral and intellectual enormity

in t his world can be cleaned o u t only with the
besom o f philosophy There are two things w hich
.

more than all else serve to make the social arrange

ments O f modern life compare unfavourably with
those of antiquity by giving o ur age a gloomy d ark
, ,

and sinister aspect from wh i ch an tiquity fresh

, , ,

natural and as it were in the mornin g o f life is com

, , ,

pl e tely free I mean modern honour and mo d ern

dis ease p a r n o bi le fr a tr u m
,

which have combined
to poison all the relations o f li fe wh ether public o r ,

private T he second o f this noble pair extends its

.

inuence much farther than at rst appears to be the

case as being not merely a physical but also a moral
, ,

disease F rom the time that poisoned arro ws have

.

been found in C upid s quiver an estran g ing ho s tile , , ,

nay devilish element has entered into the relations o f

,

men and women like a sinister t hread o f fear and

,

mistrust in the warp and woo f o f their intercourse ;

indirectly shakin g the foundations o f hu m an fello w
ship and s o more o r less affectin g th e whole tenor o f
,

existence B u t it would be beside my present purpose

.

to pursue the subj ect further .

1 14 THE W I S D O M O F LI FE .

A ninue n ce analogous to this though working on ,

other line s is exerted by the principle o f knightly

,

honour that solemn farce u nknown to th e ancient
, ,

world which makes modern society sti ff gloomy and

, ,

timid forci n g us to keep the strictest watch o n every

,

word that falls N o r is this all T he principle is a

. .

uni versal Minotaur ; an d the goodly company of the

sons o f noble houses which it d emands in yearly
tribute comes not from one country alone as o f O ld
, , , ,

but from every l and in E urope It is high time to .

mak e a re gular attack upon this foolish system ; and

this I s what I am trying to do n o w Would tha t .

these two monsters o f the modern world mi ght di s

appear before the end Of the century
L et us hope that medicine m a y be able to nd so m e
mean s o f preventing the one and that by cl eari n g , ,

o u r ideas philosophy may put an end to the ot h er ;

,

for it is only by clearin g o u r ideas t hat the evil can

be eradicated Governments have tried to do s o by
.

legislation and failed,

.

S till if they are really concerned to suppress t he

,

duelling system ; and i f the s m all success that ha s

attended their e ffo rts is really due only to their i n
ability to cope with the evil I do n o t mind proposing ,

a l a w the success o f which I am prepared to g uarantee .

It will involve no san g uinary measures and can be ,

put into operation without recourse either to the

scaffold o r the g allows o r to imprison m ent fo r life
,
.

It is a smal l homoeopathic pilule with no serious ,

after e ffects If any man send o r accept a challe n g e

. ,

let the corporal take hi m be fore the g uard house, and

there g ive him in broad daylight twelve strokes with
, ,
1 16 T HE W I SD O M O F LI FE .

allo we d to p ass unheeded It is a combination

. o f
civic and o f knightly honour .

S ecti o n 5.
F a m e.

Under the headi n g o f pl a c e in th e estimation of the

world we have put F a m e ; and this we must n o w
proceed to consider .

F ame and honour are twins ; and t wins too like , ,

C astor and P ollux o f whom th e o n e wa s mortal and

,

the other wa s n o t F am e i s the undyin g brother o f

.

ephemeral honour I sp eak o f co u rse o f the hi g hest

.
, ,

k ind o f fame t hat is O f fame in the true and g enuine

, ,

sense o f the word ; for to be sure there are man y

, ,

sorts o f fame some o f which last but a day H onour

,
.

is concern ed merely with such q u al ities as every

o ne m a
y be e x pected to S how under similar circum

stances ; fame only o f those which cannot be required

o f any m a n . H onour is o f qualities which everyone
has a ri gh t to a ttribute to himsel f ; fa me only o f
t hose which should be le ft t o others to attribu te .

Whilst o u r honour extends as far as people hav e

kno wled g e o f us ; fame runs in advance and makes ,

us kno wn wherever it nds its way E very o n e .

can make a claim to h onour ; v ery few to fame a s ,

being attainable only in virtue o f extraordinary

achievements .

These achievemen t s m a y be o f two kinds either ,

a cti o n s o r wo r ks ; and s o to fame there are two pat hs

open On the path o f actions a g reat h eart i s the

.
,

c hie f recom m endation ; o n that o f works a great head , .

E ach o f the two paths ha s its o wn pecul iar advan tages

 F A ME . 117

and d etri m ents ; and the chie f di fference between

the m is that action are eeting while works re m ain s
, .

T he inuence o f an action be it never s o noble can , ,

l ast but a short ti m e ; but a work o f g enius is a livin g

inuence be n ecial and ennobl ing throughout the
,

a g es A l l that can re m ain o f actions is a memory

.
,

and that becomes weak and dis g ured by ti m e a

mattero f i n difference t o us until at last it is ex ti n ,

ui s h ed alto g ether ; unless indeed history takes it up

g , , ,

and p resents it fossili z ed t o posterity Works are , , .

im m ortal i n themsel v es and once co m mitted to writ ,

ing may l i ve fo r ever

,
Of A l exander the Great we .

have but the name and the record : but P l ato and
A ristotl e H omer and H orace are alive and as directly
, ,

at work to day as they were in their o wn li fe time

- -
.

The V eda s and their ,

are stil l with U S

but o f a l l cont em poraneous actions n o t a trace ha s

1
come down to u s .

1
A cco r d in gl y i t is a po o r co m p l im en t , t ho u gh s o m eti m es a

f a s hi o n a b l e o n e, to t ry t o p a y h o n o u r to a wo rk b y ca llin g i t a n
a cti o n . F or a wo rk i s s o m ethin g es s en ti a ll y h igher i n i ts n a tu re .

A n a c l wa ys s o m ethi n g b a s ed o n m o ti v e, a n d , t h er ef o re ,
ti o n i s a

f ra gm en ta ry a n d e eti n ga p a rt , i n fa ct , o f th a t Will whi ch i s

th e u n i v e rs a l a n d o ri gi n a l el em en t i n th e c o n s ti tu ti o n o f th e
wo rld . B ut agr ea t a n d b ea u ti f u l wo rk ha s a p e rm a n e n t c h a r

a c ter , a s b e i n g o f u n i v e rs a l s ign i ca n c e, a n d s r u n fro m th e

p g
I n tel l ect, wh i ch r is es , l i ke a p erf um e, a b o v e t h e fa ul ts a n d fo l l i es
o f th e wo rl d o f Will .

T he fa m e o f a gr ea t a c ti o n ha s th i s a d v a n ta ge , tha t i t gen e
ra l l y s ta rt s wi th a l o u d exp l o s i o n ; s o l o ud , i n d eed , a s to b e
h ea r d a ll o v er E u ro p e wher ea s th e fa m e o f a r
g ea t wo rk i s s lo w
a nd d u a l i n i ts b egi n n i n gs the n o i s e i t m a k e s i s a t rs t s l igh t,
gra
b u t i t go es o n gro wi n g grea ter , u n til a t l a s t , a ft er a hu n d re d

y e a rs p erh a p s ,
it a tta i n s i ts f u l l fo rc e ; b u t then i t r em a in s ,
1 18 T HE WI S D O M o r L IF E .

nother disadvantage u nder which actions l abour is

A
that they depend u p on chance fo r the possibility o f
comin g into existence ; and hence the fame they wi n ,

does not o w entirel y from their intrinsic val ue but ,

al so from the circumstances which happened to l end

them importance and lustre A g ain the fame o f .
,

actions i f as in war they are purel y personal depends

, , , ,

upon the testimony o f fewer witnesses ; and these are

n o t al ways present and even if present are not al ways
, ,

j ust o r unbiasse d observers This disadvantage ho w .

,

ever is counterbal anced by the fact that actions have

,

the advantage o f bein g o f a practical character a n d , ,

there fore within the range o f general human i n tel l i

,

gence ; s o that once the facts have been correctly re

ported j ustice is immediatel y d one unless indeed the
, , ,

motive underl ying the ac tion is n o t at rst properl y

understood o r appreciated N o action ca n be really .

understood apart from the motive which prompted it .

It is j ust the contrary with works Their inception .

does not depend upon chance but whol ly and entirely ,

upon their aut hor ; a n d whatever th ey are in and fo r

themse l ves that they remain as l ong a s they l ive
,
.

F urther there is a di fculty in pro p erl y j udging them

, ,

which becomes a l l the ha rder t he h i gher their character ; ,

o ften there are no persons competent to understand

the work and o ften no unbiassed o r honest critics
, .

Their fa m e however does n o t depend upon one ju dg e

, ,

b eca us e th e wo rks rem a in , fo r tho u s a n ds f yea rs

o B u t in th e
.

o th er ca s e, wh en th e rs t exp l o s i o n is o v er , t h e n o i s e i t m a k e s

gro ws l e s s a n d l e s s , a n d i s h ea rd b y f ewer a n d f e wer p ers o n s ;

u n til i t en d s b y th e a c ti o n ha v i n g o n l y a s ha d o wy ex i s te n ce i n

th e pa ge s o f hi s to ry .
1 20 T HE WI S D O M or LI F E .

favour the bad : it is an art well understood in o u r

day too manifesting itsel f both then a n d now in a n
, , , ,

en v i o u s co n sp i r a cy of s i l en ce .

A s a general rul e the l onger a man s fam e is like l y
,

to last the l ater it will be in comin g fo r a ll excellent

,

products require time fo r their devel op m ent The .

fame which lasts to posterity is l ike an o a k o f very ,

sl ow growth and that which endures but a little

while like plants which sprin g up in a year an d then
,

die ; w hilst fal se fame is l ike a fungus shootin g u p in ,

a night and peri s hin g a s soon .

A n d why F o r this reason ; the more a man

bel on g s to poste rity in other words to humanity in
, ,

g eneral the more o f an alien he is to his conte m

,

o r a ri es ; since his work is not meant f them as

p o r

such but only fo r them in so fa r as they for m part o f

,
.

mankind at l arge there i s n one o f that fami liar local

colour about hi s p roductions which wo uld appeal to
them ; and s o what he does fail s o f recognition becau se ,

it is stran ge P eop l e are more likel y to appreciate

.

the m a n who serves the circumstances o f his own brie f

hou r o r the te m per o f the moment belon ging to it
, , ,

and livin g and dying with it .

The g enera l history o f art and l iterature shows that

the highest achievements o f the human mi nd are as a ,

r ule not favourab l y received at rst ; but re m ain in

,

obscurity unti l they wi n noti ce fro m intelligence o f a

higher order by whose i n uence they are brou ght
,

into a position which they then maintain in virtue o f ,

the authority thus given them .

I f the reason o f this should be asked it wil l be ,

found that u l timately a m a n ca n really understand ,

 F A ME . 1 21

and appreciate thos e things only which are o f l ike

natu re with hi m sel f The dull person wil l l ike what .

is du ll and the com mon p erson what is co m mon ; a

,

man whose ideas are mixed will be attra cted by con

fusion o f thought ; and folly will appeal to him who
has no brains at a l l ; but best o f all a man will l ike ,

his o wn works as being o f a character thorou gh l y a t

,

o n e with hi m se lf This is a truth as o l d a s E pi cha r

.

mus o f fabu l ous memory

ea v ua cr r
y

bv 01 352 301! 7,u e
7 1 r dv o ii rw hygl v

K a i dvddvew m im ic w -
3 5
(1 1 7 0 1 9 , K a i 80 K ei v
K at hi!; wa tvk va v i ydp 5 K no w v i
K a

h/\w r o v elit ev (tofu/ cr a b, K a i 80 89 80 ?

t
K a
'

, .

Ovo s 3 (i i/ (p K o ihhw r dv [30 '

i!; 3 i i i .

The sense o f this passage fo r it shou l d n o t be l ost

is that we shoul d not be sur p rised i f people are p l eased
with themselves and fancy that they are in good case ;
,

fo r to a dog the best thin g in the worl d is a d o g ; to

an o x an o x to an ass an ass and to a s o w a s o w
, , ,
.

The stron gest arm is unavai l in g to give i m petus to

a feather weight fo r ins tead o f speedi n g o n its wa y
-
,

and hitti ng its mark with e ffect it wil l soon fal l to the ,

ground havin g expended what little energy wa s given

,

to it and possessing no mass o f its o wn to be the

,

v ehicle o f momentum S o it i s with g reat and nob l e .

thoughts nay with the very m asterpieces o f g e n ius

, , ,

when there are none but l i ttle weak and perverse , ,

minds to appreciate them a fact which has been ,

d e p lored by a chorus o f the wise in all ag es Jesus .

,

t h e s o n o f S ira ch fo r instance declares that H e tha t

, ,
 T HE WI S D OM OF LIF E .

tell eth a ta l e to a fo o l p
s ea keth to o ne in s lu m ber :

when he ha th to l d hi s ta le he wi ll , sa
y , Wha t i s the
m a tter ?
1
A n d H amlet s ays A lcn a , v i s h sp eech s l ee s
p
fo o l s ea r
in a A n d Goethe is o f the same opini o n
.
2
,

that a du ll ear mocks at the wisest word ,

Da g lsilckli chs te Wo rt es wi r d ver ho hn l ,

'

Wen n der B o rer ei n S chi efo hr i s t

and again that we shou ld not be discouraged i f peop l e

,

are stupid fo r yo u can m ake no rings i f you thro w

,

your s tone into a mars h .

. Du wi rkes t n i cht, A lles bleibt s o s tu m p f:

S ci gu ter Di n ge
D er S tei n i n S u m pf
Ma cht kei n e B i nge .

L ichtenberg asks : When a hea d a nd a bo o k co m e

i n to co ll i s i o n , a n d o n e s o u n ds ho ll o w i s i t
, a lwa ys the
bo o k ? A nd in another p l ace : Wo r ks li ke thi s a r e a s
a m i rr o r ; a n a ss l o o ks i n yo u ,
ca n n o t exp ect a n

a
p o s t l e to lo o k o u t wel l to re m ember
. We shoul d do
o l d G el l er t s ne and touchin g l amen t that the best

,

g i fts o f a ll nd the fewest ad m irers and that most ,

men mistake the bad fo r the good a da i l v evil that ,

nothin g can prevent l ike a p l ague which no re m edy ,

can cure There is but o n e thing to be done though

.
,

f l
ho w d i i cul t l the oo ish must become wise and ,

that th ey can n ever be T he val ue o f l i fe they never .

know ; they s ee with the outer eye but never with

c cl es i a s t i c us ,
1
E 8 .

2
A ct i v .
,
80 . 2 .
1 24 T HE WI S D O M O F L IF E .

l ived
at a ll ; from their desire to appe a r im p ortant
themsel ves people gl ad l y ignore o u r very existenc e
,

H a tte i ch gez a u d ert eu werd en ,

'

B is i r s L eben gego nn t,

m a n m

I ch wa n o ch n i cht a uf E r d en ,
'

re

lV i e i h/r begreifen ko nn t,
'

Wen n i hr s eht, wi e s i c s ich geberden ,

'

Di e, u m etwa s z u s chei n en ,
Mi ch gern e m o chten
'

vern ei nen .

Honour ,
the contrary generally meets with fair
on ,

appreciation and is not ex p osed to the onslaught o f

,

envy ; nay every man is credited with the possessio n

,

o f it unti l the contrary is prove d But fame has to .

be wo n in despite o f envy and the tribunal which ,

awar ds the l aurel is composed o f j udges biassed

against the applicant from the very rs t H onour is .

somethin g which we are able and ready to share with

everyone fame su ffers encroachment and is rendered
more unattainabl e in proportion as more peopl e come
by it F ur ther the di fcu l ty o f winnin g fame by any
.
,

given work stands in inverse ratio to the number o f

peop l e who are l ikely to re a d i t ; and hence it is
so muc h harder to become famous as the author o f a
learned work than as a writer who aspires onl y to
amuse It is hardest o f all in the case o f phil o s o
.

p h i c a l works because the resu l t at which they aim is

,

rather vague and at the same time useless from a

, , ,

material point o f view ; they appeal chiey to readers

who are workin g o n the same l ines themselves .

It is clear then from what I have said as to the

, ,

di fcul ty o f winning fame that those who l abour not , ,

out o f l ove fo r their subj ect n o r from pleasure i n ,

 F A ME . 1 25

p ursu ing it but under the stimulus o f a m bition rarely

, ,

o r never leave mankin d a l e g acy o f immortal works .

The man who seeks to do what is g ood and g enuine ,

must avoid what is ba d and be ready to de fy the ,

opinions o f the mob nay even to despise it and its

, ,

misleaders H ence the truth o f the remark (es peci

.
,

ally insisted upon byOs o ri u s d e Glo ri a )tha t fame shuns ,

those wh o seek it and seeks those who shun it ; fo r

,

the o n e adapt themsel v es to the taste o f their con

temporaries and the others work in deance o f it
, .

But di fcu l t thoug h it be to acquire fame it is an

, ,

easy thin g to keep it when once acquired H ere .

,

again fame is i n dir ect opposition to honour wit h

, ,

which everyone is presumabl y to be accredited .

H onour has not to be wo n ; it must only not be l ost .

But there l ies the di fculty ! F or by a single u n

worthy action it is gone irretrievabl y But fame in
,
.
,

the proper sense o f the word can never disa ppear ; ,

fo r the action o r work by which it wa s acquired ca n

never be undone ; and fam e attaches to its author ,

even thou g h he does nothing to deserve it anew The .

fa m e which vanishes o r is outlived p roves itsel f

, ,

thereby to have been spurious in other words u n , ,

m erited and due to a momentary over estimate o f a

,
-

m an s work ; not to speak o f t h e kind o f fame which

H ege l enj oyed and which L ichten berg describes as

,

tr u m p eted fo r th by a cl i u e o
q f a d m i r i n g u n d er

g ra d u a tes th e r es o u n di n g echo of em p ty hea d s

s u ch a fa m e a s wi l l m a k e p o s ter i ty s m i l e when i t li ghts

r o tes qu e a r chi tectu r e of wo r d s a

up o n a g n e n es t ,

wi th the bi rd s l o n g a go o wn i t wi ll kn o ck a t the
do o r of thi s d eca yed s tr u ctu r e of co n v en ti o n a l i ti es
K
1 26 T HE WI S D O M or L IFE .

a nd nd it u tter l y em t
p y

not even a tr a ce o
f
tho u ght ther e to i n v i te the
p a s s er -
by .

The truth is that fame means nothing b u t what a

man is in comparison with others It is essentially .

relative in character and therefore onl y indirectly

,

valuab l e ; fo r it vanishes the mo m ent other people

become what the famous man is A bsolute val ue can .

be predicate d only o f what a man possesses under any

and a l l circumstances here what a man is directly
, ,

and in himself It is the po ssession o f a g reat heart or a

.

g reat head and not the m ere fame o f it which i s

, ,

worth having and conducive to happiness

, Not .

fame but that which deserves to be famous is what

, ,

a man shoul d hol d i n esteem This i s as it were the .

, ,

true underlyin g substance and fame is only an acci ,

dent affecting its su bj ect chiey as a kind o f external

,

symptom which serves to conrm his o wn opinion o f

,

himsel f L ig ht is not visibl e un l ess it meets with

.

something to reect it ; and talent is s ure o f itsel f

only whe n its fame is noised abroad But fame is not .

a certai n symptom o f merit ; because you can have

the o n e without the other o r as L essin g nicel y puts ,

it S o m e p eo p le o bta i n fa m e a n d o thers d es er ve i t
, , .

It would be a miserab l e existence which shoul d

make its val ue or want o f value de p end u pon wh a t
other peop l e think ; but such would be the l ife o f a
hero o r a g enius if its worth con s isted in fame that ,

is in the applause o f the worl d E very m a n lives

,
.

and exists o n his own account and there fore mainly , , ,

i n a n d fo r himsel f ; and what he i s a n d the who l e

manner o f his bein g concern hi m sel f more than a n y
o n e e l s e ; s o i f he is n o t worth much in this respect ,
128 T HE WI S D O M O F L IF E .

an u nre a sonabl e val ue is s et u pon other peopl e s

opinion a n d one quite dispropor tionate to its real

,

worth H obbes has some stron g r emarks o n this s u b

.

j ect ; a n d no doubt he is quite ri ght M en ta l p l ea s u/re .

,

he writes a nd ecs ta s y of a ny ki n d a ri s e when o n co m

, , ,

p i g
a r n o u rs elv es wi th o ther s , we co m e to the co n c us l ion
tha t we m a f y thi nk we well
can easi l yo l
o u rs e v es . So
understand the great val ue which is al ways attached
to fame as worth any sacrices i f there is the slightest
,

hope o f attainin g it .

F a m e i s the sp u r tha t the clea /r sp i r i t do th ra is e

(T ha t l a s t i nrm i ty of n o bl e m i n d)
To s co rn d eli ghts a nd li ve l a bo ri o us da ys .
1

A nd again
H o w ha dr i t i s to cli m b
T he hei ghts where F e s p ro u d I

a m tem p le s h in es a fa r

We can thus understand h o w it i s that the vainest

p eopl e in the worl d are al ways tal king about l a gl o i r e ,

wi t h the mos t impl icit faith in it as a stimulus to

g reat actions and great works B u t there can be no .

doubt th at fame is something secondary in its char

acter a mere echo or re ecti o n as it were a shadow
, ,

or symptom o f merit : and in any ca s e what excites , ,

admiration must be o f m ore value than the admiration

itsel f The truth is that a man is made happy not
.
,

by fame but by that which brin g s him fa m e by his

, ,

merits o r to speak more correctly by the disposition

, ,

and capacity from which his merits proceed whether ,

they be moral o r in t ell ectua l The best side o f a .

1
Mil to n . L ycida s
 F A ME . 1 29

man s nature must o f necessity be more important fo r

hi m than fo r anyone el se : the reection o f it the ,

opinion w hich exists in the hea ds o f others is a m atter ,

that can affect him onl y in a very subordinate d eg ree .

H e who deserves fame without g etting it possesses by

fa r the more important element o f happiness which ,

shou l d console him fo r the loss o f the other It is n o t .

that a man is thought to be g reat by masses o f i n

com petent and o f ten i n fa tu a ted people but that he

really is g reat which shoul d mo v e us to envy hi s

,

position ; and his happiness lies n o t in the fact that ,

posterity will hear o f hi m but that he is the creator

,

o f thoughts worthy to be treasured up and studied

fo r hundreds o f years .

Besides i f a man has done this he possesses some

, ,

thin g which cannot be wrested from him ; and unlike ,

fam e it is a possession depen d ent entirely upon

,

h imsel f . I f admiration were hi s chief aim there ,

would be no thing in him to admire This is just .

what happens in the case o f false that is un m erited , , ,

fam e f o r its recipient l ives upon it without actually

possessin g the solid substratum o f which fame is the
outward and visible si g n F alse fame m ust o ften put
.

its possessor o ut o f conceit with himsel f ; fo r the

ti m e may co m e when in spite o f the illusions born o f
,

sel f love he wi l l feel gid dy o n the heights which he

-
,

was never meant to climb o r l ook upon himsel f a s,

spurious coin ; and in the anguish o f threatened

d iscovery and well merited degradatio n he will r ead
-
,

the sentence o f posterity o n the foreheads o f the wise

lik e a man who owes his property to a forg ed wil l
,
.

T he tru est fa m e the fame that comes a fter d eath

, ,
1 30 T HE WI S D O M O F L IFE .

is never heard o f by its recipient ; and yet he is

cal l ed a happy m a n H i s happiness lay both in the .

possession o f those great qualities which won hi m

fame and in the o p portunity that was g ranted him
,

o f d evelopi n g them the leisure he had to act as he

p l eased to dedicate himsel f to his favourite pursuits

, .

It is only work done from the heart that ever gains

the l aure l .

Greatness o f sou l or W eal th o f inte l l ect is wha t

, ,

makes a m a n happy inte l lect such as when stamped , ,

o n its productions will receive the admiration o f ce n

,

t u ri es to come thou ghts which made him happy at

,

the ti m e and wil l i n their t urn be a source o f study

'

and deli g ht to the nob l est minds o f the most re m ote

p osterity The value o f posthumous fame l ies in
.

deser v ing it ; and this is its own reward Whether .

works destined to fame attain i t in t he l ifetime o f

their author is a chance affair o f no v ery g reat i m ,

portance F or the avera g e man has no critical power

.

o f his o wn and i s abso l utely incapable o f appreciating

,

the di fculty o f a g reat work P eople are al ways .

s wayed by authority and where fa me i s widespread ,

it means that ninety nine o u t o f a hundred take it -

o n fait h a lone I f a man i s famed fa r and wide I n

.

hi s own li fe ti m e he will i f he is wise n o t s et too

-
, , ,

much v al ue upon it because it is no more than the ,

echo o f a few voices which the chance o f a day has ,

touched in his favour .

Woul d a musician feel a ttered by the l oud a p

p l a us e o f an audience i f he kne w that they were
nearly a l l deaf and tha t to conc eal their inrmity
, , ,

they s et to work to clap vi g orously as S oon a s ever

1 32 T HE WI S D O M O F L IFE .

winter Fame is as it were the fruit that must grow

.
, ,

a l l the summer be fore it can be enj oyed at Y ule .

There is no g reater conso l ation in age than the feel ing

o f having u t the whole f orce o f one s youth into
p
W orks which still re m ain young .

Finally l et us exa m ine a litt l e more closel y the

,

kinds o f fame which attach to various intellectual

pursuits ; fo r it is wi th fame o f this sort that my re
marks are more i m m ediately concerned .

I think it may be said broadly that the intell ectual

supe riority it denotes consists in formin g theories ,

that is new combinations o f certain facts These

,
.

facts may be o f very di fferent kinds ; but the better

they are known and the more they com e within
,

everyday ex p e rience the g reater and wider wi l l be

,

the fame Which is to be wo n by theorising abou t them .

F o r instance i f the facts in question are nu m bers or

,

l ines o r special branches o f science such as physics , ,

z oolo g y botany anatomy o r corrupt passages in

, , ,

ancient authors or undecipherabl e inscriptions written

, , ,

it may be in some unknown al phabet o r obsc ure points

, ,

in history ; the kind o f fa m e which may be obtained

by correctly manipulating such facts wi ll not extend
much beyond t h ose who make a study o f the m a -

smal l nu m ber o f persons most o f who m live retired

,

lives and are envious o f others who become famous in

their special branch o f knowl e dge .

But i f the facts be such as are known to everyone ,

fo r exampl e the fundamental characteristics o f the

,

human mind o r the human heart which are shared by ,

a l l alike ; or the gre a t physical agencies which are

con s ta ntly in o perati o n be fo re our eyes o r the general ,

 FA ME . 1 33

course o f natural l aws the kind o f fa m e which is to

be won by spreading the l i ght o f a n ew and mani
fes tly true theory in reg ard to them is s u ch as in time
,

will extend almost a l l over the civilised world : fo r i f

the facts be such as everyone can g rasp the theory ,

also will be general ly intelli g ible But the extent o f

.

the fame will depend upon the di fculties o v erco m e ;

and the more g enerally known the facts are the harder ,

it will be to form a theory that s hal l be both n e w and

true : because a g reat many heads wil l have been
occupied with them and there wi l l be littl e o r no possi
,

b i l i ty o f sayin g anythin g that has not been said be fore .

On the other hand facts which are not accessible to

,

everybody and can be got at only after much di f

,

culty and labour nearl y always ad m it o f new combi

,

nations and theories : s o that i f sound u nderstandin g

,

and j udg m ent are brou g ht to bear upon them quali

ties which do not invol ve very high intel l ectual power
a man may easily be s o fortunate as to l ight upon

s o me new theory in regard to them w hich shall be

a lso true . But fa m e w o n o n such paths d oes not ex
tend much beyond those who possess a knowledge o f
the facts in question T o solve problems o f this sort
.

requires no doubt a great deal o f study and labour

, , ,

i f only to get at the facts ; whilst o n the path where

the g reatest and most widespread fame i s to be won ,

the facts may be grasped without any labour at all .

But just in proportion as less labour is necessary more ,

t al ent or genius is requi red ; and between such quali

ties and the drud g ery o f research no co m p arison is
possible in respect either o f their intrinsic val ue or o f
, ,

the es timation in which they a re held ,

1 34 T HE WI S D O M O F L IFE .

A nd so peop l e wh o fee l that they possess sol id i n

tell ec tu a l capacity and a sound j u dgment and yet ,

cannot claim the highest mental powers shou l d not ,

be a fraid o f laborious study ; fo r by its aid they may

work themsel ves above the great m o b o f hu m anity
who have the facts cons t antl y be fore thei r eyes and ,

reach those secl uded spots which are accessible to

l earned toi l F o r this is a sphere W here there are
.

innitely fewer rival s and a man o f only moderate ,

capacity may soon nd an opportunity o f proclai m ing

a theory that shall be both new and true ; nay the ,

merit o f his discovery will partly rest u p on the di th

cul ty o f comin g at the facts But a p plause fro m on e s .

fel l ow students wh o are the only persons wi th a

-
,

knowle dge o f the subj ect sounds very faint to the ,

fa r o ff mu l titude
-
A n d i f we fol l ow up this sort o f
.

fame fa r enou g h we S hall at l ast co m e to a point

,

where facts very d i fcult to get at are in the m se l ves

su fcient to l a y a foundation o f fame wi thout any ,

f m n
necessity fo r or i g a theory travels fo r instance , ,

in remote an d l ittle kn own countries which make a

-

man famo u s by what he ha s seen n o t by what he has ,

thought The grea t a dvantag e o f this kind o f fame

.

is that to rel ate what o n e has seen is much easier ,

than to impart one s thoughts and p eo p le are apt to

u nderstand descriptions better than ideas reading ,

the o n e m ore readily than t he other : fo r as A smus ,

s ays ,

I Vhen
'
on e go es f o r th a -
vo ya i
g gn

H e ha s a ta le to tel l .

A n d yet fo r ,
all that a personal acquaintance
,
with
 HEINS lIBH
ARY [ll PH PH

SUNNENSG ILO
SO Y
E d it ed by J H . . MU I R H E A D, MA . .

I N T R OD U C T I ON '

T HE HIS T OR Y OF P HIL OS OP HY . B y Dr . J E . . ER DMA N N

E ngl i s h T ra ns la ti o n by s e v era l E n gl i s h a nd A m e ri c a n S c ho l a rs

E d i t ed b y P ro fes s o r W . S H OU GH , i n 3 v o l s
. . V o ls . i . a nd ii .
, ea cl

l 5s v o l i i i , 1 2s
. . . .

A Seco n d E d i ti o n , rev s ed , i is n o w rea dy .

N OT I C E S O F T HE P R E S S .

It a t t f al g at ul at i i th d a th t i l l f i g i al E gl i h A m i a
is m er o re co n r o n, n e e r s o o r n n s or er c
w k or t h wh l ld
o ve r f hi t i a l p hi l
e p h y that b y th i d f th
o e e im p ta
o s o r c o so e s e o e o ne or n
G maer m p d f thi g ati th th
n co en w ll
o tt d t it
s m pl m t i
en er o n. e o er, s o
,

e e o s erve a s s co e en
no w ma d a ibl t th E gl i h p aki g tu d t M d
e cces s e o e n s -
s e n s en

in
,

It i t a y t p ak f th g at m it f E d ma
. .

H i t y f P hi l

s no n eces s r o s e p hy o e re er s o r nn s s or o oso
I t s rema kabl l a d mp h i e c e rn es s w ll k w T h t a l ati i a n co en s v en es s no
a h a h i g h l i a y l l P f
r re a re e n e r ns on s
g d faith f u l d i g d i m p a t
.

!
oo , r en er n , a n n so e r s ev en re c es ter r ev e . ro es s o
J OHN W i Th W k A T S ON n e ee
Th t a lat i f E d ma i i m p ta t t i it l f d i th fa t t ha t it i
.

e r ns on o r nn s a n or n ev en n se a n n e c
th t i ta l m t f u d tak i g f g at i g i a f th tu d y f p hi l p h y i ,

e rs ns en o a n n er n o re s n c n ce or e s o o so
thi u t y M M
s co n r h p ua d d rwh w k i p hi l p h y h w t
U I R HEA D a s ers e m en o se or n o so a s o n o
t h m a g a t p utati t t ibut t th i H h g t P f
. .

e re re o n, oC D
co n r e o e s er es e a s o ro es s o r A I R D, r
W th u f i t t h w th ha a t f th w k t b d
.

&
A R D, & C c es e a re s d th c en o s o e c r c er o e or o e o n e, a n
hig h aim f th d it d p ub l i h A l l th w it ha d g d w k t h u gh t h i
.
, .

o e e o r a n s ers e r ers ve o ne oo or o e
b t w k mai t b d Sp t t
.
,

es or re ns o e o ne ec a or
pl d i d m um t f p ati t lab u i ti a l a um d a d mi ab l m t h d i
. .

A s en on en o en o r, c r c c en , a n r e e o cs
t atm t I t i t t mu h t p d i t that f th l ib a y f t h
re en s no o o t f th c o re c or e r r o e s a va n or
a a d mi a l tu d t d f th l it a y d il tta t th l um wi l l at b m
.
, ,

c e c s en a n o r e er r e n e, es e v o es o nc e eco e
n ec es s ity f p u p at l a t f f
o r i f t f a tua l tu
r o s es ,
,

d y W p
P l l M l l G t t
e s t hi o r e ere n ce , no o c s e o s s es s n o n
t hat b a y m p a i with i t i p i t f m p l t
.
,
!
ca n e r a n co r so n n o n o co e e n es s a a a ze e
I t h b l g k w hig hly t m d d i i t u i d iti h u gh t t
. .

a s e en o n no n, es ee e a n n s s cces s ve e o ns a s so
mak it lf m w th y f th u
e se it h j u tl y a hi d E d ma w k i
o re or o l e s cc es s a s
,

s c ev e r nn s

o r s e xce
l t H i hi t y f m d i a l phi l p h y p ial l y d a tt ti d p ai
.

en s s or o e a ev f it o so es ec es erv es en on a n r se or
m p a ati f l d i t a d m ab l h la hi p S t
.

co r ve u n es s a n s ir e sc o rs co s m a n .
mb ati f q ual iti a y t p d u a w k f th p d g ad
.

Th e co in on o es n eces s r o ro ce or o e s co e a n r e 0
E d ma
r i a I d u t y a u a y d a fai d g
nn s
'

s r re f p hi l
n p hi sd t r di cc r c a n r e ree o o so c un ers a n n
may g i a w k l i k U b w g bu t E d ma hi t y whi l i wa y p d i
.
, ,

v e us o r e e er e s r nn s s or e n no su ers e n
a ha d b k f g al u p i a d i ff t p iti ,

U b w g E d

e er e s a s y t n oo o r en er u s e, e o cc es e ren os on r m a ni
w t hi b k t a f b k t gi i b i f m p a a d i g t f t h w iti g
.

ro e s oo no a s re eren ce o o o ve n r e co ss es o e r n s 0
a i u auth but a g ui hi t y f p hi l p h y t a i g i a g ti wa y i h
, ,

v r o s o rs , a s en ne s o r o o so r c n n en e c
d l p m t f th u g ht i i t t atm t f p hi l ph i p bl m I t p u p i t
ev e o en o o n s re en o OS O
,

c ro e s s r ose s
d l p p hil p h i i t ll i g ath tha t f u i h i f mati \V h w a dd that
.

ev e o o so c n e en ce r er n o rn s n o r on en e
u fu l uti f thi i t ti E d ma u it a mi ut d hau ti
.

to th e s cces s ex ec o n o s n en o n, r nn n es n e a n ex s v
k w l dg f p h i l p hi u at t ha d q ua ll d
no e e o O SO th ti ld f p hi l p h
c so rces rs n e e o ver e en re e o o so
p babl y by th i a d iti t f m m i d a f th al u f th ,
ro w no o er o n e m a n , e a re n co n o n o or so e e o e v e o
b k T th tu d t wh W h
oo o t im p l y a g
e s al i d a f th u f p hi l p h y
en o is es no s en er e o e co rs e o o so
a umma y f what thi d that ai d but a m what d tail d k wl d g
. ,

no r s rh o s a n m a n a s s so e e e no e e 0

th l uti f t h ught d f w hat thi d th

e ev o on o th w it ha
o t ibut d t it
a n o s a n
,

e o er r er v e co n r e o
E d ma i i d i p abl ; t h i ub t itu t P f ,

J D W i Th !
r nn s n s en s e ere s no s s e . ro ess o r OH N E E Y ,
n
A d n R i w
o v er ev e
I t i a w k tha t i a t p a t u gh f th d i a y t u d t d fu ll
.

fo r th e re
s
ad f l i t at e A t er o
y
o r
t at i a d i t t
er i g
s
J u
ur
o n ce c o m
l of E d. t
g
o n ce s
c en o
s em c
or
n
e or
n eres
n
n
r
.
!
s
o
en
m a
,
a n
uca
en o u
io n .
 L IS T OF WOR K S IN P R E P A R A T ION

SONNENSCHEINS L IBRARY OF P HILOSOPHY

.

F IR S T SE R IE S
EA R L Y I DEA L I S M D es c a rt es to L ei b n i tz . By W . L . C O R TN EY U , MA . .
,

H o n L L D (S t A n d rew s ), F ell o w o f N ew C o l l ege , Oxf o rd

. . . . .

GE R MA N I DE A L I S TS K a n t t o H egel W M W LL C E , M A , \V hyte . By . A A . .

Pro fes s o r o f M o ra l P hi l o s o ph , U n iv ers i ty o f Oxf o rd y .

MO D N ER RE A L I S TS H er a rt, L o tz e , & c A R E S E T H , M A , P ro b By ND W
. . .

fes s o r o f L o gi c a n d E n gl i s h L i t era t u r e, U n i v ers i t o f S t A n d rew s

y . .

S NS A TI ONA L I S TS : L o ck e t o Mi l l
E W S H O G H , P h M , A s s is t a n . By U . . . .

Pro fes s o r o f Men ta l a n d M o ra l P h i lo s o ph , U n i v ers it o f M i n n es o ta , y y

U S A . . .

THE TH I C S OF I D A L I S M: K a n t a n d H egel
E H E N R Y JO E S , M A ,
E . By N . .

P ro fes s o r o f Men ta l a n d Mo ra l Phi l o s o p h , U n i v ers it C o l l ege, a n go r y y B .

TH U TI L I TA /A NS : H u m e to C o n tem po ra r W ri t e rs
E R W R S OR L E Y , y . By . .

M A , F el l o w o f T ri n i t C o ll ege , a m ridge, a n d Pro fes s o r o f P h il o

. . y C b

so ph y C l l g C d i ff
yi n U n i v e rs i t o e e, a r .

MO RA L S E NS E WR I TERS S h f t b y t M ti u By VV I L I A N a es ur o a r n ea . L
K N I GH T M A P f f Mo l P hil ph y S t A d w N B

, . .
, r o es s o r o ra o so , . n re s ,
. .

P R I N C I P L E OF E VO L U TIO N I N I TS S C I E N TI F I C A ND P HI L OS OP HI C A
A S PE C TS By JOH N W ATS ON L L D P f . f M l P h i l o p hy , . .
, ro es s o r o o ra so

i ty f Q

U i n v er s C ll g K i g t C d o u e en s o e e, n s o n, a na a .

SE C ON D SE R IE S .

THE H I S TO R Y OF P S Y C HOL OC Y :E m p i ri ca l a n d R a t i o n a l R OB E R . By
A DAMS ON , M A L L D , ro fe s s o r o f o gi c a n d o l i ti c a l E c o n o m
. .
, . . P L P y
Owen M a n ches ter

s C o l l ege , .

THE H I S TO R Y OF P O L I TI CA L PH I L O S O P H Y By D G R I TC H I E M A . . .
, . .

F ell o w o f Jes u s C o ll ege Oxfo rd , .

PH I L O S O PH Y A ND E C O N O MI CS I N TH EI R H I S TO R I CA L RELA TIO NS B .

J B ONAR M A
.
, . .
, LL D . .

THE H I S TO R Y OF ! 8 THE T/0 8 E R R . By B NA D B OS AN Q U ET , M . A .

, la t
F el l o w o f U n i v e rs i t C o l l e ge , Ox f o rd y .

THE D VE O ME N T OF R A T/O N
E L P THE OL OC Y AL s i n ce K a nt . By P f ro os

s o r OT T o F LE I E R E R , o f P
erl i n D B .
[R ea dy

THIR D SE R I E S
THE THE O R Y OF E TH I C S By E DWAR D CA I R D L L D Pro fes s o r 0 .
, . .
,

M o ra l P hi l o s o phy i n th e U n 1 v ers i t y o f G la s go w .

EPI S TEMO L O GY OR THE THE O R Y OF K N O WL E DGE By JA ME S W AR D

, .

D Sc . .
, LL D . .
, F el l o w a nd L ec tu r er o f T ri n i t yC o l l ege, C a m b ri dge .

S W A N S ON N E N S C H E I N L ON D ON .
 S O C IA L S C I E NC E S E R IE S .

S ca rl et ,
C l o t/z ,

I . Wo r k a n d Wa g e s P ro f J E T H OR OL D R OG E R S . . . . .

N o th i n g th a t P ro f es s o r R o gers wri tes ca n fa i l to b e o f i n teres t to th o u gh t

f ul p e p l e A th
!
o . em eu m .

2 C iv i l is a t io n : it s C a u s e a n d C u r e E DWA R D CA R P E N TE R
ics b ut a p erm a nent p o s es s i o n
. . .

N o p a s s i n g p i ece o f p o l

S tt l
!
em , s . co zs t
R

3 Q u i n te s s e n c e o f S o c ia l is m Dr SC I IA F F L E
B
.
. . .

P rec i ly
se th e m a nua l n ee e dd . B if
r e , l uc id f i
, a r, a nd w s e i .
!
r z tz s k

4 Da. r wi n i s m a nd P o l it ic s . R I T C H E M A (Ox
D . G . I , . . o n. )
N ew E d i ti o n, ih
w t t wo a d d i ti l E y H
o na E l ti ss a s on um a n vo u on

t wi th
.

On e o f th e m o st su gg ti es ve bo o k w h s e L t y W ld
a ve m e .
!
z em

r or .

5 R . e l ig io n o f S o c ia lis m . E . B E LF OR T B A X .

6 . E t hic s o f S o c ia l is m . E . BE L F OR T B A X .

Mr . B a x is by fa r the a bl es t o f the E ngli h s p
ex o n en ts o f Soc i a li s m .
!

w
'

I V es tn z z n s ter R ev i e .

7 T he Drin k
.
Q u es tio n . Dr K . A TE MI T C H E LL .

P l ty f i
en o n teres t n ig m a t ter fo r re ecti o n .

G m plz i c .

8 . P ro m o ti o n o f G e n e ra l Ha p p i n e s s . P ro f . M M A C MI L L AN
. .

d l i gh t d ti lit i
A
S
rea s o n ed a cco u n t o f th e m ost a dva nce a n d m o s t en en e u a r a n
d o ctr i ne in a l
c ea r a n d rea d a bl f e o rm .

co ts m m z .

9 . E n g la n d s

I d e a l, & c . DWA R D CA R P E N T E R E .

T h e t era li r y p o we r is unm i s ta k a bl e, th i f h f ty l t h i h
e r res n es s o s e, e r u m o u r,
a n d t e r en t hi h i us a s m .
!

I o . S o c ia li s m in E n g la n d . SI DN EY W EB B , LL B . .

T he b es t g en era l v i ew o f th e s ub j ect fro m the m o d ern S o c i lia st sid e .

A t/z e n m m z.

I I . P r i n c e B is m a rc k a n d S ta te S o c ia l is m . W . H . D AW S O N .

A s u cc n c t, i w ll d i g e -
es t ed rev e i w o f G erm a n soc a il a n d eco n o m i c l g i l ti oe s a n
i
s nce S a tu r d a y R ev i e w .

G o d wi n

12 . s P o l it ic a l J u s t i c e (O n P ro p e r ty ) .

E d i t d by H S e . . S A LT .

S h o w Go d wi a
Gl g w H
s n t h i s b es t ; w t ih a n i n teres ti g
n d i f
a n i gI n o rm n n tro d uc
t i on .
!
a s o er a l d .

13 T h e S to ry o f t he F re n c h R ev o l ut i o n. E B E LF OR T BAX .

S eo ts m
. .

A tru s two rt hy o ut li ne .
!
a n .

4 T he C c -O p e ra t iv e C o m m o n w ea lt h L AU R E N C E GR N L U ND O
h l
I . . .

A n i n de p en d en t ex p i ti
os on o f th e S o c i li
a sm o f th e Ma rx Sc Coo .

on
tem p o r a ry R ev i e w .

15 Es s a ys a n d A d d r e s s e s B E R NA R D B o s A N Q U E T M A (Oxo n )
y tud t o f th N i et th Ce t y
. . . .
.
,

Ou gh
t to b e i n th e a n d s o f h ev er s en e n een n ur
S pi i
r t

E clz o
p i
-

b i g bl e to und e s ta n d wha t M B o s q t
. .

N 0 o n e ca n co m l a n o f n o t e n a r r. a n ue
P a l l Ma ll Ga z et te
!
I n ca n s . . [OV E R