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T R A N S L A T O R S P R EFA CE
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.
is one of the few philosophers who
can be generally understood without a commentary
A l l his theories claim to be drawn direct f rom the f acts
to be suggested by observation and to interp ret the
wo ld as it is and whatever view he takes he is con
q stant in his appeal to the experience of common li fe
;
7
This characteristic endo ws his style with a f reshness
and vigour whic h would be di fficult to match in the
philosophical writing of any cou n try and impossible
i n that of German y
I f it were asked whether there
were a n y circ mstances apart from heredity to which
he ow d h i mental habit the ans wer might be f ound
in the abnormal c haracter of his early education his
acquaintance with the world rather than with books
the extensive travel of hi s boyhood his
rdent p
suit oi knowledge f or its own sake and without regard
to the emoluments and endowments of learnin g He
was train ed in realities even more than i n ideas and
hence he is original forcible clear an enemy of all
3
and
obscurity
so
that
it
hi
l
os 0 h i c i n d efin i ten es s
p
p
$
may w el l b e said of him in the words of a wri ter in
the R v e Co n tem porain e c c n es t p a s a n p hi l os op he
S CHO P EN HA U E R
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TR AN SL ATO R S
c om
m e l es
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a n tr es ,
e es t a n
P R EF A C E
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h
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s
h
a
o
e
i
p
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on
a
le
m en de
.
is not my purpose nor would it be poss ible with
in the limits of a pref atory note to a ttempt an account
of S chopenhauer s philosophy to indicate its sources
or to suggest or rebut the obj ections whic h may b e
taken to it M R ibot in his excellent little book
has d one all that is necessary i n this direction But
the essays here presented need a word of explan ation
I t s hould be observed and S chopenhauer himsel f is at
pains to p oint out that his sys tem is like a citad el
with a hu n dred gates : at w h atever point you take it
up wherever you make your entrance you are on the
road to the cen tre I n this respect his writi n gs
resemble a series of essays composed in support of a
single thesis a circumst nce w hich led him to insist
more emphatically even than most philosop hers that
f or a pr e per u nderstandi n g of hi s system it was
n ecessary to read every line he had written P erhaps
it would be more correct to describe D i e Wel t a ls Wi t/e
m ai n thesis and his oth er
n d Vo s tell n g as hi s
treatises as merely corollary to it The essays in the e
volumes f or m part of the corollary ; they are taken
f
f rom a collectio n p blished towards the clos e
S chopen hauer s li f e and by him entitled P r e g a n d
as bei ng i n the nature of surplusage
P a r a l i p om en
Th ey are by fa
a n d illustrative o f h i s m ai n positio n
It
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L a P h il os ophi e d e S c h o p en h a u
.
er ,
pa r
T h R i b ot
.
.
’
T R A N SL AT O R S
PR EFA C E
.
os t popular of his works an d since their fir st
publication in 1 851 they have done much to build up his
f ame
Written so as to be intelligi ble enough in them
selves the tendency of many of the m is towards the
fundamental idea on which his system is based I t may
theref ore be convenient to summarise that idea in a
couple of sentences ; more especially as S chopenhauer
sometimes writes as i f his advice had b een f ollowed
and his readers were acquainted with the whole of hi s
work
A l l philosophy is in some sense the endeavour to
find a uni fying principle to discover the most general
conception underlying the whole field of nature and
of k nowledge
By one of those bold generalisations
which occasional l y mark a real advan ce in science
S chope n hauer conceived this ni f yi n g prin c i ple t his
underlying unity to consist in something analogous
to that wi l l w hich sel f consciousness reveals to us
Wi ll is according to him the fundamental reality of
the world the thi n g i n itsel f and its obj ectivation is
w hat is presented in phenom ena T he st uggle of the
will to realise itsel f evolves the organism which in its
turn evolves intelligence as the servant of the will
A n d in practical li fe the antago n ism betwe en the will
and the in tel l ect arises f rom the f act t hat the f ormer
is th e metaphysical subs tance the latter somethi n g
accidental a d secondary A n d f urther will is des i r e
that is to say n ee d of somethin g ; hence need and
the m
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’
TR A N SLATO R S
P R EF A C E
.
l
ain
are
what
is
positive
in
the
worl
and
the
on
y
d
p
possible happiness is a negation a renunciation of the
,
,
wi ll to l i ve
.
is instructive to note as M R ibot points out
that in finding the origi n of all things not in i n telli
gence as so m e of his predecessors in philosophy had
done but in will or the force of nature f rom which
all phenomena have developed S chopenhauer was
anticipati n g something of the scientific spirit of the
n ineteenth century
To this it may be added that in
combating the method of Fi c hte and Hegel who
spun a system out of abstract ideas and in discarding
it f or one based on observation and experien ce
S chopenhauer can be said to have brought down
philosophy f r om heaven to earth
I n S c hopen hauer s View the various f orms of
R eligion are no less a product of human i n ge n u ity
than A r t or S cien ce He holds in e ffect that all
religions take their rise in the desire to explain the
world ; and tha t in regard to truth and error they
di ffer in the main not by preachi n g mon oth eism
pol ytheism or pantheism but in so f ar as they
recogn ise pessimis m or optimism as the true des c ri p
tion of lif e Hen ce an y religion which look ed u pon the
worl d as being radically evil appealed to him as con
taini n g a n i n destructible el eme n t of truth I have
e n d eavoured to presen t hi s view of two of the great
religi ons of the wo l d i n the extract which comes
It
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x
’
T R A N S L AT O R S
P R EFA C E
.
in the thi d vol u m e and to wh i h I have gi v en the
ti tle of T he Chr i s ti a n S ys tem The te n or of it is
to sho w that however little he may have been in
sympat hy wit h the supern atural el eme n t he o wed
much to th e mora l doctrines of C hris tia n ity and
of Buddhism b etween which b e traced great res e m
blance
O f S chopen hauer as of many ano th er writ er i t may
be Said that he has been misunderstood a n d d epr eciated
just in the degree in whi c h he is thought to be new
and that i n treati n g of the Conduct of L i f e he is in
real ity valuable on ly in so f a as he bri n gs old truths
to re m mbr n ce Hi s name used to arouse and in
c ertain quarters still arouses a vague sense of alarm
as though he had come to subvert all the rul es of
right thi n ki n g and all the pri n ci pl e of good conduc t
rather than to proclaim once again and give a new
m an in g to truths with which the world has lon g
been f amiliar O f his philosophy in its more tech
n i c a l asp ects as matter u pon w hich enough p erhaps
has be en written no accou n t ne ed be taken here
except as i t affects the f orm i n which he embodies
these truths or suppli es the f resh l ight in w hich he
sees them For whatever claims to originality his
meta physical th eory may possess th e chief i n terest to
be f ou n d in hi s views of li f e is a n affair of f orm
rather than of substance ; a n d he stands in a s ph ere
of his own not because he sets new problems or opens
r
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T R A N SL A TO R S
P R E FA C E
.
up u ndiscovered tr u ths but in the m anner in which
he approaches what has been already reveal ed
He is not on that acco u nt less important ; f o the
great mass of men at all times re quires to have old
—
e
truths imparted as i f th y were new f ormulated as
it were directly f or th em as indivi duals and of
special ap plication to their own circumstances in li f e
A disc u ssion of human happ i ness and the way to
obtain it is never either unnecessary or uncalled f or
i f one looks to the extent to which the lives of most
m en f al l short of even a poor ideal or again to the
di fficulty of reaching any definite and secure conclu
sion For to such a momentous inquiry as this the
vast maj ority of mankind gives nothing more than a
nomi n al co n sideration acce pting the current belie f
whatever it may be on authority and taki n g as little
thought of the grounds on which it rests as a man
walki ng takes of the motio n of the earth But for
those who are not indi fferent—f or those whose desire
to f at hom the mystery of existence gives them the
righ t to be call ed thinki n g beings— i t is just here in
regard to the conclusion to be reached that a di tfi
culty arises a di fficulty a ffecti n g the conduct of li f e
f o while the great f acts of existence are alike for all
th ey are variously appreciated and c onclusions di ffe r
chiefly f rom innate diversity of temperament in those
who draw them I t is i n nate temperament acting on
a V i ew of the f acts necessarily incomplete that has
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T R A N S L AT C R S
P R E FA C E
.
i ns pired
so man y di fferen t t eachers The ten dencies
of a m a n s own mi n d —the I dols of the Ca v e be fore
which he bows — interpret the f acts in accordan ce
wit h his own nature he elaborates a s y stem containi n g
perhaps a grain of truth to w hich the whole of li f e is
then m ade to con f orm the f acts purporting to be the
foundation o f the theory and the theory in its turn
giving its own colour to the f acts
N or is this error the manipulation of facts to suit a
theory avoided in the views of li f e w hich are pre
s ented by S chope n hauer I t is true that b e aimed
especially at f reeing himsel f f rom the trammels of
h
f
revious
systems
but
e
was
caught
in
those
o
his
;
p
Hi s na tural desire was to resist the common
o wn
—
appeal to anythi n g extramundane anythi n g outside
or beyond li fe — as the basis of eit her hO pe or fear
He tried to look at l i fe as it is b t the metap hysical
theory on which his whole philosophy rests made it
nec ssary f or him a s he thought to regard it as an
u n mix ed evil He calls o present existence an i n
fin i tes i m a l mo m ent between two eterniti es the past
and the f uture a mome n t— like the li f e of P lato s
D wel lers in the Cave — fill e d with the pursuit of
shadows ; where everythi n g is relative phenomen al
illusory an d man is bound in the servitude of i gn or
ance struggl e and need in the endless round of e ffort
I f you confine yoursel f says S cho pe n
a n d f ailur e
hau er on l y to s ome of its small details li fe may
.
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T R A N S L A T O R S P R E FA C E
.
indeed appear to be a comedy because of the on e of
two bright s pots of happy circumstance to b e f ound
i n it her e and there ; but w h en you reach a high e r
poi n t of Vi ew a n d a broader outlook t hes e so on
become invisible and Li f e seen f rom the distan ce
whi c h brings out the true proportion of all i ts parts
is revealed as a trag edy— a long record of stru ggle
with the death of the h ero as the fi al
a n d pain
certainty Ho w then h e a ks c an a m an make the
best of his brie f hour under the ha d co n di tions of
his d s tiny What is th e true Wisdom of Li f e
S chop enhauer has no p i e conceived divi n e p l a n to
vindicate ; n o religious or moral enthusiasm to give a
r os e te h e to some f a r off eve n t obliging us in th e
e n d to t hi n k t hat all thi n gs work together f o good
Let p ets a n d th e logia n s give pl y to im agi n atio n !
he at any ra te will prof ess n o kno wl edge of a n y
thin g b eyo n d our ken I f our existe ce d oes n ot
entirely fail o f its aim it must he says he s nfier i n g
fo r this is what meets us everywhere in th e worl d
and it is absurd to loo k upon it as the result of
c han ce S till in the f ace of al l this su ff ring a n d i n
spite of the f c t that theu n c ertainty of li fe de troy s
its alue as an en d in its l f ev ery man s natural
d esire is to preserve h i s existe n ce ; so that li f e is a
bl ind un reason i g f orce hurryi n g us we kno w n ot
whither From his high m etaphysical stan dpoi n t
S chope n ha u er is ready to admit that ther e are many
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a
s
v
e
n
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T R A N S L A T oR s
P R EFA C E
.
thi n gs i n li f e which give a short satis faction and
blind us f or the m o ment to the realiti es of existence
pleasures as th ey m ay be cal led in so f a r as they are
a mode of r eli ef ; but that pleasure is not positive in
its nature nor an ything more than the negation of
su ff ering is proved by the f act that i f p l easures
come in abund ance pain soon returns in the form of
satiety ; so that the sense of illusion is all that has
been gained Hence the most a man can achieve i n
th e way of w el f are is a measure of relie f from this
su ff ring ; an d i f people were prudent it is at thi
th ey would aim instead of trying to secure a happi
ness which alway s flies f rom them
I t is a trite saying that h appiness is a delusion a
chim aera the fa ta m org na of the heart ; but here is a
writer who will bring our whole conduct into line
wi th that as a matter of practice ; making pain the
positive ground work of lif e and a desire to escape it
the spur of all e ffort While most of those who treat
of the cond u ct of li f e come at last to the conclusion
more or less vag ely expressed that religion and
morality f orm a positive source of true happiness
S chopenhauer d oes not pro f essedly tak e this view ;
though it is quite true that the practical outcome of
his remarks tends as will be seen in support of it ;
with this d i ff erence however— he does not direct the
imagin ation to an ythi n g outside this present li f e as
maki n g it worth while to live at all his obj ect is to
'
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e
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b
’
TRA N SL ATO R S
P R EF A C E
.
sta te the fac ts of existence as they immediat ely
appear and to draw conclusio n s as t w ha t a wise
m a n wil l do in the f ace of them
I n the practical outcome of S chopen h auer s e t hics
the end an d a i m of those maxims of co n duct w hic h
he recommends there is nothing t hat is not sub
s ta n ti a lly a kin to theories of li f e which in d i ffe rent
f orms the greate part of mankind is presumed to
hold in reverence I t is the premises rath er than the
conclusio n of his arg ment which intere t us as some
thing new The whole world he says with all its
phenomena of change growth and develo pment is
u ltimately
the mani f es tation of Will Wi l le a n d
—
s
Vo tellu n g a blind force conscious of itsel f only
when i t reaches the stage of intel lect
A n d li f e is a
cons tant sel f assertion of this will ; a long desi e
which is never f ulfilled ; disillusion inevitably f ollow
ing upon attainment because the will the thing i h
itsel f — i n philosophical lan gu age the n o m en on
alway remai n s as the permanen t element ; and wi th
this persistent exercise of i ts claim it can never be
satisfied S o li f e is essential ly su fferi n g ; and the only
reme dy for it is the f reed m of the intellect from the
servit u de imposed by its master the will
The happiness a man can attai n is thus in S chopen
hauer s view negative only ; but ho w is it to be
acqu ired ? S ome temporary relie f he says may be
obtained through the medium of A t ; f or in the
o
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TR A N SL ATO R S
P R EF A C E
.
apprehension of A rt we are raised out of our bondage
contemplating obj ects of thought as they are in them
selves apart f rom their relation s to our own ephemeral
exist ence a n d f ree f rom any taint of the will This
contemplation of pure thought is destroyed when A rt
is degraded from i ts lof ty sphere and made an i n s tr u
me n t in the bondage of the will How few of t hose who
f eel that the pleasure of A t transcends all ot hers could
gi v e such a striking exp l an ation of their f eeli n g
But the hi ghest ethical du ty and con sequently the
s u preme endeavour af ter happiness is to withdraw
f rom the struggle of li f e and so obtain release f rom
th e misery w hich t hat struggle im p oses upo n all even
upon those who are f or the moment success f ul For
as will is the i n most kernel o f everything so it is
identical und er all its man i f st ati ons ; and through
f the world a man m ay arrive at the
th e mirror
knowledge of hims el f The recogn ition of the
identity of our own nature with that of others is the
begi n nin g and foundation of all true morality For
once a m an clearly perceives this solidarity of the
will there is aroused in him a f eeling of s ymp a thy
wh i ch is the mai n spring of ethical cond u ct This
f eeling of sympathy must in any true moral system
pr event our obtaini n g success at the price of others
los Justice in this theory comes to be a noble
e nlightened sel f interest ; it will f orbid our doi n g
wrong to our fellow man because I n I nj u rm g him we
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PR E F A C E
’
T R A N SL AT CR S
are i nj u ring ourselves— our own nature which is
identical with his O n the other hand the rec ogn i
tion of this identity of the wil l must lead to com
miseration—a f eeling of sympathy with our f ellow
sufferers —to acts of kindness and benevolen ce to the
mani f estation of what K an t in the M etap hys w of
In
E thi c s calls the only absolute good the good wi ll
S chopenhauer s phraseology the human will in other
words ép the love of li fe is in itsel f the ro ot of all
evil and goodn ess lies in renouncing it T heo eti
cally his ethical doctrine is the extreme of socialism
in a large sense a recognition of the i n ner identity
and equal claim of al l men with ourselves ; a
reco gn ition is s ui n g i n dydm universal benevolence
and a stifli n g of particu lar desires
I t may come as a surprise to those who a ff ect to
h old S cho p e n hauer in abhorre n ce without perhap
really knowi ng the n ature of h i s views that in this
theory of the essential evil of the human will— 3pm
—
f
f
the common selfish idea o li e he is reflecti n g and
indeed probably borrowing what he describes as the
f undame n tal te n et of C hristian t heology that the
whole c r ea ti on gr oa n eth a n d tr ava i l eth i n p a i n sta n d
ing in need of redemption Though S chopen hauer
was no f riend to Christian theology in its ordi ary
tendencies he was very much in sym pathy with some
of the doctrines w hich have been con n ected wi th i t
,
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n
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1
R om an s
viii
.
,
22
.
TR A N S L A T O R
’
PR E FA C E
S
.
his O pinion the f oremost tr u th which Christianity
proclaimed to the world l ay in its recognition of
pessimism its vie w that the world was essentially
corrupt and that the devil was its prince or ruler
I t would be out of place here to inquire into the exact
meani n g of this statemen t or to determine the pre
cise f orm of compensation provided f or the ills of li f e
under a n y scheme of doctrine which passes f or Chris
tian : and even i f it were i n place the task would be
an extremely d i ffi cult one for probably no system of
beli ef has ever undergo n e at various periods more
radical changes than Christianity B u t whatever
prospec t of happin ess it may have held out at an
early date of its history it soon came to teach that
the necessary preparatio n f or happi n ess as a posit ve
spiritual state is r en u n c i a ti on resignation a looking
a way f rom extern al l i fe to the inner lif e of the soul
a ki n gd om n ot of thi s wo l d
S o far at least as con
cerns its view of the world itsel f and the mai n lesso n
and duty whi h li f e teaches there is nothi n g in the
theory of pessimis m which do es n ot accord wit h t hat
el i gi on whi c h is looked up to as the guide of li f e over
a great part of the civilised world
What S chopenhauer does is to attemp t a meta
f
h
hysical
explanation
the
evil
li
e
it
out
any
o
f
o
f
w
p
re f erence to anythi n g outside it P hilosophy he
urges should be c os m ology not theol ogy ; an ex plana
I
n
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1
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,
1
John
x
ii
.
,
31
.
,
TR A N S L A T C R
’
S
PR E F A C E
.
tion of the world not a scheme of divine knowledge
it s hould leave the gods alone—to use an ancient
phrase—and claim to be lef t alone in return S cho
ed
es
not
concern
as
the
apostl
and
n h a u er was
e
p
f athers of the C hurc h were concerned to f ormulate a
scheme by which the ills of this li fe should be
remedied i n another— an app eal to the poor and
o ppressed conveyed of ten in a material f orm as for
instance in the story of Dives and L az arus I n his
theory of li f e as the sel f assertion of will he en deav
o u rs to account for the sin misery and iniquity of the
world and to point to the way of escape— the den ial
of the will to live
Though S chopenhauer s views of lif e have this
much in common with certain aspects of Christian
doctrine they are in decided antagonism with another
theory which though comparatively speaking the
birth of yesterday has already been di gnified by the
name of a religion and has no doubt a certain
number of followers I t is the theory whi ch looks
upon the li fe of m an kind as a continual progress
towar ds a state of perfection and humanity in its
nobler tend ncies as its el f worthy of worship To
those w ho embrace this t heor y it will seem that
because S chopen hauer does not hesitate to declare the
evil in the li fe of mankind to be f a r in excess of the
good and that as long as the human will remains
what it is there can be no radical change f or the
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
-
,
,
,
.
’
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
e
.
,
,
,
,
TR
A N S L AT O R
’
S
P R EF A C E
.
—a questio n which may even come to b e generally
raised in a not very distant f u ture on behal f of some
n e w conception of Christianity
A n d f rom another p oi n t of vie w let it be f rankly
admitted that renunciation is incompatible with
ordi n ary practice with the rules of li f e as we are
compelled to f ormulate 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 on s under which men have to exist
I n spite of the fact that he is theoretically in
sympathy with truths which lie at the f oundation of
certain widely revered systems the world has not yet
accepted S chopenhauer f or what he proclaimed him
self to be a great teacher : and probably for 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 living orce a shado wy recognition of the
id entity of the will For men are disinclined to
welcome a theory which neither flatters their present
position nor holds out any prospect of better thi n gs
to come O ptimism — the belie f that in the end
everything will be f or the best—is the natural creed
of manki n d ; and a writ er wh o of set purpose seeks
to undermine it by an appeal to facts is regarded as
one who tries to rob humanity of its right How
s eldom an appeal to the facts within our reach is
really made ! Whether the evil of li f e a ctually out
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
.
s
.
’
P R EF A C E
TR A N SL AT O R S
x vn
.
weighs the good or i f we sh uld look for better
things W hat is the possibility or the nature of a
Fu ture Li f e either for ourselves as individ u als or as
part of some great whole or again as contributing to
a coming state of p er fection —s u ch in q uiries clai m an
amount of atte n tion which the m ass of men every
where is unwilli ng to give B u t in any ca e whether
it is a vague asse n t to c rrent belief s or a blind reliance
on a baseless certainty or an impartial attem pt to put
—
away what is f alse hope remains as the deepest
f oundation of every faith i n a happy f u t ure
But it should be observed that this looking to the
f uture as a complement f or the pre ent is dictated
m ai n ly by the desire to remedy existi n g ills ; and
that the great hold which religion has on man kind as
an incentive to presen t happin ess is the promise it
makes of coming perf ection Hope f or the f uture is
a ta cit admission of evil in the presen t ; for i f a man
is completely happy in this li f e and looks upon
ha ppiness as the prevaili n g order he will not t hink
so much of another S o a d iscussion of the nature of
hap piness is not thought c om pl ete i f it takes accou n t
o n ly of our present li fe and unless it connects what
we are now and w hat we do here with what we may
be hereaf ter
S cho penhauer s theory does not pro f ess
to do this ; it promises no positive good to the i n
dividual ; at most only reli ef ; he breaks the idol of
the world an d sets up n othing H1 its place ; and like
o
-
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
s
,
u
,
,
,
,
.
s
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
’
.
,
,
’
T R A N sL A T O R s
x vu l
PR EF A C E
man y another iconoclast he has long b e e n co n d emn ed
I f th e re
by thos e whose t emples he has desecrated
are optimistic theories of li fe it is not li f e itsel f he
would argue which gives colour to them it is rather
the reflection of some great fin al cause which humanity
has created as the last hope of its redemption
,
.
,
,
,
Hea ven
A
nd
bu t the vi s i on
ff
o
hel l the s ha dow f r om
lfilled d es i re,
u
a s ou
l
fir e,
on
Ca s t on the da rkn es s i nto whi c h owrs el ves ,
80 l a te em erged f rom , s ha ll
S till
s o s oon ex p i re
1
.
hope it may be said is not knowle dge nor a
real answer to any question ; at most a mak eshi f t a
moral support f or intellectual weakness The truth
is that as th eori es both optimism and pessimism are
f ailures ; because th ey are extreme vie w s w here only
a very partial judgment i s possible A n d in view of
the great uncertainty of all answers most of those
who do not accept a stereotyp ed system leave th e
question alone as bein g ei ther of lit tle i n terest or of
no beari n g on the welf are of th eir lives which are
comm o n ly satisfied with low aims ; tacitly ridiculi n g
those who demand an answer as the m ost pressi ng
affair of exist ence But the fact that the fi n al pro
hl em s of the world are still open makes in f avour of
an honest attempt to thi n k them out in spite o f all
previous f ailure or still existing di fficulty ; and how
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
1
O m ar K h ayya m
tran s l a ted b y E
.
F i tz geral d
.
'
’
trR A N S L A T O R s
'
PR E FA C E
.
ever old these problems may be the endeavour to
solve them is one which it is always worth while to
encourage af resh For the individual advan tages
which attend an effor t to find the true path accrue
quite ap art f rom any success in reachi n g the goal ;
a n d even
though the height we strive to climb be
i n acce sible we can s till see and understand more
than thos e who never leave the plain The sphere it
is true is enormous— the study of human lif e and
destiny as a whole ; an d our me n tal vision is so ill
adapted to a range of th i s extent that to aim at form
i n g a complete scheme is to attempt the impossible
I t must be recognised that the data are i n su fficie n t f or
l arge views and that we ought not to go beyond the
f acts we have the f acts of or a m ary li f e interpreted
by the common experience o f every day T hese f orm
our only material The views we take must of
—
f
necessity be ragmentary a mere collection of ap e e
rough guesses at the undiscov ered ; of the same
nature i n d eed as all our possessions in the way of
knowl edge— little tracts of solid land reclaimed f rom
the mysterious ocean of the unknown
But i f we do not a dmit S chopenhauer to be a great
—
h
teac er because he is out of sympathy with the
highest aspirati ons of m ankind a n d too ready to
dogm tise f rom partial v iews —he is a very suggestive
wri ter and eminently readable Hi s style is brillian t
animated f orcibl e pu n gent ; although it is als o dis
,
.
s
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
.
r as,
,
,
.
,
,
a
,
,
.
,
,
,
’
TR A N SL A T O R S
P REFA CE
cu rsive irresponsible and with a tendency to su per
fic i a l ge n eralisation
He bri n gs in the most unexpected
t opics without an y very sure sen se of their relative
place ; everything in f act seems to be f air game once
he has taken up his pen Hi s irony is noteworthy ;
f or it extends beyond mere isolated sentences and
sometimes applies to whole pass ages which must be
read c m g am ) s a li s A n d i f he has grave faults as
s
nces of literary treatment he is at least
W ell as excelle
always witty and amusing and that too in dealing
with subj ects— as here f or i n s tan c e wi th the C ond u ct of
Li f e — on which many others have been at once severe
I t is easy to complain that though he is
a n d dull
witty and amusi n g he is o f ten at the same time bitter
This is in some measure the u h
a n d ill natured
pleasant side of his u n com p romising devotion to truth
his resolute eagerness to dispel illusion at any cos t
those d fects of his qualiti es which were intensified by
a solitary an d until his last years unappreciated li f e
He was naturally more disposed to coerce than to
flatter the world into accepti n g his vi ews ; he was
above all things u n esp ri t fo t a n d at times brutal
I f it should be urged that
i n the use of his stre n gth
howev er great his literary qualities he is not worth
reading becau se he takes a narrow view of li f e and is
blind to some of its greatest bl essings it will be well
to remember the prof ound truth of that line which a
f riend inscribed on his earl iest biograp hy : S i n on
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
u
r
.
,
,
,
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,
,
,
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,
-
.
,
e
,
,
r
.
,
.
,
,
,
’
PR EFA C E
TR A N SL ATO R s
.
i
a
tru
h
which
seldom
t
s
f
without ap plication w hatev er he the form of hu man
eff ort S cho pen hauer can ot be n eglected because he
takes an unpleasan t V ie w of existence f or it is a V iew
which must prese n t it s elf at some time to every
thoughtf ul person To be outrag ed by S chopenhau er
means to be ignorant of many of the f acts of li f e
I n t his one of his smaller works A p ho i m en z
L ebe s wei hei t S chopen hauer aba n d ons his high m eta
p hysical stand point and discusses wi th the same zest
and appreciation as in f act mark ed his enjoymen t of
them some of the pleasures which a wise man will
seek to obtai n —health moderate possessions intel
lectual riches A n d wh n as i n this l ittle work he
comes to s peak of the wisdom of li fe as the practical
art of living the pessimist view of human destiny is
obtruded as li ttle as possible Hi s r marks prof ess to
—
f
o
be the result
a compromise n attempt to treat
li f e f rom the common standpoint He is content to
call these witty and instructive pages a series of
aphorisms ; thereby indicati n g that he makes no claim
to expound a complet e theory of conduct I t will
d oubtless occur to an y int elligent reader that his oh
s erv ati on s are b u t f ragmentary t houghts on various
—
m
i n the
s
ph a ses of lif e ; and in reality mere ap ho s
—
f
h
e
old Greek sense o t word pithy disti n ctions
definitio n s of facts a marking off as i t were of the
ew a s s et
ec er a t
i l le m i n u
s
}
,
n
.
,
,
,
.
.
r s
,
n
s
u r
,
,
,
,
,
,
e
.
,
,
,
,
e
.
u
.
.
'
,
rz
,
,
-
,
1
S l i gh tly al te red from Ma rti al
,
,
.
E p i gram
I
.
x x u
.
’
T R A N SL AT O R s
x x u
PR EFA C E
.
true from the f alse in some of our ordinary notions of
lif e and prosperity Here there is little that is not in
complete h armony with precepts to which the world
has long b een accustomed ; and in this respect also
S chopenh auer o ff ers a suggestive comparison rat her
th an a contrast with most wri ters on happiness
The philos op her in his study is co n scious that the
world is never likely to embrac e his h i gher m etaphy
s i c a l or ethical sta n dpoi n t and a n n ihilate the w ill to
live ;nor did S chope n hau er himsel f do so except so fa r
as he in common with most serio u s stude n ts of li f e
avoided the ordi n ary aims o f man kind The theory
which recommended universal benevolence as the
highest ethical duty came as a m tter of practice to
mean a f ormal standing aloo f— the n e p l s l t of
individualism The Wisdom of Li fe as the pra c tical
a r t of living is a compromis e
We are here not by
any choice of our own an d while we strive to make
the best of it we must not let ourselves be deceived
I f you want to be happy he says it will not do to
cherish illusions S chop en hau er wou l d have f ou n d
nothi n g admirable in the conclusion at which the lat e
M Edmond S cherer f o i n tan ce arrive d
L rt dc
v i v e he wrot e in his pr ef ace to A miel s J
o r al
es l
i re
d e e fa i r e n n e r a i s o d c s o
omp r om i
de s e
x
ns
h
n hauer conceiv e s hi s mis
S
re
e
t
i
o
c
ope
t
a
fi
p
sion to be rather to d ispel illusion to tear the mask
from li f —a violent op erati on n ot al ways productive
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
a
,
,
u
u
-
.
ra
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
.
.
,
r
r
’
s
’
,
n,
s
u sc r
'
an c
’
r
u
c
,
e
.
,
,
,
a
.
,
u
n
,
se,
c
’
’
P R E FA C E
TR A N SL ATO R S
.
what a man is in himself and that the pl easure h e
derives from these blessings will depend entirely upon
the extent to w hich his personality really allows hi m
This is a rule whi h ru n s some
to ap p reciate them
risk of bei n g overlooked whe n a writ er tries to
daz zle the mind s eye by describi ng all the possible
sources of p l easure in the world of our surroundings
but S i r John L ubbock in common with every one
who attempts a f undamental a ns we r to the question of
The truth of
happiness canno t afford to overlook i t
the ru le is perhap s taken f or granted in hi s account of
li fe s pleasures ; but it is significant that it is only
when he comes to speak of li fe s troubles that he
Happ i es s he says in
f reely admits the f orce of it
t his latter connection dep e ds m u c h m o e on wh t i s
Y e t a rigid application of this
wi thi n tha n wi thou t u s
truth might perhaps discount the e ff ect of those
pleasures with which the world is said to abou n d
That happiness a s well as unhappiness d epends mainly
u pon what is withi n is more clearly recognised in the
case o f trouble ; for when troubles come upon a m an
they influence him as a rule much more deeply than
pleasures How f ew even a mongst the millions to
—
whom these blessings are open health books travel
—
art real ly find any true or perman ent h appiness in
them
Wh ile S chopenhauer s view of the pleasur es of li f
may be eluc i dated by comparing it with that of a
,
c
.
’
,
.
,
’
’
.
n
n
,
,
,
a
r
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
’
e
.
’
P R E FA C E
T R A N SL AT O R S
x x v
.
pop u lar writer like S i r John Lubbock and by con
brasti ng the appeals they severally make to the outer
and the inner world as a source of happiness ;
S chopenhauer s view of li f e itsel f will stand ou t more
clearly i f we remember the opinion so boldly ex
pressed by the same English writer I f we r es olu tely
ohn Lubbock I d o n ot s a y a t
l ook obs erves S i r J
,
’
.
,
,
the br i ght
si
i f we
ar e
de
f
thi
l
owrs el v es
o
a va i
n gs ,
bu t
f
o
at
th i n gs
the m a n i
they r ea lly
as
fold
bl es s i n gs
feel tha t l i fe i s
i n d eed a gl or i ou s i n her i ta n c e
There is a splendid
excess of optimism about this stateme n t w hich well
fits it to show u p the darker picture drawn by the
German philosoph er
Fi n ally it should be remembered that thou gh
S chopenhauer s picture of th e world is gloomy and
sombre there is nothing weak or unmanly in his
attitude I f a hap p y existence he says —not mere ]y
—
f
an existence ree f rom pain is denied us we can at
least be heroes and f ace li fe w
ith courage : d a s
whi c h
s wrr ou n d u s
w
e
;
c a n n ot
bu t
1
.
.
"
,
’
,
.
,
,
,
hoc hs te wa s der M en s c h er l a ngen lea nn i s t ei n her oi s c her
'
noble character will never complain at
m i f rtu n e y f or i f a m an loo k s round him at other
man i f estations of that which is hi s own inner n ature
the will he finds sorrows happening to hi s f ellow men
harder to bear than any that have come upon hims elf
A n d the i d eal of nobility is to deserve the praise
L eben s l a u f
s
.
A
o
,
-
,
.
1
T h e P l ea s u
res of
L i fe
B
.
P art I
.
,
5
p
.
.
’
PR EFA C E
T R A N SL A T O R S
which
Hamle t—i h
.
S hakespeare
s Tragedy
of
’
ism—gave to his f ri end
P es s i m
T ho u ha s t been
A
s on e,
in
su
fi
eri n g a ll ,
tha t
su
j
'
ers n othi ng
.
But perhaps S chopenhauer s theory carries w ith i t
its own correction He describes existence as a m ore
or less viole n t oscillation between pain and boredom
I f this were really the sum of lif e and we had to
reason f rom such a partial vie w it is obvious that
hap piness would lie i n c ti on and that li f e would be
so constituted as to s pply two natural and inevitable
incentives to action and thus to contain in itsel f the
very conditions of ha p piness Li f e itsel f reveals our
destiny I t is not the struggle which produces misery
it is the mis taken aims a n d the low id eals—w a ns
’
.
.
,
,
a
u
,
.
.
,
s u
a l le
bd n d i gt d as Gem ei n e !
,
T hat S chopen hauer conceives li f e as an evil is a
deduction and possi bly a mistaken deductio n f rom his
metaphysical theory Whether his scheme of things is
—
correct or not a n d it sh ares the common fate of all
m etaphysical systems in being u n v eri fiabl e an d to that
extent u n profitabl e— h e wil l in the last resort have
m ade good his cl aim to be read by his insight into the
varied needs of human li fe I t may be that a future
age will consign his meta physics to the philoso phical
lumber room ; but he is a literary a rtist as well as a
philosopher and he can m ake a bid for f ame in eith er
c apacity
T B S
,
,
.
,
.
-
,
.
,
,
,
C O N T EN T S
C HA P
.
I
1
.
.
NT R O D U CT I O N
D I VI S I O
P ER S O
PRO
PO
N
O F T
NA L I T Y
HE S
O R
,
P ER T Y , O R
SI T I O
O F
O
S
N
T
,
W HA T
W HA T
MA N
A
O R
UBJ
E CT
A
’
S
A
t
.
I
PL A
2
ta ti on
.
R
.
P ri d e
3 R
.
4
.
e pu
ank
Hon ou
5 Fa m e
.
r
18
M A N HA S
HE R S
ec
MA N
CE
I N
T
HE E S T I
MA T I O N
I N T R O DUC T I O N
.
pages I shall speak of T he Wi s d om of L i fe in
the common meaning of the term as the art namely
of orderi n g ou r lives so as to obtain the greatest
possible amount of pleasure and success ; an art the
theory of which may be called E u doem on ol ogy for it
teaches us how to lead a happy existence S uch an
existence might perhaps be defined a s one which
looked at f rom a purely obj ective point of view or
—
f
c
i
n
rather a ter cool and mature refl e t o for the
q ues tion necessarily involves subj ective consideratio n s
—would be decidedly pref erable to non existence ;
implying that we should cling to it f or its own sake
a n d not merely f rom the f ear of death ; and f urther
that we should never like it to come to an end
N ow whether human li f e corresponds or could
possibly correspond to this conception of existen ce I s
as is well k nown my phi los o
a question to which
i
h
al system returns a negative answer
n
the
c
O
p
eud aemo n istic hypothesis however the question must
be answered in the affirmative and I have shown in
the second volume of my chief work (ch
that
this hypothesis is b ased upon a f undamental mistake
A ccordi n gly in elaborating the s cheme of a happy
existence I have had to make a complete surrender
of the higher metaphysical and ethical stand o i nt to
p
I
N
these
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
-
,
,
.
,
,
,
-
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
i N T R O Di i C T i oN
.
which my own theories lead ; and everything I s h l l
say here wi l l to some extent rest upon a com promise ;
in s f a r that is as I take the common s ta n dpoint of
every day and embrace the error which is at the
bottom of it My emark s there fore will possess
on ly a q u alified value f o the very word eu doem on o
Further I make no claims to
l ogy i s a euphemism
comple teness ; partly because the subj ect is i n ex
ha u s ti b l e and partly because I should otherwi se hav e
to say over agai n what has been already said by
others
The only book com posed as f ar as I re m ember
with a like purpose to that which animates this
is Cardan s De u ti li t te ea;
c ollection of aphorisms
u d vc r s i s c ap i en d a which is well worth readi n g and
may be u ed to supplement the present work
A ristotle it is true has a f ew words on e u daem on o
logy in the fifth chapter of the first book of his
R hetor i c ; but what he says does n ot come to very
much A s compilation is not my business,I have
made no use of these predecessors ; more especiall
beca use in the process of com piling individuality of
view is lost and individuality of vie w is the k ern el
of works of thi s kind
I n ge n eral indeed the w ise
in all ages have l ways said the same thi n g and the
f ools who at all times f orm the immense m ajority
have in their way too acted alike and done j u st the
opposite ; and so it wil l conti n ue Fo as Voltaire
says we ha ll lea v e thi s w l d a s fool i s h a n d a s
wi c ked as we fou n d i t on owr a r i va l
a
o
,
,
,
r
.
,
,
r
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
’
a
,
,
,
s
.
,
,
.
y
,
.
,
,
a
,
,
,
,
r,
.
,
s
or
r
.
T HE
WI S D O M
FE
O F LI
.
The di fferences which come under the firs t head are
those which N ature h ersel f has set between m a n and
man ; and f rom thi s f act alone we may at once i n f er
that they i n fl u ence the happiness or unhappiness of
man ki d i n a much more vi tal a n d radical way than
those co n tai n ed under the two f ollowing heads which
are merely the effect of human arrangements Com
pared with gen u i n e p ers on a l a dv a n tages such as a
great mi n d or a great h eart all the privileges of rank
or birth even of royal bir th are but as ki n gs on the
stage to ki n gs i n real li f e The same thing was said
lon g ago by Met odo u s the earliest disciple of
Epicurus who wrote as the title of one of his chap ters
T he happ i n es s we r ec e i v e fr om ou r s elv es i s gr ea ter
1
tha n tha t whi c h we obta i n fr om ou r s u rr ou n d i n gs
A n d it is an obvious f act which cannot be called i n
question that the pri n cipal element in a man s well
bei n g — ind eed in the whole tenor of his existence — is
what he is made of his inner constitution For this
is the immediate source of that inward satisf ac tion or
dissatisf action resulting f rom the sum total of his
se n sations desires and thoughts whilst his surround
i n gs on the other han d exert on ly a mediate or
i n direct influence upon him This is why the same
external events or circumstan ces a ffe ct no two people
alike ; even w i th perf ectly similar surr oundi n gs every
one lives in a world of his own For a man has
immediate apprehension only of his own ideas f eelin gs
a n d volitions ; the outer world can i n fluence hi m only
in so f r as it brings these to li f e The world in
w hich a man lives shapes itself chiefly by the way in
n
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1
C f C l em en s A l ex
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S trom
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II
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,
21
.
O F T HE S UBJ EC T
D I VI S I O N
.
which he looks at it and so it proves di fferent to
di fferent men ; to on e it is barren dull an d super
fic i al ;to another rich interesti n g and f ull of meanin g
O n hearing of the interesting events which have hap
pened in the course of a man s exp e ience m any people
will wish that similar thi n gs had hap pened in their lives
too completely f orgetting that they s hould be envious
rather of the me n tal aptitude which lent those even ts
the sign ificance they possess when he describes them ;
to a man of genius they were int eresting adventures ;
but to the dull perceptions of an ordinary individual
they would have been stale ev eryday occurrences
This is in the highest degree the case with many of
Goethe s and Byron s poems w h ich are obviously
f ounded upon actual f acts ; where i t is open to a
f oolish reader to envy the poet because so many
delightf ul things happened to him instead of envying
that mighty power of phantasy which was capable of
turning a fairly common experience into something
so great and beauti f ul
I n the same way a person of melancholy tempera
ment wil l make a scene in a tragedy out of what
appears to the sangui n e m an only i n the light of an
in ter esting con flic t an d to a phlegmatic soul as some
thi n g without any mean i n g ; —all of which rests upon
the f act that every even t in order to be realised and
ap preciated requires the c c operation of two f actors
namely a subj ect and an obj ect ; although these are
as closel y and necessarily connected as oxygen and
hydrogen in water When there f ore the obj ective or
external fact or i n an experien ce is actually the same
b u t the s bject i ve or person l p pr iatio n of it y ari es
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a
a
ec
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6
T HE
WI S D O M
O F LI
FE
.
the event is just a s much a different one i n the eyes o f
di ffere n t persons as i f the objecti v e factors had not
been alik e ; f or to a blunt intelligence the fairest and
best obj ect in the world presen ts only a poor reality
and is there f ore only poorly appreciated like a fine
landscape in dull weather or in the reflection o f a b ad
I n plai n language every man i s
c a m er a obs c u r a
pen t up within the limits of his own con sciousness
and cannot directly get beyond those limits a n y more
than he can get beyond his own skin so external ai d
i s n ot of much use to him
O n the sta ge one man is
a pri n ce another a mi n ister a third a servant or a
—
n
soldier or a general and so o
mere extern al di ffer
en c es
the inner reality the kernel of all these a ppear
a n c es is the same — a poor player with a ll the anxieties
of his lot
I n li fe it is j ust the same
D i ff rences of
ran k and wealth give ev ery man his part to play but
this by n o means implies a di fferen ce of i n ward happi
ness and pleasure ; here too there is the s a me bein g
—
in all a poor mortal with hi h ardships a n d troubles
Though these may indeed in every case proceed f m
dissimilar causes they are i n their essential nature
much the same in all th eir f orms wi th d egrees of
intensity which vary no doubt b t in no wise corre
s p on d to the part a man has to play to the presence or
absence of position and wealth S ince everythi g
which exists or happens f or a m an exists only in his
con sciousn ess and happe n s f or it alone the most essen
tial thi n g for a m a n i s the constitution of this c on
s c i ou s n es s w hi ch is in most e s e s f ar more important
than the circumstances which g to f orm its contents
A 11 the pride and plea sure of the world mirro ed in
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DI V I S I O N
O F T HE S U BJ ECT
.
the dull consciousness o f a f ool is p oor ind eed com
pared with the imagination ot Cervantes writi n g his
The obj ective hal f
D on ! u i x ote in a miserable prison
o f li f e and reality is in the hand of f ate and accord
the
i n gl y take various f orms i n di fferent cases
subj ectiv e hal f is oursel f an d in essentials it always
remains the sam e
Hence the li fe of every man is stamped with the
same character throughout however much his exter
nal circumstances may alter ; it is like a series of
variations on a single theme N 0 one can get beyo n d
his own individuality A n animal u nder whatever
circumstances it is placed remains within the narrow
limits to which natu re has irrevocably consig n ed it ;so
that our end eavours to make a pet happy must alw a ys
keep within the compass of its nature and be restricted
to what it can f eel S o it is with man the m easure
of the happi n ess he can attain is determined be f ore
han d by his i n dividuality M ore especial ly is this the
case with the men tal powers which fix o n ce for all his
capacityf orthe hi gher ki n ds of pleasu re I f these powers
are small no e ff orts f rom without nothing tha t hi s
f ellow men or that f ortune c a n do f or him wi ll su ffi ce to
raise him above the ordinary degree of human happi
n e s a n d pl easure hal f an imal though it be his only
resources are his sensual appetite —a cosy and chee rf ul
f amily li f e at the most — low com pan y and vulgar
pastime even education on the whole can avail
little i f an ythi n g f or the e n largemen t of his horizon
For the highest most varied a n d las ti n g pleasures are
those of the mi n d however much our youth may
deceive us on this poi n t ; and the pleasu es of the
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T HE
WI S D O M
O
F L I FE
.
mi n d turn chi efly on the powers of the mind I t i s
clear then tha t our happi n ess dep en ds in a great
degree upon what we m e upon our indivi duality
whilst lot or des tiny s ge n erally taken to mean on ly
what we hav e or our r ep ta ti on O u r lot in this
sense may improve but we do not as k much of it i f
we are inwardly rich : on the other hand a f ool
remai n s a f ool a dull blockh ead to his last hour even
though he were surrounded by hou ris in paradise
Thi s is why Goethe in the Wes t os tl i c her Di v a n says
that every man whether he occupy a low position in
li fe or emerges as its victor testifies to personality as
the greates t f actor in happiness
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Volk u
d K
/n
Ueberwi n der
n ec ht u n d
S i c gestehen , eu jeder Z ei t,
HO c hs tes Gli tc h der E r den ki nder
'
S ei
nu r
di e P ers bn li c hkei t
’
.
E verythi n g
con firms the f act tha t the subj ective
import an t for
e lement i n li f e is incomparably more
our happiness a n d pl easure than the obj ective f rom
such sayi n gs as Hu n ge i s the bes t s a u c e a n d Y ou th
a n d A ge c a n n ot l i ve together up to the li f e of the
Gen iu and the S ai n t Health outweighs all other
bl essings so much that one may really say that a
h ealthy beggar is happier than an ailing king A
quiet and cheerful temperament happy in the enj oy
ment of a perf ectly sound physique an intellect clear
lively p e n etrating and seei n g things as they are a
m oderate and ge n tl e will and there f ore a good c on
science— these are privileges which no rank or wealth
can make up f or or re place For what a man i i n
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D I VI S I O N
O F T HE S UBJ ECT
.
himself what accompanies hi m when he is alone what
no one can give or tak e away is obviously more
essential to him t han everythi n g h e has in the way of
possessions or eve n what he may be in the eyes of
the world A n i n tellectual man in complete solitude
has excellent e n tertainment in his own thoug hts and
f ancies whilst no amount or diversity of social
pleasure theatres excursions and amusements can
ward off boredom f rom a dullard A good temperate
gen tle character c an be happy in needy circumstances
whilst a covetous envious and malicious man even i f
he be the richest in the world goes miserable N ay
more ;to one who has the constant delight of a special
individuality wi th a high degree of intellect most of
the pleasures which are run after by ma n kind are
per fectly supe fluous ; they are even a trouble
A n d so Horac e says of himsel f that
a n d a burden
however many are deprived of the fancy goods
of li fe
there is one at le ast who can live without
them
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Gem m a s , m a rm or, ebu
r,
T yrrhen a
s i gi
lla , ta bella s
A r gen tu m , ves tes Gcetu l o m u ri c e vi neta s
S u n t gu i non ha bea n t, est qu i n on c u ra t ha bere
and when S ocrates saw various articles
spread out for sale he exclaimed : How m u
,
i n the wor l d tha t I d o
n ot
of
ch
luxury
ther e i
s
wa n t
.
the first a n d most essential element in our li f e s
hap piness is what we are — our personality i f for no
other reason than that it i s a constan t f actor com i n g
i t o play u n d er all circumstances besid e u n lik e the
blessing w hic h are d e cribed u n der the oth er two
So
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s
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10
T HE
WI S D O M
O F LI
FE
.
heads it is not the sport of destiny and cannot be
wrested from us — and so fa it is endowed wit h a n
absolute value in contra st to the merely rel atl v e
worth of the ot her two The co n sequence of this is
that it is m u ch more di fficult t han peo ple commonly
suppose to get a hold on a m a n f rom without But
here the all p owerf ul age n t Time comes in and claims
its righ ts and be f ore its influence physical and
mental advant ages gradually waste away Moral
c haracter alone remai n s inaccessible to it I n View of
the destructive c fl ec t of time i t seems inde ed as i f
the blessi n gs nam ed u n der the other two heads of
which time cannot directly rob us were superior to
th ose of the firs t A nother advan tage might be
claimed f or them nam ely that being in their very
nature obj ective and ext er n al they are attai able
and every one is present ed wit h the possi bility at
l east of coming into posses s ion of them whilst what is
subj ective is n ot op n to us to acquire but maki n g i ts
entry by a kind of d i v i n e r i ght it remai n s f or li f e
i m mutabl e inalienable an i n exorable do om L et
me qu ote those lines in which Goet he describes how an
unaltera ble destiny is assigned to every man at the hour
that he can dev elope on ly in the li n es
of his birth s
laid dow n f o him as it were by the co njunction s of
th e stars ; a n d how the S ibyl a n d the prophets d eclare
that hi m elf a m a n can n ever escap e nor a n y power
of tim e avail to chan ge th e path on which his li fe
is cast
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dem T ag, der d i c h der Wel t ver li ehen ,
S on/h e s ta n d z u m Gr u s s e der P la n eten,
Wi e a n
Di e
B i s t a ls oba ld
u nd
f
or t u n d
f
or t
h
e
n
e
d
i
e
,
g
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
two it is mani f estly a wiser course to ai m at the
maintenance of our health and the cultivation of our
f aculties than at the amassing of wealth ; but this
must not be mistaken as meaning that w e shou ld
neglect to acquire an adequate supply of the n ec es s ies
of li f e
We al th i n the strict sense of the word that
is great s u pe fl u i ty c a n do little f or our happi n ess
and many rich people f eel unhappy just because they
are without an y true mental culture or knowledge
and conse quently have no obj ective interests which
would quali f y them f or intellectual occupations For
beyond the satisf action of some real and natural
necessities all that the possession of wealth can achieve
has a very small i n flue n ce upon our happiness in the
proper sense of the word ; indeed wealth rather dis
tu rb s it because the preservation of pr operty entails
a great man y unavoidable anxieties A n d s till men
are a thousand times more intent on bec oming rich
than on acquiring culture though it is quite c ertain
that what a man i s contributes m uch more to his
happiness than what he has S o you may See many
a man as i n dustrious a an ant ceas elessly occu pied
f rom morni n g to night i n the endeavour to increase
his heap of gold Beyond the narrow horizon of
means to this en d he knows nothi n g ; his mi n d is a
blank and consequently unsusceptible to a n y other
influence The highes t pleasures those of the i n
tell ec t are to him inaccessible and h e tries in vain
to replace them by the fleeting plea ures of sense in
which he i dulges lasting but a brief hour a n d at
tremen dous cost A n d i f he is lucky hi s struggles
res lt i n hi s havi n g a r eally great pile of gold which
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O F T HE S UBJ E C T
D I VI S I O N
.
he leaves to his heir either to make it still larger or
to squander it in extravagan ce A li f e like this
though pursued with a se n s e of earn estn ess and an
ai
of importan ce is just as silly as many another
which has a f ool s cap f o its symbol
Wha t a m n ha i n hi m s elf is then the chie f
element in his happiness Because this is as a rule
so very little m ost of those who are placed beyo n d
the struggle with pe n ury f eel at bottom quite as u n
happy as those who a h still e n gaged i n it Their
minds are vacant their i m agination dull their S pirits
n d so they are drive n to the compa n y of those
oor
a
p
—
—
l
i
i
s
m
i
i
t
like them f o s m l i s i
where
they
a
d
e
g
make commo n pursuit of pastime a n d entertainme n t
con sisti n g f or the most part in sensual pleas ure
amusement of every ki n d an d fi n ally in excess
a n d liber ti n i s m
A you n g man of rich f amily enters
upon lif e with a large patrimony and o ften runs
through it i n an i n credibly short s pace of time i n
Vicious ext avagan ce ; and why ? S im ply because
here too th e mi d is empty a n d void a n d so the m a n
is bored with existe n ce He was sen t f orth i n to
the world outwardly ri h but i n wa dly p o or an d his
vain en deavour was to make hi s ex tern al wealth
compensate f o his i n n er pover ty by tryi n g to obtain
everythi n g fr om wi thou t like a n old man who seeks
to stre n gthen hims el f as K i n g David or Maré chal de
R etz tried to do
A n d so in the en d one wh o is i n
wardl y poor comes to be also poor outwardl y
I need n o t i n sist upon the import n ce of the other
two kinds of blessings which make up the happines s
of human l i f ; now a days the value of possessi n g
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a
e
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c
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
them i s too well known to require advertisement
The third class it is true may seem compared with
the second of a very ethereal character as it consists
only of other people s O pin i ons S till everyone has to
strive f or re putation that is to say a good name R ank
on the other hand shou l d be aspired to only by those
who serve the S tate and fame by very f ew indeed
I n any case re putation is looked upon as a priceless
treasure and fa me as the most precious of al l the
blessi n gs a man can attain s—the Golde n Fleece as it
were of the elect : whilst only f ools will pre fer ra n k
to property The second and third class es moreover
are reciprocally cause and e ffect ; so f a r that is as
P etronius maxim ha bes ha beber i s is true ; and con
in all its f or m s of ten
v ers el y the f a v our of others
puts u s in the way of getting what we wan t
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C HA P T ER I I
P ER S O N A L I T Y O R WHA T A M A N 1 3
WE have al eady seen in general that what a man i s
contributes much more to his happiness than what he
has or how he is regarded by others
What a man is
and so what he has in his own person is always the
chief thing to consider ; f or hi s individuality aecom
n
i
s
a
e
him
always
and
everywhere
and
ives
its
p
g
colour to all hi s experiences I n every kind of e nj oy
m en t f or instance the pleasure depends principally
u pon the man hi m self E very one admits this in
regard to physical and how much truer it is of intel
lectual pleasure When we use that English expres
sio n to enj oy ones el f
we are employing a very
stri king an d appropriate phrase f or observe—one
says not he enj oys P aris but he enj oys himsel f i n
P aris
To a man possessed of an ill conditioned
individuality all pleasure is like delicate wine in a
mouth made bitter with gall Theref ore i n the bless
ings as well as in the ills of li f e less depends upon
what be f alls us than upon the way i n which it is met
that is upon the kin d an d degree of our gen eral
—
W
hat
a
m
a n is an d has in h i msel f
u s c e ti b i l i ty
i
n
p
a word personality with all it en tails i s the only i m
mediate an d direct f actor i n his ha ppiness and welf are
A ll els e is mediate a n d i n direct and its influence can
be neutralised and f rustrated ; but the influence of
personality never This is why the envy which per
sonal q u alities excite is the most implacable of al l — as
it is also the most care f ully dissembl ed
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WI S D O M
T HE
O F LI
FE
.
Further the constitution of our consciousness is the
ever present and lasting element in all we do or su ffer ;
our individuality is persisten tly at work more or less
at every moment of our li f e all other influences are
tem poral incidental fleeting and subj ect to every
ki n d of chan ce and change T his is why A ristotle
says : I t i s n ot wea lth bu t c ha ra c ter tha t la s ts A n d
just for the same reason we can more easily bear a
misf ortune which comes to us entirely from without
than one which we have drawn upon ourselves ; f or
f ortune may always change but not ch a racter
There fore subj ective blessings — a noble natu re a
capable h ead a j oyful temperam ent bright s pirits
a well constituted perf ectly so u n d physique in a
word m en s s a n a i n c orp or e s a n o are the first and
most important elements in happin ess ; so that we
should be more intent on promoting and preservi n g
such q ualities than on the possession of external weal th
and external honour
A n d of all these the one which mak es us the most
directly happy is a ge n ial flow of good spirits ; f or
this excellent quality is its own immedia te reward
T he m an who is cheer f ul and merry has al ways a good
—
reason f or bei n g s o the f act namely that he is s o
There is nothing which like this quality can so com
e the loss of every other blessi n g
l
etel
replac
I
f
y
p
you k now an yone who is you n g handsome rich an d
esteemed and you want to k now f urther i f he is
happy ask I s he cheerf ul and genial —and i f he is
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1
E th E n d
.
f? ydp
i
p
( ro rs
é
fifi
u
VI I
.
2 37
.
37 d x p i ju
i ov 0 1
,
‘
a ra
.
P ER S O N
AL IT
Y
,
O R
W HA T
A
MA N
Is
17
.
what does it matter whether he is young or old
s traight or humpbacked poor or rich l —h e is happy
I n my ea l y days I once op ened an O l d book a n d
re
f ound these words : I f you l a u gh gr ea t d ea l you
,
.
,
r
a
happ y ; i f you
cr
y
a
r
ea
t
g
d ea l you
,
a
,
a r e u n happ y
a very simple remark no doubt ; but just bec aus e it
is so simple I have never been able to forge t i t
even though it is in the last degree a truism S o i f
cheer fulness knocks at our door we should throw it
wide open f or it never comes ino pp ortunely i n stead
of t h at we o f ten make scruples about letti n g it i n
We want to be quite sure that we have every reason
to be contented ;then we are af raid that cheerfulness of
spirits m ay i n terf ere with serious reflections or w eighty
cares Cheerf ulness is a direct and immediate gai n
—the very coin as it were of happiness and not like all
else merely a cheque u po n the ban k ; f or it alone
makes us immediately hap py i n the presen t mom ent
and that is the highest blessing for beings like us whose
existence is but an infinitesimal mome n t between two
etern ities To secure and promote this f eeli n g of
cheerf ulness should be the supreme aim of all our
endeavours af ter happi n ess
N ow it is certain that nothing con tributes so little
to cheerf ulness as riches or so much as health I s it
not in the lower classes the s o called working classe
more especially those of them who live in the
cou n try that we see cheerf ul a n d co n te n ted f aces ?
and is it not amon gst the rich the upper classes th at
we fin d f ace f ull of ill hum our an d vexation ? C on
sequently we should try as much as possible to main
tain a high degree of health ; for cheerfulness is t he
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
.
s,
-
,
,
,
s
-
,
T HE
WI S D O M
O F LI
FE
.
very flower of it I need hardly say what one must
do to be healthy— avoid every ki n d of excess a ll
violen t and u n pleasan t emotion all mental ov e s t am
take daily exercise in the open air cold baths an d
s u ch like hygienic measures For without a proper
amount of daily exerci s e no one can remain healthy
all the processes of li f e demand exercise f or the due
perf ormance of their f un ctions exercise not only of
the parts more immediately concerned but also of the
W hole body
For as A ristotle rightly says L i fe i s
m ovem ent ; it is its very essence
C easeless and rapid
motion goes on in every part of the organism The
heart with its co m plicated double systole and di astole
beats stron gly a n d untiringly ; with twenty eigh t
beats it has to drive the whole of the blood through
arteries veins a n d capillaries ; the lungs pump like a
s team engine without i n termission ; the intestines are
always in peristaltic action ; the glands are all con
s ta n tl
ng
n the brain has a
absorbing
and
secreti
eve
y
double motion of its own with every beat of the
pulse an d every breath we dra w When people can
get no exercise at all as is the case with the countless
numbers who are con dem n ed to a sede n tary li f e there
is a glaring and f atal disproportion between outward
inactivity and inner tumult For this ceaseless i n
ternal m otion re q uires some external cou n terpart an d
the want of it produces effects like those of emoti on
which we are obliged to suppress Even trees must
be shaken by the w ind i f they are to thrive T he
rule which finds its application here may be mos t
briefly ex pressed in Latin om n i s m otu s g o c eler i or
.
,
r
r
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
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.
,
,
-
,
-
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
.
.
,
,
eo m a gi s m otu s .
u
,
WI S D O M
TI I E
OF LI
FE
.
be gen erally given u p to sad thoughts T e
ultima te cause of this is u n doub tedly to be f oun d in
innate and therefore u n alterabl e p hysical co n stitutio n
especially in the more or less n ormal relation of a
man s sensitiveness to his muscular and vital energy
A b n ormal se n sitiveness produces i n equality of S pirits a
predominating m elancholy with p eriodical fits of n u
restrained liveliness A ge n ius is on e whose nervous
po wer or sensitiveness is largely in excess ; as A ris
1
totl e has very correctly observed M e d i s ti n gu i s hed
an d
.
h
,
,
,
’
.
,
,
.
n
,
i n p hi l os op hy, p ol i ti c s , p oetr y or
a m el a n c hol y tem p er a m en t
o
f
a r t,
to be
r
ea
pp
a
a ll
This is doubtless the
passage which C icero has in his mind when he says
as he o f ten does A r i s toteles a i t om n es i n gen i os os
S hakespeare has v ery neatly
m el a nc hol i c os es s e
expressed this radical and innate diversity of tempera
men t in thos e lines in T he M er c ha n t of Ven i c e
.
,
,
2
.
N
ha s f ra m ed s tra n ge f ellows i n her ti m e
a tu r e
S om e tha t wi ll
everm ore p eep
throu gh thei r
bag p i p er ;
eyes ,
A n d l a u gh, l i ke p a rr ots a t a
A n d others of su c h vi nega r a sp ec t,
-
T ha t they l l
'
T hou gh N
n ot s how
es tor
thei r teeth i n wa y of
s wear the jes t be la u gha bl e
sm
i l e,
.
This is the di ff erence which P l ato d aws between
fiv
and St v — the man of ea y a n d the m n
—
i n proo f of which he re f ers
of d i fil c u l t disposition
to the varying degrees of susceptibility which di ff er
ent pe ople S how to pleasurable a n d pai n f l impres
sions ;so that one m an wil l laugh at w hat makes another
despair A s a rule the stron ger the susceptibility to u n
lea
s ant i m pres ions the weaker is th e s u s c e pti b i l i ty to
p
r
e
K
oK
s
s
s
a
,
‘
u
.
,
s
1
P
ro
bl
.
,
x x x
e
,
p
.
1
2
.
Tu
sc
.
i
.
,
33
,
P ER S O N A L I T Y
,
OR
WHA T
MA N
A
IS
.
pl easant one s and v i e v r s a I f it is equally possible
fo
n ev ent to turn out w ell or ill the 86 m m will
be a n n oyed or grieved i f the issue i s u n f avourable
a n d will n ot rej ice
should it be h ppy O n the
other han d th e t v will n either wor y nor fret over
an
n f avourabl e issue but rej oice i f it turn s out well
I f th e on e is success f ul in nine out of ten u n d er tak
i n gs he will n ot be pleased but rather annoyed that
one has miscarried ; W hilst the other i f o n ly a si n gl e
one succeeds will manage to find consolation in the
f act and remai n cheerf u l
But here is another
i n stance of the truth that hardly any evil is entirely
W ith out its com pe n sation ; f o
the misf ortunes and
s u ffe ri n gs
which the Sv k t hat is people of
gloomy a n d an xi ous character have to overcome are
on the whol e more imaginary an d theref ore less real
than those which bef all the gay an d careless ; f or a
man who pai n ts everythi n g black who constantly
f ears the worst and takes measures accordi n gly W l l l
not be disappointed so of ten in this world as one who
al w
ays looks upon the bright side of things A n d
when a morbid affection of the nerves or a derange
me n t o f the digestive organ s plays into the hand of
an i nnate tendency to gloom this tende n cy may
reach such a heigh t that permanen t discomf ort pro
duces a weariness of li f e S o arises an i n clination to
suicide w hich even the most trivial un pleasan tness
m y actually bri n g about ; n a y when the tende n cy
att ins its worst f orm it may be occasioned by
nothi n g i n particular but a m an may r esolve to put
an end to his existence simply becaus e he is per
and
th
en cooll
a n d firm l
carr
m a n en tl un ha p
y
y
p y
y
y
e
c
,
.
r a
0
,
;
,
o
a
,
.
'
e
,
s
K
u
r
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
r
ox o
oc
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
a
,
a
,
,
,
,
,
T HE
WI S DO M
OF LI
FE
.
out hi s determination as m ay be seen by the way in
which the su fferer when placed under supervision
as he usually is eagerly waits to seize the first
unguarded moment when without a shudder with
out a struggle or recoil he m ay use the n ow natural
1
and welc ome means of efiec ti n g his release Even
the healthiest p erhaps e v en the most cheer ful man
may resolve upon d eath u n der certain circumstance
when f or instance his su fferi ngs or his f ears of some
inevitable mis f ort u ne reach such a pitch as to out
weigh the terrors of death T he only di fference l ies
in the degree of su ffering necessary to bri n g about the
f atal act a degree which will be high in the case of a
cheerf ul and low in that of a gloomy man The
greater the melancholy the lower need the degree be
But i f a m an
i n the end it may even sink to zero
is cheerf ul a n d his spirits are supported by good
health it requires a high degree of s nfl e i n g to make
him lay hands upon himself There a e countless
steps in the scale between the two extremes of suicide
the suicide w hich spri n gs merely f rom a morbid
intensi fication of innate gloom an d the suicide of the
healthy and cheerf u l man who has e n tirely obj ective
grounds f o putting an end to his existence
Beauty is partly an afl ai r of h eal th I t may be
reckoned as a p ersonal a dvant age ; th ough it does not
properly speaki n g co n tribute directly to our happi
I t does so indirectly by impressing other
n ess
people ; and it is no unimportant advantage even in
man Beauty is an open letter of recommendation
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
s
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
r
,
‘
r
.
,
,
,
r
.
’
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
1
For
,
a
d e tai l ed d es c r i pti on
Es qu i r ol D es m a l a di es
m en ta les
.
of
th i s
c on d i ti on
of
m ind
f
o
.
P ER S O N
ALIT
Y
W HA T
OR
,
A
MA N
IS
.
predisposing the heart to f avour the person who
prese n ts it A s is well said in those lines of Hom er
the gif t of beauty is not lightly to be thrown away
that glorious gif t which none can besto w save the
gods al on e
,
.
,
a r l 9 6 8V é t k v dé a Od a ,
ii ror dn dfihm E
p
p
bo v a K € V a br o t Odia w, é x ci w 8 O i i K (f r 7 1 9 !thou
"
o
'
.
.
’
’
'
The most general survey shows us that the two f oes
We may
of h uman happiness are pain and boredom
go f urther and say that in the degree in which we
are f ortunate enough to get away f rom the one we
approach the other L i f e prese n ts in f act a more or
less violent oscillation between the two The reason
of this is that each of these two poles stands in a
double antagonis m to the other external or obj ective
and inner or subj ective N eedy surroundings and
poverty produce pain ; while i f a man is more than
wel l ofl he is bored A ccordi n gly whi le the lower
classes are engaged in a ceaseless struggle with need
in o ther words with pain the upper carry on a con
2
stant and of ten desperate battle with boredom T he
i n ner or subj ective antago n ism arises f rom the fact
that in the individual susceptibility to pain varies
inversely with susceptibility to boredom because sus
c epti b i li ty is directly proportionate to mental power
Let me explain A dull mind is as a rule associated
with du l l sensibilities nerves which no stimulus can
.
,
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,
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,
'
.
,
,
,
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,
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,
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,
.
.
,
,
1
I li a d 3, 6 5
.
2
A n d the
a n om ad or
wh er e
ca s e
f or th e l owes t s tate
trem es m e et
ex
wan d eri n g li f e, fi n d s i ts
e v eryon e
of n ec es s i t
is
y
at
ti m es
a
th e l atter i s
tou
of c i v i l i z a ti on ,
i n th e hi ghes t,
arli er s tage was a
e
c ou n terp art
ri s t
.
a re m e d
T he
f or b oredom
y
.
T HE
WI S D O M
O F LI
FE
.
affect a temperament in short which does not f eel
p i n or anxiety very much ho wever gr eat or terrible
it m ay be N ow i n tellectual dulness is at the
bottom O f that v c u i ty of ou l which is stamped on
so m any faces a state of mind which betrays itsel f by
a constant and lively attention to all the trivial cir
This is the true
c u m s tan c es in the external world
source of boredom— a conti n ual panting af ter excite
men t in order to h ave a pretext f or giving the mind
and spirits something to occupy them The k ind
of things people choose f or this purpose shows t h at
th ey are not very particular as witness the miserabl e
pastim es they have recourse to and their ideas of
social pleasure and conversation : or agai n the number
of p eople who gossip on the doorstep or gape out of
the wi n dow I t is mai n ly because of this inner
vacuity of soul that people go in qu es t of society
diversion amusement luxury of every sort w hich
lead many to extravagance and misery N othing is
so good a p rotection agai n st such mi s ery as inward
wealth the weal th of the mind because the greater it
grows the less room it l eav es f o boredom The i n
exhaustible activity of thought ! fin di n g ever new
material to work upon i n the multif ario s phenomena
of sel f an d natur e and able a n d ready to f orm n ew
—
combinations of them there you hav e som ethi n g
that invigorates the m ind and apart f rom moments of
relaxation sets it f a above the r each of boredom
But on the other hand this hi gh degree of i n tel li
gence is rooted in a high d gree of susce ptibility
greater stre n gth of will greater passionateness ; and
f rom the u m on of these qu a li ties comes an i ncreas ed
,
,
,
'
a
,
,
.
a
s
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
r
,
.
u
,
,
,
,
r
.
,
,
e
,
,
P E R S O N A L I T Y,
WHA T
OR
MA N
A
IS
.
cap acity f or emotion an enhanced sensibility to all
menta l and even bodily pai n greater impatience of
—
obstacles greater resentment of interruption all of
which tend encies are augmented by the power of the
imagi n ation the vivid character of the whole range
including what is disagreeable T his
of thought
applies in varyi n g degrees to every step in the long
scale of mental power f rom the veriest dunce to the
greatest genius that ev er lived There f ore the nearer
anyone is either f rom a s u bj ective or f rom an objec
tive point of view to one of t hese sources of su ffering
in human li fe the f arther he is f rom the other A n d
so a man s natural bent wil l lead him to make his
obj ective world con f orm to his subj ective as much as
possible ; that is to say he will take the greatest
measures against that f orm of su ffering to which he is
most liable The W i se man will above all strive after
f reedom f rom pain and a n noyance quiet and leisure
consequently a tran quil modest li f e with as f ew en
counters as m ay b e ; and so af ter a littl e experience
of his s o called f llow men he w ill elect to live in
retirement or ev en ,i f he is a m a n of great intellect
in solitude For the more a man ha s in himsel f the
less he will want f rom oth er peopl e —
the less indeed
other people can be to him This is why a high
degree of i n tellect tends to make a m an unsocial
True i f qu a l i ty of i n t ell ect co u ld be made up f or by
u
a
n
t
i
t
it
might
be
orth
while
to
live
even
in
the
w
q
y
great world but unf ortu n ately a hundred f ools
together will not mak e on e wise man
But the individual who stands at the other end of
the scale is no sooner f ree f rom the pangs of n eed
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
’
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
e
-
-
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
.
T
HE WI S D O M O F L I
FE
.
than he endeavours to get pastime and society at an y
cost tak ing up with the firs t person he meets and
avoiding nothing so much as himsel f For in solitude
where every one is thrown upon his own resources
what a man has in hims el f comes to light ; the f ool in
fin e raiment groans under the burden of his miserable
personality a burden which he can never throw off
whi lst the man of talent peoples the waste places with
his animati n g thoughts S eneca declares that f olly is
its own bur den —
om n i s s tu lti ti a l a bor a t fa s ti d i o s u i
— a v ery true saying with which may be compared
the words of Jesus the son of S irach T he li fe of a fool
A n d as a rule it will be f ound
i s wor s e tha n d ea th
that a man is sociable j ust in the degree in which he
is intellec tually poor and generally vulgar For one s
choice in this world does not go much beyond solit u de
on one side and vulgarity on the other I t is said
that the most sociable of all peo ple are the negroes ;
and they are at the bottom of the scale in intellect
I re m ember readi n g once in a French paper that the
blacks in N orth A merica w hether f ree or enslaved
are f ond of s hutting t hemselves u p in large numbers
in the smallest space because they cannot have too
much of one another s snub n osed company
The brain may be regarded as a kind of parasite of
the organ ism a pensioner as it were who dwells with
the body : and leisure that is the time one has f or
the f ree enj oyment of one s consciousness or indi
v i du al i ty is the f ruit or produce of the rest of exis t
ence which is in general o n ly labour and effort B u t
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
1
.
,
,
’
.
.
.
2
,
,
,
’
-
.
,
,
,
,
,
’
,
,
.
1
2
E c c l e s i a s ti c u
L
e
s, x x
ii
.
11
.
Com m erc e, O c t 1 9 th, 1 837
.
.
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
ward S ign th a t it is ban k rupt in thought Beca u s e
people have no thoughts to deal i n they deal cards
I diots ! But
a n d try a n d win one another s money
I do not wish to be u njust so let me remark t h at it
may certai nly be said in de f ence of card p l ayi n g that
it is a preparation f or the world a n d f o business lif e
because one learn s t hereby how to m ake a clever use
cards in
of fortuitous but unalterable circumstances (
this case) a n d to get as much out of th em as one can
a n d to do this a man must learn a little dissimulation
and how to put a good face upon a bad busi n ess But
on the other han d it is exactly f or this reason that
card p l aying is so d emoralisi n g i n ce the whole obj ect
of it is to employ every kind of trick a n d machination
in order to wi n W hat belongs to a n other A n d a
habit of this sort learnt at the card tabl e strikes root
and pushes i ts way i n to practical li fe a n d in the
affairs of every day a man gradually comes to regard
m eu m and tu u m in much the same li gh t as cards a n d
to consider that he m a y use to the utmost whatever
advantages he poss esse s so lon g as he does not come
w i thi n the arm of th e l a w Exampl es of w hat I mean
a e of daily occurre n ce i n m e rca n til e li fe
S i n ce
th en leisure i s the flower or rat her the f ruit of e
i s ten c e a s it puts a m a n i n to p oss essio n of himse l f
those are hap py ind eed who poss s somethi g rea l i n
t hemselves But what do vou get f rom most p eo pl e s
—
e
l isure on ly a g ood f or no thi n g f ellow who is ter
ri bl
f
h
bored
and
a
burd
n
to
himsel
Let
us
t
er e
e
y
.
,
,
’
.
-
r
,
,
,
:
,
,
.
,
,
-
,
s
.
-
,
,
,
,
.
r
.
,
,
x
,
,
,
,
n
es
’
.
-
-
,
.
d ou b t,
a
n orth ern
thi n g
th e p as t,
a t a n y rate
a m o n gs
T h e p re s e n t f as hi on i s
i n te res t i n art or li te ra tu re
Eu
d i l ettan te
of
rop e
.
.
,
t th e
rath er
n a ti
i n f a v ou
z
ns
r of
of
a
P ER S O N
fore
,
AL IT
Y
,
rejoice de ar brethren
,
the bon dw om a n , bu t
f
o
WHA T
OR
,
A
f or we
MA N
Is
29
.
a r e n ot c hi
l d r en
f
o
the f r ee
.
Further as no land is so well off as that which re
quires f ew imports or none at all so th e happies t man
is one who has enough in his own inner wealth and r e
uires
little
or n othi n g f rom outside f or b is maintenance
q
f or imports are expensive things reveal dependence eu
tail danger occasion troubl e and when all is said and
N 0
d o n e are a poo substitute for home produce
man ought to expect much f rom others or in general
What one human being
fr om the external world
in the end
c an be to ano ther is not a very great deal
every one stands alone and the important thi n g is
Here then is another
who it is tha t stands alone
ap plication of the general truth which G oethe recog
n i s es in D i c ht n
n
a hr hei t (
I
I
Bk
that
in
u
d
W
I
)
g
everythi n g a man has ul timately to ap peal to himsel f ;
or as Goldsmith p u ts it in T he T r a vell e
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
r
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
u
.
,
r
,
S ti ll to
Ou
ou rs el ves
r ow n eli c i
f
in
ever y p l ac e c ons i n
g
ty we m a ke
or
fin d
’
d
.
Himself
is the source of the b es t and most a man
The m ore thi is s o— the more a
c a n be or achieve
man find s hi s sources of plea s ure in himsel f— the
happi er he will be There fore it is with great truth
that A ristotle says T o b ha pp y m e ns to be s elf
i c i en t For a l l other sources of happi n ess are in
s fi
their nature most uncertain precarious fleeti n g the
sport of chance and so even under the most favour
able circumstan ces they can easily be exhausted nay
this is unavoidable because they are not al ways
s
.
.
,
1
u
a
e
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
1
E th E u d
.
.
,
vi i
D
.
2
.
T HE
WI S D O M
FE
OF LI
.
wi thin reach A n d i n old age these sources of h appi
—
n ess most necessarily dry p love leaves us th e n
d elight i n horses a ptitud e
a n d wit desire to travel
f or social intercourse ; f riends a n d relatio n s too a e
taken from us by death Then more than ever it
de pends u pon what a man has in himsel f ; f or this
wi ll stick to him lon gest and at any period of lif e it
it is the only genuin e and lasti n g source of happi n es s
There is n ot much to be got anywhere in the world
I t is filled wi th misery and pain ; and i f a m n
escapes these boredom lies in wait f or hi m at every
corner N ay more it is evil which gen erally has the
upper hand and f olly makes the most n oise Fate is
cruel and mankind pitiable I n such a world as this
a m an who is rich in himsel f is like a bright warm
happy room at Christmastide while without are
There fore
the f rost and sno w of a D ecember n ight
without doubt the happiest d estiny on earth is to
have the rare gi f t of a rich i n dividuality and more
to b e p ossessed of a good endowme n t
e specially
of intellect ; this is the happiest d e sti n y though it
may not be after all a very brillian t one There was
great wisdom in that remark which ! ueen Christi n a
S weden made in her ni n eteenth year about
of
D escartes who ha d then lived f o twenty years i n
the deep est soli tude in Hollan d and apa t f rom
report was k n o wn to her on ly by a si n gle essay M
r tes she said i s the h p p i es t of m en a n d hi s c o
De
O f course as
d i ti o s eem s to m e m c h to be en v i ed
was the case with D escartes external circumstances
must be f avourable e n ough to allow a man to be
.
u
z
,
,
,
,
,
r
,
.
,
.
.
a
,
.
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
r
,
,
r
,
:
,
sca
,
a
,
n
,
1
u
n
.
,
,
1
.
Vi e dc D es c a rtes , par B ai l l et
.
Liv
.
v ii
.
,
c
h 10
.
.
PER S O N
AL I T
Y
WHA T
OR
,
A
MA N
IS
.
master of his li f e and happiness ; or as we read in
,
Wi s d om i s good together wi th a n i n her i
t
a bl e u n to them tha t s ee the s u n
an d pro
The
fi
E c c les i
ta n c e,
1
a s tes ,
.
man to whom nature and f ate have granted the
blessi n g of W isdom will be most an xious and care f ul
to keep open the f ou n tains of happiness which he has
in himsel f an d f or this inde pende n ce an d leisure are
n ecessary
To obtain them he will be willi n g to
moderate his desires and harbour his resources al l the
more because he is not like others restricted to
the extern al world f or hi s pleasures S o he will not
be misled by expectations of office or money or
the f avour and applause of hi s f ellow men i n to sur
rendering himsel f in order to con form to low desires
a n d vulgar tastes ; nay in such a case he wil l f ollow
the advice that Horace gives i n hi s epistle to
M aecenas
I t is a gr eat piece of f olly to sacrifice th e
inner f or th e outer m an to give the whol e or the
greater part of one s quiet leisure and independence
This is
f or s plendour rank pomp titles and honour
My good luc k drew me quite in
w hat Goethe did
the other direction
The truth which I am insisti n g upon here the
truth namely that the chie f source of human happi
ness is internal is confirmed by that most a ccurate
observation of A ri s totle in the N i c hom a c he n E thi c s
that every pleasure presupposes some sort of ac ti vity
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
-
,
,
2
.
,
’
,
.
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
a
3
,
,
1
2
vi i
12
.
.
L ib l
.
N
3
.
,
c c s om m
ep
.
i
.
7 an d
vn
.
1 3, 1 4
.
7
.
mn p lebi s la u do,
sa tu r a l ti
li u m ,
O ti a di vi ti i s A m bu m li berri m a m u to
.
n ec
WI S D O M
T HE
FE
OF LI
.
the applic ation of some sort of power without which
The d octrine of A ristotle s that a
i t cannot exist
man s happiness consists in the free exer ise of hi s
highest f aculties is also enunciated by S tob aeu s in his
exposition of the P eripatetic phi l os 0 phy happ i n e s
h e says m e n s v i gor o s a n d s c c e sf l a c ti v i ty i n a l l
d
e t ki gs ; and he explai n s that by vi go
ou
n
y
l
n
m
e
he
mea
s
a
t
e
r
in
any
thing
whatev
r
it
be
m
( ai )
y
N o
w the original purpose of those f orces with which
nature has endowed man is to enabl e him to struggle
against the di fficulties which beset him on all sides
B u t i f this struggle comes to an end his unemployed
f orces become a burden to hi m and h e has to set to
work a nd play with th em — use them I mean f or no
f
urpose
at
all
beyond
avoiding
the
other
so
rce
u
o
p
human su ffering bor edom to which he is at o n ce ex
posed I t is the upper classes p eople of wealth who
are the greatest victims of boredom L ucretius lo n g
ago desc ibed their miserable sta te and the truth of
his descri ption m ay be still recog n ised to day in the
li f e of every great ca pital —where the rich man is
seldo m in his own halls because it bores him to be
there and still he returns thither because he is no
better off o u tside — or else he is away in p ost
haste to his house in the country as i f it were on fire ;
and he is no sooner arrived there than he is bored
again and seeks to f orget everything in sleep or else
hurries back to town once more
,
’
,
.
’
c
,
1
,
r
u
a
u
r a
u
s
:
,
u
s
u r
n
s
c
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
r
,
-
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
E x i t s aepe f or a s m a gn i s ea:
E ss e dom i qu em p er taesu m
!
u
i pp e f or i s
ni
1
hi l o m eli u
E el
.
e th
s
.
cedi
bu
s
i lle,
es t, s u bi to u e r even ta t
q
qu i
ii
.
,
s en ti a t ess e
.
ch
.
7
.
P ER S O N A L I T
Y
,
WHA T
on
MA N
A
1s
.
G u rri t, ag ens m a/nn os , a d vi lla m p r eei p i ta n ter ,
A u x i li u m tec ti s qu a s i f err e a r d en ti bu s i n s ta n s
O s c i ta t ex ternp lo, teti gi t gu u m li m i n a v i l l a e
A
u
A
u
m gra vi s , a tqu e obli ri a qu a er i t
1
t eti a m p r op er a n s a r hem p eti t a tqu e revi s i t
t a bi t i n
s om nu
.
their youth such p eople mus t have had a super
fiu i ty of muscular and Vital energy —powers w hich
unlike those of the mi n d cannot maintain their f ul l
d egree of vigour very long ; an d in later years they
either have no mental powers at all or can not develope
any f or wan t of employme n t which would bring them
into play ; so that they are in a wretched plight
Wi ll however they still possess f or this is the only
power that is inexhaustible and they try to stimulate
their will by passio n ate excit ement such as games of
chance f or hig h s takes— undoubtedly a most degradi n g
f orm of Vic e
A n d one may say g enerally that i f a
man finds himsel f with n othi n g to do he is sure to
choose some amuse m ent suited to the k ind of power
—
in which he excels bow 1s it m ay be or chess ; hunt
ing or painti n g horse racin g or music cards or
poetry heraldry philosop hy or some other dilettan te
i n t erest We might classi f y these interests m ethodi
cally by reducing them to expressions of the three
f undamental powers the f actors t hat is to say which go
to m ake up the physiological constitution of man and
f urther by consi d ering these powers by themselves
and apart from any of the definite aims which they
may subserve an d simply as aff rding three sources
of possi ble pleasure
out of which every man will
choose what suits him according as he excels in one
direction or an othe
I
n
,
,
,
,
,
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,
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,
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,
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-
,
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o
,
,
,
r
.
1
III
.
1 073
.
—
T i I E wi s nori
or L i Fii
.
First of all come the pleasures of v i ta l en ergy
of f ood dri n k digestion rest a n d sleep
and th ere are
parts of the world w here it can be said that th ese are
ch aracteristic and national pleasures S econdly there
are the pleasures of m u s c u la r en ergy such as walki n g
running wr estli n g dan ci n g f encing riding and simil r
athletic pursuits w hich sometimes take the f orm of
sport and sometimes of a military li fe and real war
Thirdly there are the pleasures of s en s i bi li ty
f are
such as obs ervation thought f e eling or a taste f or
poetry or culture music learn ing readi n g meditation
invention phi l os ol hy and the like A s regards the
value relative worth an d duration of each of these
kinds of pl easure a great deal might be said which
however I leave the rea d er to supply But every one
will see th at the nobler the power which is brought
i n to play the greater will be the pleasure w hich it
gives ; f or pleasure always involves the use of o n e s
own powers a n d happi n ess con ists in a f requen t
re p etition of pleasure N o one will deny that in this
respect the p leasures of sensibility occu py a higher
place t han either of the other two f u n damental kinds ;
which exist in an equal n ay in a great er degree in
brutes it is his preponderating amoun t of sensibility
which distinguishes m an f rom oth er an im als N ow
our mental powers are f orms of sensibili ty and there
f ore a preponderating amount of it makes us capable
of that kind of pleasure which has to do with mind
s e called intellectual pleasure ; and the more sensi
bi l i ty predominates the greater the pleasure will b e
,
,
,
,
.
,
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a
,
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,
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i
,
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,
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,
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,
,
.
,
,
’
s
,
.
,
,
'
.
,
,
,
-
1
,
1
N
atu r e
m ec h an i c al
ex
hi bi ts
an d
a
.
c on ti n u al
c h em i c al
ac
ti v i ty
r
r
o
es
s
,
p g
of
s ta rti n g
the i n orga n i c
fr om
worl d
.
the
r
o
p
WI S DO M
T HE
FE
O F LI
.
constant excitement of the will is n ver an unmixed
good to say the least ; in other words it involves
pain Card playing that u niversal occup a tion of
good society everywher is a device for providing
this kind of excitement and that too by means of
interests so small as to produce slight and momen
ta ry instead of real and permanent pain Card play
1
ing is in f act a mere tickl ing of the will
O n the other hand a man of powerf ul intellect is
ca pable of taking a vivid i n terest in thi ngs i n the
way of mere kn owl edge with no admixture of wi ll ;
nay such an interest is a n ecessity to hi m I t places
him in a sphere where pain is an alien a diviner air
where the gods live serene z
e
,
,
-
.
,
e,
,
,
,
-
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
Vu lga ri ty i s ,
1
c om p l etel y
th e wi ll
l a tter d oes
th e wi ll
no
n othi ng
th e
s
s
s
o
e
s ed
p
m or e tha n p e rf orm th e
by
or
th e
s i on s ,
that go
tri vi al
ju
st
of
n ec e s s a ry
on
l s i ve
u s u all
y
is
a
b as e ,
i ts p ower,
N ow wi ll wi thou t
.
l ga r i ty, i n wh i c h the
vu
s en s e ,
s m al l
tha t
an d
on l y a c ti v e el em e n ts
a m ou n t
f or appr eh en d i n g th e d ata
m s tan c e , i s
an
an i m al
.
app earan c e ,
th e
en ti r el y l os es
b l oc kh ead , who , i n th e grati fi c a ti on of hi s
s tu ff of whi c h h e i s m a d e
T hi s i s th e c on
c on s ta n tl y op en
su
Su
ffi c i en t to
ch
c as e,
s el
fish
hi s
m an
a
i ts el f i n hi s f ac e, i n hi s wh ol e
r ep u
p pli es
su
to
of
of s en s e
.
i n tel l ec t
.
A
a l l s orts of
c c ord
i m p r es
i m m edi a tel y p erc ei v es all th e li ttl e tri fli n g th i n gs
i n hi s en vi ron m en t : the l i ghtes t whi s p er, the m os t
c i rc u
l i ke
i ts m as ter,
d e m a n ds ,
no
.
l gar m an i s
vu
an d
weak , the i n tel l ec t
s e rv i c e of
c om
e v ery
organ s
i n gl y, th e
i n whi c h
th e i n te ll ec t, wh ere the
i
n a tes ov er
m
r
d
o
e
p
p a s s i on s , s h ows th e
d i ti on of m i n d c al l e d
whi c h i s
c on s c i ou s n es s
f
l
e
t
a
c
a
n
c
o
m i nd
e
v
p
y
m os t v u l ga r an d c om m on th i n g i n the worl d ,
lt i s
r es u
i n tell ec t i s th e
a re
of
T heref or e, wh en the wi l l m ak es
.
m oti ves , s tron g
an d
b ottom , th e ki n d
at
ex
whi c h i s
—
i
l
l
th e
w
’
s
all
bad
hi s
m e n ta l
teri or
on l y
a n d al toge th er
re u s e
an d
a tten ti on
c on di ti on
vu
ofie n s i v e ,
i f,
f ac tor i n hi s
.
re v ea l s
hen c e that
th e m ore
on e
; he i s
l gar,
as
c on s c i o u s n e s s
is
P ER S O N
A L I T Y, O R
9 6 0 2 fi ei a
‘VHA T
!d
i e t/ 7 6
A
9
MA N
IS
.
1
.
L ook on these two pictures —the li fe of the m a sses
one long dull record of str u ggl e and e ffort entirely
devoted to the petty in terests of personal welf are to
misery in all its f orms a li f e b eset by i ntolerable
boredom as soon as ever those a ims are satisfied and
the man is thrown back upo n himsel f whence he can
be reu s ed again to so m e sort of movement only by
the wild fire of passion O n the oth e r side you have
a man endo wed with a high degree of mental p ower
l eading an existence rich in t hought and f ul l of li f e
and meaning occupied by worthy and interesting
obj ects as soon as ever he is f ree to give himsel f to
them bearing n himsel f a source of the noblest plea
sure What external prom ptings he wants come f rom
th e works of nature and f ro m the contemplation of
human affairs and the ac hievements of the great of all
ages and countries which are thoroughly appreciated
by a man of this type alone as being the o n ly one
who can quite understand and f eel with them A n d
so it is f o him alone that t hose great ones have really
lived ; it is to hi m that they mak e their appeal ; the
rest are but cas u al hearers who o n ly hal f und erstand
eith er them or t heir f ol lowers O f course this char
a c te i s ti c of the intellectual m an implies that he has
one more need than the others the need of reading
observing studying meditating practising the need
in s hort of undisturbed leisure For as Voltaire has
very rightly said ther e a re n o r ea l p lea s u r es wi thou t
r e l n eed s ; and the need of the m is why to such a
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
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i
,
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,
,
,
.
r
.
,
r
,
,
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,
,
.
,
,
a
1
O dys s ey I V
.
,
805
.
,
T HE
WI S DO M
O F L I FE
.
pl asures are acces ible wh i ch are denied to oth ers
—the varied beauties of nature and art and literature
To heap thes e rou n d people who do not want them
and can not appreciate th em is like expecti n g grey
hairs to f all i n love A man who is privileged in this
respect leads two lives a pers on al and an i n tellectual
li fe ;an d the latter gradually comes to be looked upon
as the true on e and the f orm r as merely a means to
it O ther people make this shallow empty an d
troubled existence an end i n itsel f To the li f e of the
intellect such a m an will give the pre f erence over all
his ot her O CCU pati on s : by the constant growth o f i n
sight a n d k n owledge this intellectual li f e like a
slowly f ormi ng work of art wil l acquire a co n sistency
a permanent inte n sity a n i ty whi c h becomes ever
more and m ore compl ete ; compared with which a
li f e devoted to the attain m en t of personal com fort
a li f e that may broaden i n d eed b u t can never be
d eepen ed makes but a poor sho w and yet as I have
said people make this ba er sort of existence an end
in itsel f
The ordi n ary li f e of every day so far as it is n ot
moved by pas io i s tedious a n d i n sipid an d i f it is
so moved it soon beco m es pain f ul Those alone are
hap p y whom nature ha s f avoured with so m e super
fi i ty of intellect somethi n g beyond w h t is just
necessary to carry out th e be h ests of th eir will f or i t
enables them to l ead a n i n tell ectual li fe as w ell a li f e
unattended by pain an d full of vivid interests M ere
leisure that is to say intellect unoccupied in the ser
v ice of the will is not of itsel f su fficient : there must
be a real s u perfiu i ty of power set f ree f rom the ser
m an
s
e
,
.
,
.
,
,
e
,
,
.
.
,
,
-
,
,
u
,
‘
,
,
,
,
,
s
,
.
,
n,
s
.
,
u
a
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
Phas oN A L I T Y
,
WHA T
on
MA N
A
IS
39
.
the will and devoted to th at of the intel lect ;
f o as S eneca says oti u m s i n e l i tte i s m or s es t et v i v i
hom i n i s s ep u l tu r a — illiterate leisure is a f orm of
d eat h a livi n g tomb
Varyi ng wit h the amount of
th e s u perfiu i ty there will be countless developments
i n t his second li fe the li f e of the mind ; it may be the
mere collection and labelling of insects bi rds mineral s
coins or the highest achieveme n ts of poetry and phil
osop hy The li fe of the mind is n ot only a protection
agai n st boredom it also wards off the p ernicious e ffects
of boredo m
it k e e ps us f rom bad compan y f rom the
many dan gers misf ortunes losses and extravagances
w hich the man who places his happiness entirel y in
the obj ective world is sure to enco u nter My phil
osophy for instance has n ever brought me in a six
n ce
a
e
but
it
has
sp
red
me
many
an
expense
p
The ordinary man places hi s li fe s hap piness i n
things extern al to him in property rank wi f e and
children f riends society and the lik e so t hat wh en
h e loses them or finds t he m disap p oi n ting the f ou n da
tion of his happiness is destroyed I n other words
his centre of gravity is not in hims el f ; it is constantly
chan ging its place with every wish and whim I f h e
is a man of means one day it will be his house in the
country another buyi n g horses or e n tertai n ing f ri ends
—
n
or travelli g a li fe in short of general luxury the
reason b ei n g t hat he seeks his pleasure in t hi n gs b u t
side hi m Like on e w hose he alth an d strength are
go n e h e tries to regain by the use of j ellies and drugs
instead of by developing his own vital power the true
source of what he has lost Be f ore procee di n g to the
common typ e the
O pposite let us com p ar e with thi
vice
of
r,
r
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
’
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
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,
,
,
,
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,
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,
,
,
.
,
s
T HE
WI S D O M
O
F
LI
FE
.
man who comes midway bet ween the two endowed
it may be not exactly with distinguished powers of
m ind but with somewhat more than the ordinary
amount of intellect He wil l take a dilettante interest
in art or devote his attent i on to some branch of
scie n ce— botan y f or example or physics astro n omy
his tory and find a great deal of pleasure in such
studies and amuse himsel f with them when external
sources of happiness are exhausted or fail to satisf y
him an y more O f a man like this it may be said that
his centre of gravity is partly in himsel f B t a
dilettante interest in art is a very different thing f rom
c reative activity ;and an amateur pursuit of science is
a t to be sup erficial and not to p enetrate to th e heart
p
A man ca n n ot entirely ide n ti f y himsel f
o f the matter
with such pursuits or have his whole existence so
completely fill ed and p ermeat ed with them that he
loses al l interest in everythi n g else I t is only the
high est intell ectual power what we call geni s that
attai n s to this degree of inte n sity making all time
and existence its theme and strivi n g to express its
o
f
eculiar
conception
the
world
whether
it
contem
p
plates li f e as the subj ect of poetry or of pl i lO S O p hy
Hence undist u rbed occupation with himsel f his own
thoughts and works is a matter of urgent necessity
to such a man ; solitude is welcome leisure is the
highest good and everythin g else is unnecess ary nay
even burdensom e
This is the o n ly type of man of whom it can be
said that his cen tre of gravity is e n tirely in himsel f
which explain s why it is that people of this sort
—
they
are
ver
rare
no
matter
how
excellent
their
a d
y
,
,
,
,
.
,
“
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
u
.
.
,
.
u
,
,
,
,
,
i
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
n
,
P ER S O N
A LIT
Y
.
OR
WHA T
A
MAN
IS
.
character may be do not show that warm and u n
limited i n terest i n f riends f amily and the community
i n general of which others a e so o f ten capable ; f or
i f they have o n ly themselves they are n ot inco n solable
for the loss of e verythi n g else
This gives an isola
tion to their character Which is all the more e ffective
since other people never really quite satisf y them as
being on the whole of a di ff erent nature : nay more
since this di fference is constantly f orcing itself upon
their n otice th ey get accustomed to move about
amongst mankind as alien beings and in thinking of
humanity in general to say they instead of we
S o the conclusion we come to is that the m an
whom nature has endowed with in tellectual wealth is
the happiest ; so tru e i t is that the subj ective concern s
us more than the obj ective f or whatever the latter
may be it can work only i n di ectly secon darily a n d
—
through the me dium of the former a truth finely ex
pressed by Lucian
,
,
,
r
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
-
r
,
i jg g
l v x rjs n hofiros p oi / 0 9 c a r i u
l
S é x et dr nv a hei o va 7 6 V K r eoi vwv
I I A oii r og 6
T dhha
,
,
’
'
f
‘
”m
en
s
(
’
alt h of the s oul is the only t u e wealth f o
with all other riches comes a ban e even great er t han
they The man of i n ner wealth wan ts nothi n g f rom
outside but the negative gi ft of u n disturbed l eisure
to d evelop and mature hi s intellectual f ac u l 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 f e long every day a n d every
h our
I f he is d esti n ed to im p re ss the character of
his mind upon a whole race he has only one measure
the we
r
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
1
E p i gram m a ta , 1 2
.
WI S D O M O F
T HE
LI
FE
.
appiness or unhap piness— to succeed or f ail i n
perf ecti n g his p owers an d completi n g his work A l l
else is of small consequence A ccordi n gly the greates t
mi n ds of all ages have set the highest value upon
u n disturbed l eisure as worth exactly a s much as the
m an himsel f
H pp i n es s a pp ea rs to c on s i s t i lei s r e
says A ristotle ; and D iogenes L aerti u s reports that
S oc r a tes p r a i s ed lei s r e s the fa i es t of a ll p os s es s i o s
S o i n th e N i c hom a c hea E thi c s A ristotle conclude s
that a li fe devoted to p hilosophy is the happiest ; or
as he says i n the P oli ti c s the fr ee ex erc i s e of a y
h
again
r wh tev er i t m a
w
T
is
o
e
b
e i
h
i
es
s
p
y
pp
tallies with what Go ethe says in Wi lhel m M ei s ter : T he
of
h
.
,
.
,
u
n
a
.
1
u
a
n
,
n
r
.
,
,
2
n
,
a
,
m an
u s e,
f
,
who i s bor n wi th
s
n
a
,
.
ta l en t whi c h he i
a
s
m ea n t to
hi s gr ea tes t happ i n es s i n u s i n g i t
be in possession of undisturbed
i n ds
,
.
But to
leisure is
f ar f rom bei n g t he common lot ; nay it is something
alien to human nature for the ordinary man s desti n y
is to spend li f e in procuri n g what is necessary f or the
subsistence of hims el f an d his f amily ; he is a son of
struggle and ne ed n ot a f ree i n telligence S o people
as a rule soon get tired of u n disturbed leisure and it
becomes burde n some i f t here are no fictitious and
f orced aims to occupy it play pastime an d hobbies of
every kind For this v ery reaso n it is f ull of possible
dan ger and d i fii c i l i s i n oti o gu i es is a true saying
— i t is di ffi c u lt to keep quiet i f you have nothing to
do O n the other hand a measure of intellect f a r
surpassing the ordinary is as unnatural as it is
abnormal But i f it exists an d the man endowed
with it is to be hap py he will want precisely that
,
,
’
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
'
,
.
,
,
1
E th N i c h om
.
.
x
.
7
.
2
iv 11
.
.
T HE
WI S D O M
O F LI
FE
.
hears it said and said too wi th some plausibility
that th e narrow minded man is at bottom the
happiest even though his f ortun e is unenviable I
shall make no attempt to forestal l the reader s own
u dgment on this point ; more especially as S ophocles
j
hi m self has given uttera n ce to two diametrically
opposite O pinio n s
,
,
,
,
-
.
,
’
II
O
) T O
AN Z
63
7
7
71 0
ppovei v efida tp ov i a g
(
i nroi px eu
0 11
l
he says in one place—wisdom is the gre atest part of
happiness and aga n m another passage he declares
that the li f e of the thoughtless is the most pleasan t
of all
i
’
Eu
;bp
rt
(
,
ovei v
,
d
d
é
v fi dw r os
y p ;m
The philosophers of the O ld
selves i n a like contradiction
T es ta m en t fin d th em
.
T he li fe
f
o
a
f ool
i s wors e tha n d ea th
3
and
I
n
mu
and
ch
w i s dom i s m u
ch
f
e
r
i
g
;
he tha t i n c rea s eth kn owledge i n c rea s eth
w
s orr o
4
.
remark however that a man who has n o
mental needs because hi s i n tellect is of the narrow
and normal amount is in the strict sense of the word
—
what is called a p hi l i s ti n e an ex p ression at firs t
peculiar to the German language a kind of slang t erm
a t the Universities af terwards used by analogy in a
I
m ay
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
1
2
A n ti gon e , 1 347 8
3
554
4
-
A
j ax
,
.
.
E c c l es i a s ti c u
,
s, x x
E c c l es i as te s , i
.
ii
18
.
.
11
.
PER S O N
AL IT
Y
,
O R
WHA T
A
MA N
IS
.
higher sense thou gh still in its ori g nal meani n g as
de n oti n g one who is not a S on of the M u s es A
ii m
I should pre fe r
philistine I S an d remains ii /
to take a higher point of V iew a n d a pply the term
i
i
l
h
s ti n e to peopl e w ho are always seriously occupied
p
with realities which are no realities ; but as such a
definition would be a transcen dental one and th ere
f ore not generally intelligible it would hardly b e in
place in the present treatise which aims at bei n g
The other d efinition can be more easily
p opular
elucidated indicati n g as it does satisf actorily enough
the essential nature of all t hose qualities w h ich dis
He is defined to be a
ti n gu i h the philistine
m a n wi thou t m en ta l n eeds
From this it f ollo ws
firstly i n r ela ti on to hi m s elf that he has n o i n tel
l ec tu a l p l eas u r es ; f or as was remarked be fore there
are n o real p l easures without real needs The philis
ti n e s li f e is an imated by no desire to gain knowledge
an d i n sight f or their own sake or to experience that
true aesthe tic pleasure which is so n early akin to them
I f pl easures of this kind are f ashio n able and the
philistine fi n ds himsel f comp elled to pay attention to
them he will f orce himsel f to do so but he will take as
little i n ter est in them as possi ble Hi s on l y real pleasures
are O f a sensual ki n d an d he thinks that these in d em n i fy
him f or the loss of the oth ers To him oysters and cham
pag n e are the h ei ght of existen ce ; the aim of his li fe
is to procure what will con tribute to his bodily w el f are
and he is i n deed i n a happy way i f this causes hi m some
tro u ble I f the luxuries of li fe are hea p ed upon him
he will inevita bly be bored a n d against boredom he
has a great many f ancied remedies balls theatres
i
,
,
.
(
L ove os
'
( i/
o
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
s
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
’
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
E
,
.
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
parties cards gambli n g horses women drinking
tra elling and so on ; all o f which can not protect a
man f rom being bored f or wh ere there are no intel
lectual needs no intellectual pleasures are possible
The peculiar characteristic of the philistin e is a dull
dry kind of grav ity aki n to that of animals N othi n g
really p l eases or excites or i n terests him f or sensual
pleasure is q uickly exhausted and the society of
hilistines
soon
becomes
burdensome
and
one
may
p
eve n get tired of playi n g cards True the pleasures
of van i ty are le f t pl ea s u res whi c h he e nj oys in his
own way either by f eeli n g himsel f superior in poi n t
of wealth or ra n k or i n fl u ence and po wer to other
people who thereupon pay him honour ; or at an y
rat e by going abou t with those who have a super
fi i ty of t hese blessings sunni n g himsel f i n the
re flection of their splendour—what the English call
,
,
,
,
,
,
v
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
u
,
a s n ob
.
From the essential nature of the philistine it f ol lows
secon dly i n r ega r d to other s that as he possesses n o
intellectual but only physical nee ds he will se ek the
society of those who can satis f y the latter but not
the f ormer The last thing he will expect f rom his
f riends is the possession of any sort of intell ectual
capacity ; nay i f he chances to meet with it it will
rouse hi s an tipathy and even hatred simply because
in addition to an unpleasant sense of in f eriority he
experiences in his heart a dull kind of envy which
has to be care f ully concealed eve n from himself
N evertheless it sometimes grows into a secret f eeling
But f or all that it will never occur to
of ra n cour
h i m to make his own id eas of worth or value con f orm
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
P ER S O N A L I T Y
,
WHA T
OR
MA N
A
IS
.
to the standard of such qualities he will continue to
give the pre f erence to rank and riches po wer and
influen ce which in his eyes see m to be the o n ly
genuine advantages in the world ; and hi s wish will
be to excel in t hem himsel f A ll this is the c on s e
u en c e o f hi s bei n g a man wi thou t i n tel l ec tu a l n eed s
q
The great affl ic tion of all philisti n es s th at th ey ha ve
no interest in i deas and that to escape bei n g bored
they are i n constant need of r ea li ti es N ow r alities
are either unsa tis f actory or dangerous ; when they
lose their i nterest they become f atigui n g But the
ideal world is illimitable and calm
,
,
.
.
I
,
,
,
e
.
.
,
,
f
s om ethi n g a a r
From the sp her e
N
O TE
f
o
ou r s orr ow
.
—I these remarks on the personal qual ities
n
which go to make ha ppiness I have be e n mainly c on
cern ed with the physical a n d intell ect al n tur e of
For an account of the direct a n d imm diate
m an
i n flue n ce of m or a li ty u pon hap pi n ess let me re f e to
Fou n d a ti on
my pri z e e s y on
S
e
c
(
,
u
a
e
.
,
s
a
r
.
C HA P T ER
P R O P ER T Y
,
III
A
WHA T
O R
.
HA S
MA N
.
divides the needs of mankind into three
classes and the di v ision made by this great prof essor
of happi n ess is a tr u e and a fine on e
First come
natural and necessary needs such as when not satis
fied produce pai n — f ood a n d clothi n g v i c tu s et
S e condly
a m i c t s needs which can easily be satisfied
there are those needs which though natural are n o t
nec essary such as the gra tification of certain of the
sen s es I may add however that in the report given
by D iogen es L a e ti u s E picurus do e s not mentio n
which of the sen ses he means ; so that on this poi n t
my account of his do tri n e is somewhat more defi n ite
and exact t han th e origi n al T hese are needs rath er
more di fficult to satis fy T he third class consis ts O f
needs which are neither natural nor n ecessary the
need of luxury and prodigality show and splendour
which never com e to an en d and are ve y hard to
satis fy
I t is di fficult i f not impossible to define the limits
whic h reaso n should impose on the desire fo wealth
fo th ere i s no absolute or defi n ite amou n t of wealt h
which will satis f y a man T he amou n t is al ways
relative that is to say just so much a s will mai n tai n
EPI C U R U S
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
u
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
r
,
c
.
.
,
,
,
r
,
1
.
,
,
,
r
‘
r
.
,
,
1
C f D i ogen es L
.
al s o
C i c ero de f i n i bu
ae r ti u s ,
s
,
i
.
Bk
13
.
.
x
.
,
c h . x x vn
.
,
1
2
7
p
p
.
an d
1 49
WHA T
P R O P ER T Y , O R
A
MA N
HA S
.
proportion bet ween what he wants and what he
gets ;f or to measure a m n s happiness only by what he
gets a n d not also by what he expects to get is as f util e
as to try and ex press a f raction which shall have a
numerator but no denominator A man n ever f eel s
the loss of things which it never occurs to him to as k
fo ; he is j ust as happy wit hout th e m ; whilst a n
other who m ay have a hu n dred tim es as much f eel s
miserabl e becaus e he has not got the on e thi n g wh ich
he wants
I n f act here too every man ha s a n horiz on
of hi s own and he will expect just as much as he
thinks it possible f or him to get I f an O bj ect withi n
his horizon looks as though he could co n fidently
reckon on getting it h e is happy ; b u t i f difficul ties
come in the way he is miserable W hat lies beyond
hi s horizon has no e ffect at all upon him
S O it is
that the va t possessio n s of the rich do ot agitate
the p oor and con versely that a w ealthy man is n ot
co n soled by all his wealth f or the failure of his hopes
R iches one may say are like sea water ;the more yo u
drink the thirstier you bec ome and the same is true
of f ame
The loss of wealth and pros p rit leave s a
m n as soon as the firs t p n gs of grie f are over in
very much the same habitual tem per as bef ore ; and
the reason of this is that as soo n as f ate dimi n ishes
the amount of his po s session s he himsel f immediat ely
r educes the amoun t of hi s claims But wh en m i f or
tune comes upon u s to reduc e the amou n t of our
claims is just what is most painf ul ;once that we have
don e so the pai n becomes less a n d less an d is f elt no
more ; like an O ld wou n d which has healed C on
v ers ely when a piece of good f ortune be f alls us our
th e
a
’
,
,
“
.
r
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
.
n
s
,
,
.
-
,
,
,
e
.
a
y
a
,
,
,
,
s
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
50
THE WI S D O M
O F L I FE
cl aims mount higher and higher as there is nothing
to regulate them ; it is in t hi f eeli n g of expansio n
t hat the delight of it lies But i t l a sts no longer than
the process itsel f an d when the expan ion is complete
the delight c eases ; we h ave becom e accustomed to the
increase in our cl aims and consequen tly i n di fferent to
the amount o f wealth which satisfie s them Th ere is
a passage i n the O d ys s ey illustrati n g t his truth of
which I may quote the last two lin es
,
s
.
s
,
,
,
.
1
,
T o to; ydp
V
60 9 écr r i v
a
d
et
>
O i ov 34
fip p y
ov l wv o
i
e
v fi oi n wv
p
x
’
en t
'
n ar
'
i yp oi vdp cii v
76
96 6 V
76
.
the thoughts of man that d wells on the earth are as
the day granted him by the f ather of gods n d men
Disco n tent springs f rom a constant endeavour to i n
crease the amount of ou r claims when we are power
less to increase the amount w hi ch will satisf y them
When we consider how f ull of needs the human
race is how its whole existence is based upon them it
is n ot a matter f or surprise that wea l th is held in
more sincere esteem nay in greater honour tha n
an yt hi g else i n the world nor ought w e to wond er
that gain is m ad e the on ly goal of li fe and everythin g
that does not lead to it pu shed aside or thrown over
board— p hilosophy f o i nstan c e by those who pro f ess
it P eople are O ft en rep oached f o w ishi n g for mo n ey
above all things an d f o loving it more than anythi n g
els e but it is natural and even i n e itable f or p eople
to love that which like an un wearied P roteus is
always ready to turn itsel f into what ever O bj ct their
wan derin g wishes or m a ni f ld desires may f or the
a
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
n
,
r
,
,
r
.
r
r
,
v
,
,
e
o
1
x v i ii
1 30 7
-
.
.
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
h
h
f
moreover
t
e
kind
o
work
t
ey
do
is
alway
s
;
i n deman d ; so t hat 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 gol d But with
artists a n d prof essionals of every kind the case s
quite di fferent and that is the reaso n why th ey a re
well paid They ought to bu ild up a capita l out of
thei
earn ings ; but they recklessly look upon t he m
O n the other
a s merely i n terest and en d in rui n
h n d p eo pl e who inherit mon y kno w at least how
to dis tinguish between capital and interest and most
to make t heir capital secure a n d n o t
of them try
encroach u p on it ; n ay i f they can they put by at
l east an eigh th of their interest in ord er to m et
f uture conti n gencies
S o most of th e m maintain
th eir position T hese f ew remarks about capital and
interes t are not applicable to commercial li f e for
merchants look upon money only as a means of
f u rt h er gain j ust as a workman regards hi s tool s so
even i f their capital has been entirely the result of
th eir own efforts they try to preserve and increase it
by usi ng it A ccordi gly wealth is nowhere so much
at home as in the m erc han t class
I t will generally be f ound that those who know
what it is to have been in need and destitution are
very much less afraid of it and co n se quently more
inclin ed to extravagance than those who know poverty
only by hearsay P eople who ha v e been born a n d
bred in good circums tances are as a rule much more
care f ul about the f u ture more economical in f act
than those who by a pi ece of good luck have sud
This look s as
d en ly pas ed f rom pov erty to wealth
i f pover ty were not really such a very wretched thing
m
en
,
.
,
1
,
.
r
.
,
a
e
,
,
,
,
,
,
e
.
.
,
,
,
n
.
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
s
.
,
P R O P ER T Y
,
WHA T
OR
MA N
A
HA S
.
it appears f rom a distance The true reason
however is rather the f act that the man who has
been born i n to a p osition of wealth comes to look
upon it as something wit hout which he could no more
liv e than he could live without air ; he guards it as
he does his v ery li f e ; and so he is generally a lover
of order prudent and eco n omical
But the man who
ha s been born into a poor posi tio n look s upon it as
the n atural one and i f by any chance he comes in f or
a f ortune he r gards it as a s u pe fl u i ty S omething to
be enjoyed or was ted because i f i t comes to an e d
he can get on just as well as b ef ore with on e an xi ety
the less or as S hakespeare says i n Henry VI
as
.
,
,
.
,
,
r
e
,
,
,
n
,
,
,
1
.
,
the
T ha t begga rs m ou
a da ge
n ted ru n
mu
st
be
,
f i ed
veri
thei r hors e to dea th
.
But it S hould be said that peopl e of this ki n d have a
firm an d excessive trust partly in fate partly in the
peculiar mean s which have already raised them out
—
o f need and poverty
a trust not o n ly of the head but
of the heart also ; and so they do n ot like the man
born rich look upon the shallows O f poverty as
bottomless but consol e themselv es with the thought
that once they have touched ground agai n th ey can
t ake anoth er u pward flight I t is this trait in human
character which explains the fa ct that women who
w ere poor be f ore their marriage of ten make gr eater
claims and are more extravagant than those who
have brought their husbands a rich dowry ; because
as a rule rich girls bri n g with them not on ly a
f ortune but also more eager n ess nay more of the
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
1
P ar t I I I
.
,
A c t 1, S o 4
.
.
T HE
WI S D O M
O F L I
FE
.
inherited instinct to preserve it than poor girl s do
I f a n yone dou bts the truth of this and t hi n ks that it
is j ust the opposite he will fin d authority for hi s
view in A ri os to s first S atire ; but on the other hand
ohnson agrees with my O pinio n A wom a n of
Dr J
n
u
s ed to the ha n d l i n g o m on e
he
says
e
i
b
r
t
u
n
e
o
f
g
f
y
.
,
,
,
,
’
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
u sl
a
n
w
h
o
e
s
i
b
t
a
w
o
m
t
t
i
d
c
o
u
h
e
;
g
j
y
c om m a n d of m on ey f or the f i r s t ti m e u p on her m a r
r i a ge ha s s u c h a gu s to i n sp en d i n g i t tha t s he thr ow s
it
e
n
d
s
p
s
u
,
,
i t a wa y wi th gr ea t p r ofu
any case let
me advise anyone who marries a poor gi rl not to
l eave he the capital but o n ly the interest and to
take especial care that S h e has not the management
of the c h ildre n s f ortu n e
I do not by a n y means thi n k tha t I am touchi n g
u pon a subj ect w hich is not worth my while to
me n tio n when I rec ommend people to be care f ul to
preserve what th ey have earn ed or inherited For to
start li f e wi th jus t as much as will make one inde
pendent that is allo w on e to live com fortably with
out havi n g to work — even i f o e has on ly just enough
f or onesel f not to s peak o f a f amily — is a n advan tag e
which cannot be over estimated ; for it means ex em p
tion and immunity f rom that chronic disease of
p n ury which f ast ns on the lif e of man like a
plague ; it is eman cipation f rom t hat f orced labour
which is the natural l o t of ev ery mortal O nly und er
a favourable f ate like this c a n a man be said to be
born f ree to be in the proper sens e o f the word s u i
r i s m ast er of his o wn time a n d powers and able to
j
A n d j ust
m y own
s ay ev e ry morning T hi s d a y i
A
s i on :
1
nd
in
r
,
’
.
.
,
,
n
,
-
e
e
,
.
u
,
,
,
,
,
s
,
1
B
os well s
’
L i f e of
John s on
ann
.
1 776 , aetat : 6 7
.
PR O P ER TY
,
WHA T
OR
MA N HA S
A
.
same reason the di fference between th e man
wh o has a hundred a year and the man who has a
thousand is infini tely smaller than the di fference b e
tw een the f ormer and a m a n who has nothing at all
But in herit ed wealth reaches its utmost value when it
f alls to the indivi dual endowed with mental p owers
of a high ord e r who is resolved to pursue a line of
li fe not compatible with the m aking of money ; f or
h e is then doubly endowed by f ate and can live f or
his gen ius ; and he will pay his debt to m ankind a
hundred times by achieving what n o other could
achieve b y pro ducin g some work which c ontributes
to the ge n eral good and redounds to th e honour of
humani ty at large A nother again may use his
w ealth to f u rther phi la n thr O pi c schemes and make
himsel f well deserving O f his f ellow men But a man
who does none of these things who does not even try
to do them who never attem pts to study thoroughly
some one branch of knowledge so that he may at
least do what he can towards promoting i t— such a
born as he is i nto ric hes is a mere idl r a d
on e
thie f of time a conte m ptible f ello w He will not
eve n be happy because i n his ease exemption f rom
need delivers hi m up to the ot her extreme of human
su ffering boredom which is such martyrdom to h i m
that he would have b en better O ff i f poverty had
given hi m somethi n g to do A n d as he is bor d he is
apt to be extravagant and so lose the a d an t ge of
w hich he sho wed hims lf unworthy Cou n tless numbers
O f people find t h e ms lv s in want S imply because when
t hey had mo n ey they spe n t it on ly to get m ome n tary
reli f f rom the f eeling of boredom which oppressed them
f or the
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
-
-
.
,
,
e
,
,
n
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
e
e
.
v
,
e
e
a
.
e
,
,
,
e
.
T HE
WI S D O M
O F L I FE
.
I t is quite another matter i f
obj ect is success in
poli tical li f e where f a v our f rien ds an d connections
are all im porta n t in ord er to mou n t by their aid st ep
by step on the ladder of promotion and perhaps gai n
I n t his ki n d of li f e it is much
the topmost ru n g
better to be ca st on the world with ou t a pen ny and
i f the aspirant is not of noble f am ily b t is a man of
some talent it will re dound to hi s advan tage to b e an
absolute paup er For what every on e most aims at
in ordi n ary co n tact with his f ellows is to prove th em
i n f erior to himsel f ; and how much more is this the
case in politics N ow it is only an absolute
pau per who has such a thorough conviction of his
own com plete p ro found a n d positive inf eriority f ro m
every point of View of his own utter i n s i gn i fic a n c e
and worth lessness that he can take hi s place quietly
1
in the political machine He is the only on e who
c a n keep on bowi n g low enough a n d even go righ t
down upon his f ac e i f n eces s ary ; he alon e c an sub
mit to ev ery thing and la gh at it he alone kn ows the
entire worthlessn ess of m erit ; he alone uses hi s
loudest oice and his boldest type whenever he has to
s peak or writ e of thes e who are placed over his h ead
or occu py any position of i n fluence and i f they do a
little scribbli n g he is ready to applaud it as a maste r
work He alone understands how to beg and so
’
on e S
,
,
-
,
,
.
,
,
u
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
u
v
,
,
,
.
1
’
T ra n s la tor s
on e of
of
s erv i l i ty
to
c an
be
eta
—S c hop en hau
h i s m an y v i r u l en t
ac c ou n t
s ys tem
N
attac k s u
n
o
p
i s p rob ab l y h er e m aki n g
Hegel ; i n thi s c as e on
’
what he thou gh t to b e th e p hi l os op h er s ab j ec t
T h ou gh th e Hegeli an
the gov ern m en t of h i s d ay
.
ha s b een the f ru i tf u l m oth er
no
er
d ou b t th a t
an eff e c ti v e s u
p
Hegel s
of
o
r
t
p
’
P ru
i nflu
s s i an
bu
of
e n c e,
m an y l i b eral i d eas , th ere
i n hi s
reau c rac y
.
own
l i f e ti m e, wa s
-
PR O PE R T Y
OR
,
WHA T
A
MA N
HA S
57
.
etimes when he is hardly out of his boyhood he
becomes a hi gh priest of that hidden mystery which
Goethe brings to lig ht
b
,
,
Ueber s N i edertr ac hti ge
’
N i em a n d s i eh bekla ge
D en n
Wa s
—
i t is no
es
i s t da s M ac hti ge
m a n di r
au c h s a ge
to complain of low aims ; f or whatever
pe opl e may say they rule the world
O n the other han d the m an who is born with
enough to live upon is gen eral ly of a somewhat inde
pe n dent turn of mind he is accustomed to keep his
head up ; he has n ot learned all the arts of the
beggar ; perhaps he eve n presumes a little upon the
poss ession of talents which as h e ought to kno w can
nev er compete with cringi n g mediocrity ; in the lon g
run he comes to recog n ise the i n feriority of those who
are placed over his head and whe n they try to put
insults upon hi m he becomes ref ra c tory and s hy
This is not the way to get on i n the world N y
such a man may at last i n cli n e to the opi n ion fre ely
expressed by Voltaire : We ha ve on ly two d ays to l i ve
u se
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
i t is
n ot
w or th
ou r
whi l e to sp en d them i n
c ri n
a
,
i
n
t
o
g g
But alas let m e obs erve by th e
way that c on tem p ti bl e s c a l is an attribute which
may be predicated of an abomi n able n umb er of people
—
n
a
l
i t is d i fli c u l t to ise i f your
t
v
e
says
Wh J
poverty is greater than your tal en t
c on tem p ti
ble
r as c a ls
.
ra
,
.
a
)
f
,
u
Ha u
R es
r
d f a c i le em ergu
a ngu s ta
nt
qu oru
m
v i r tu
ti bu
s obs ta t
d om i
is more ap plicable to a c areer of art and lit erature
than to political and social ambitio n
b
a
¢
T HE
Wi f e and children
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
have not reckoned amon gst a
man s possessio n s : he is rather in t heir possession I t
would be easier to include f riends under that head ;
but a m an s f rie n ds belo ng to him not a whit more
th an he belongs to the m
I
’
.
’
.
WI S D O M
T HE
OF LI
FE
.
the f eeling of honour rests upon this peculiarity
of human nature it may have a very salutary e ff ect
upon the wel fare of a great many people as a s u bs ti
tute f or morality ; but upon th eir ha ppiness more
especially upon that peace of mi n d and independ en ce
which are so essential to hap pi n ess its e ffect will be
disturbing an d prej udicial rather than salutary
T heref ore it is advisable f rom our point O f view
to set limits to this weak n ess and duly to con
sider and rightly to estimate the relative value of a d
van tages and thus temper as fa r as possible this great
susceptibility to o ther people s opinion W hether the
opinion be one flattering to our vanity or whether it
causes us pain ; f or in either case it is the same f eel
ing which is touched O therwise a man is the slave of
what other people are pleased to think —a n d how
little it requires to disconcert or soothe the mind that
is gree dy of praise
If
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
’
,
,
.
,
,
S i c lec e, s i c p a rvu m
1
S a bra i t ac r efic i t
es t, a n i
ad
m u m qu
l a n di s
ava m
'
m
.
Therefore it will ve ry much conduce to our happi
n ess i f we duly compare the val e of what a man is
in and f o himsel f with what he is in the eyes of
others Under the f ormer comes everyt hing that fills
up the sp an of our existence and m akes it w hat it is
in shor t all the advantages already consider ed and
summed up under the heads O f person ality a n d pro
h
erty
and
the
sphere
in
which
all
t
is
tak
e s place is
p
the man s own consciousness O n the other hand the
u
r
.
,
,
’
,
.
1
Horac e
,
E pi s t
II
,
1 , 1 80
.
R E PU T A T I O N
sphere
.
t we are for other people is their con
s c i ou s n es s not ours it is the kind of figure we make
in their eyes together with the though ts which this
arouses But this is som ething which has no direct
a n d immediate existence f or us but can a ffect us o n ly
mediately a n d i n directly so f r t hat is as other
e opl e s be haviour towards us is d irected by it ; and
p
eve n t hen it ough t to affect us only i n so f a as it can
move us to modi f y wha t we a r e i n a n d f or ou r s elves
A p art f rom t his what goes on in other people s con
s c i ou s n es s is as such
a matter of indi fferen ce to us
and in time we get really i n di fferent to it when we
come to see how superfi c ial n d futile are most people s
t houghts ho w n arrow their id eas how mean their
sen tim ents how perverse their O pinion s and ho w
much O f erro there is in most of them ; when w e
learn by experi en ce with what depreciation a man
wil l speak of his f ellow when he is not obliged to f ear
hi m or thi n ks t hat w h at h e says will not come to his
ears A n d i f ev r we have had an O p portu n ity of
s eeing how the gr eat est of m en will meet with n othi n g
bu t slight f rom h al f a doz e n blockheads w e shall
u n derstand that to lay great value upon what other
people say is to pay them too much honour
A t all even ts a man is in a very bad way who fin ds
n o source of happi n ess in the first two classes of bl e ss
i ngs already treated of but has to see k i t in the third
i n other wor ds not in w hat h e is in hims el f b t i n
of
W ha
,
,
1
.
,
a
,
,
,
’
r
.
’
,
,
,
,
’
a
,
,
,
,
r
,
,
e
.
-
-
,
.
,
,
,
,
1
L et m e
,
th at p eop l e i n th e hi gh e s t p os i ti on s i n li f e ,
wi th a ll th ei r b ri l l i an c e, p om p , d i s p l a y, m agn i fi c en c e an d gen era l
s h ow, m ay well s ay —O u r h app i n e s s li e s en ti r el
i
d
o
u
t
s
e
u s , f or
y
it
r em ark
u
ex i s ts on l y i n
th e hea ds
of others
F
.
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
what he is in the opi n ion o f others For a fter all
the f oundation of our whole nature and ther ef ore of
our happiness is our physi que and the most esse n tial
f actor in hap pi n ess is health and next in importance
af ter healt h th e abili ty to maintain ourselves in inde
d
n
n
f
f
e
e
e
c
and
reedom
rom
care
There
can
be
no
p
competition or compen sation bet ween these essential
f actors on the one side and honour pomp rank n d
reputation on the other ho wever much value we may
set upon the latter N o one would hesitate to sacri
fic e the latter f or the f ormer i f it were necessary
We should add very much to our happiness by a
timely recognition of the sim pl e truth that every
m an s chie f and real existe n ce is i n his own skin a n d
n o t in other pe e ple s opinions ;and consequently that
the actual co n dition s of our personal li fe — h ealth
temperament capacity i n com e wi f e children f riend
home are a hundred times more im p ortant f or our
hap pi n ess than what other people are pleased to think
o f us otherwis e we shall be m iserable
A n d i f people
i n sist that ho n our is dearer than li fe itsel f w hat t hey
really mean is that existence and well bei n g are as
nothing compared wi th other people s O pi n ions O f
c ourse this may b e on ly a n exaggerated way of stat
i n g the prosaic truth that rep tation that is the
O pi n ion others have of us is i n dispensable i f we are
to mak e any progress in the world but I shall come
back to t hat presently W he n we see that almost
everythi n g m en devote their lives to at tai n spari n g
n o e ffor t and encount eri n g a thousand toils and da g e rs
i n th e proc ess h a i n th e en d n o f urther obj ec t t ha n
to raise themselv es i n the estimation of others whe n
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
a
,
,
,
.
.
,
’
,
’
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
s
,
,
,
,
:
.
,
-
’
.
,
u
,
,
,
.
,
n
’
,
s,
,
R EP UT A T I O N
63
.
we s ee that not o n ly O ffic es ti tle decorati ons but also
wealth n y ev en k n owl edge a n d art are striven f or
only to obtai n as the ultimate goal O f al l eff ort
—
reater
respect
f
rom
one
s
f
ellow m en
is
n ot this a
g
lamentable proof of the extent to which human f olly
can go ? To set much too high a value on other
p ople s O p n on 1 s a common error everywhere ; an
error it may be rooted in human nature itsel f or the
result of civilisation and social arran g ements gener
ally ; but whatever its source it exercises a very
immoderate i n fluence on all we d o an d is v ery p eju
We can trace it f rom a
d i i al to our happiness
timorous an d slavish regard for what other people
will say u p to th e f e eli n g whic h made Vi gi n i u s
plu n ge the dagger into his daughter s h eart or induces
ma n y a m a n to sacrifice quiet rich es health and even
li fe its el f for posthumous glory Un doubtedly this
f eeling is a very conveni ent instrume n t in the hands
of those who h ave the co n trol or direction of their
f ellow men ; an d accordi n gly we fin d that i n every
sc heme f or trai n i n g p human ity i n the way it should
go the mainten ance an d stre n gthen i n g of the f eeli n g
of hon our occ pies a n important place
But it is
quit e a di ffere n t matter in its e ff ct on human happiness
O f which it is h ere our o bj ect to tre at ; and we should
rather b e care f ul to dissua de p eopl e f rom s etti n g too
much store by what others thi k of them D aily ex
i
n c e shows us however that t his is j ust the mis
e
e
p
take p eopl e persist i n making ; m ost men set the
utmost value precis ely on what other people think
s,
,
1
a
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
’
-
,
’
i
e
l
,
,
,
,
,
r
,
c
.
r
,
’
,
,
,
.
,
-
u
,
u
.
e
n
r
,
,
.
,
,
1
-
S c i re
m
a m n i hi
kn owl edge i s
l
es t n i s i
te
s c i re
'
hoe
n o u s e u n l es s others
s c i a t a lter ,
P
r
e
( si u
i 27)
s
.
kn ow that you hav e i t
.
WI S D O M
T HE
OF LI
FE
.
and are more concerned about it than about what go es
on i n th eir own co n s i usness which is the thi n g most
immediately and directly pres ent to them Th ey
reverse the natural o der —regarding the O pinions of
others as real existence and their own consciousness
as som ething shadowy ; making the derivative and
secon dary into the pri n cipal and consid ering the
picture they present to the world of more importance
than their own selves By thus trying to get a direct
a n d immediate result out of what has no really direct
or immediate existen c e th ey f all into the kind of folly
which is called v a n i ty— the ap propriate t erm f or that
which has no solid or intrinsic value Like a miser
such people f org et the end in th eir eag erness to O btain
the means
T he tr u th i s t h at the value we set upon the opi n ion
of oth e rs and our co n stant endeavour i n r e sp c t o f it
are each quit e out of proportion to an y result we may
reaso n ably hope to attai n ; so that this attention to
other peO ple s attitude may be regarded as a kind of
universal mania which everyone i n herits I n al l we
do almost the firs t thi n g we thi n k about is what will
people say ; a n d n early hal f the troubl es a d bothers
it
O f li fe may b e traced to our anxiety on t his score
is the an xi ety which is at the bottom of all that
f eeling of s el f importan ce w h ich is so o f ten mortified
because it is so very morbidly sensitive I t is solici
tud ab ou t what others will say t hat underli es all our
van ity a n d pretension yes and al l our show and
swagger too Without it there would not be a tenth
part O f th e luxury w hich exists P rid e in every f orm
i
o
n
t
cl hon n ea r and
however
varied
their
c
t
i
l
o
i
u
n
p
p
c
o
,
.
r
,
,
.
,
,
.
.
e
,
,
’
.
,
,
n
-
,
.
‘
e
,
.
,
,
,
.
’
,
R E P UT A T I O N
ki n d
.
or sphere are at bottom nothing but this
an xiety about what others will say— and what sacri
fic es it o ften costs ! O n e can see i t even in a c hild ;
and though it exists at every period of li f e it is
strongest in age ; because when the capacity f or
sensual pleasure f ails vanity and pride have only
avarice to share their domi n io n Fren hmen perhaps
a fford the best exam ple of this f eeling and amongst
them it is a regular e pidemic appeari n g sometimes in
the most absurd ambition or in a ridiculous kind of
national va ity an d the most shameless boasti n g
Ho we v er they frustrate their own ai ms for other
people make fu n of th em and call them l a gr a n de
,
,
,
,
c
.
,
,
,
,
,
n
.
,
,
n a ti on
.
By way of specially illustrati n g this perverse an d
exu berant respec t f or other p eo ple s O pinion let me
take a passage f rom the T i m es of March 31 s t 1 846
giving a d etailed account of the execution of one
Thomas Wi x an appre n tice who f rom motives O f
vengean ce had murdered his master Here we have
very unusual circumstances and an extraordi n ary
cha acter though one very suitable f or our pur pos e ;
and these combine to give a stri ki n g picture of this
f olly which is so deeply rooted in huma n n ature a n d
allow us to f orm a n accurate notio n O f the ex tent to
which it will go O n the mor ni n g of the ex ecution
the r ev or d i n a r y wa s ea r l y i n
says th e report
’
,
,
,
,
.
,
r
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
a tten d a n c e
u
d em ea n ou
betr a yed
r,
app ea r i n g
“
br a v ely
n
d
e
.
on
p
hi m
,
no
bu t
Wi a
'
,
i
t
e
q
m i n i s tr a ti on s
beyon d
i n ter es t i n hi s
a
u
,
feel a n x i ou s on l y to a c qu i t hi m self
befor e the sp ec ta tor s of hi s i gn om i n i ou
I n the p r oc es s i on Wi ec fel l i n to hi s
to
s
WI S D O M
T HE
a la c r i
c e wi th
a
l
p
ro
e
r
p
OF LI
FE
a n d , as
ty,
he
en ter ed
the
p
Chap el ya r d r em a r ked s u fi c i en tl y l ou d to be hea r d
“
N ow then as Dr Dodd
by s ev er a l p er s on s n ea r hi m
-
,
,
s ai
kn ow the gr a n d
s ha ll s oon
d, I
i n g the
f
sc a
the m i
ol d ,
dr op wi thou t the
t
o
g
p
to the
c en tr e,
s li
he
s ec r et
”
.
On
wr etc h m ou
r ea c
n ted
h
the
s t a s s i s ta n c e a n d when he
h
t
e
g
bowed to the sp ec ta tor s twi c e a
,
,
c a ll ed
whi c h
i
r oc eed n g
s er a bl e
.
,
,
,
fo
h
rt
a
tr em en d ou
s
c heer
fr om the degr a ded c r owd ben ea th
T his is an admirable example of the way in which a
m an with death in the most dread f ul f orm be f ore his
very eyes an d eternity b eyond it wil l care f or
not hi ng but the impression he makes upon a crowd of
gapers and the opi n ion he leaves behind him in their
heads There was much the same kind of thing in
the case of L ecomte who was executed a t Frank f urt
also in 1 846 f o an attempt on the ki n g s li f e A t the
trial he was very muc h annoyed that h e was not
allowed to ap pear in decent attire bef ore the U pper
House ; a n d on the day of the executio n it was a
special grie f to him that he was not permitte d to
shave I t is not only i n recent times that this kind
M at eo A leman
of thi n g has b een k n own to happe n
t ells us i n the I n tro duction to his c elebrate d roman ce
Gu z m a n d e A lf a r a c he th at many i n f atuat ed crimi n als
i nstead of d e voti n g t h eir l ast hours to the w el f are of
their souls a th ey ought to have do n e n egl ect this
duty f o the purpose of preparing and committi n g to
memory a s p eech to b e made f rom the scaff ol d
I take thes e extre m e cases a s being the b est illus
f or t h ey give us a magn ified
t a ti on s of what I m ean
T he anx ieti es of all of
refl c tion of our own n atu re
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e
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68
T HE
f rom
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
this univers al f olly the result would be such an
addition to our peace of mind and cheer ful n ess as at
present seem s inconc eivabl ; people would present a
firmer and more con fident f ro n t to the world an d
gen erally behave with less em barrassment and re
strai n t I t is obs ervabl e that a retired mode of li f e
has an exceedi n gly be n eficial infl u ence on our peace of
mind and this is mainly because we thus escape
having to live constantly i n the sight of others a n d
everlasting
r
egard to their casual O pi n ions
in
a
a
p y
word we are abl e to return upon ourselves A t the
same time a good deal of positive misf ortune might be
avoide d which we are now drawn into by strivi n g
af ter shadows or to s peak more correctly by i n d u lg
ing a mischievous piece of f olly ; an d we should con
seque n tly have mor e attention to give to solid realities
a n d en joy them with less i n terruption than at prese n t
But x h d d hi —what is worth doing is hard to do
,
e
,
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en
a
e
K at
1
S
.
ec ti on
2
-
P r i de
.
.
The f olly of our nat re which we are discussing
p ts f orth thre e sh oots ambition va n ity and pride
T he d i ffe r ence betw e en the last two i s this : p r i d e is
an established con viction of o n e s o wn paramou n t
while va n i ty is the
w orth in some particular respect
desire of rousing such a con viction in others a n d it is
generally accompan ied by the s ecr et hope of ul ti
mately comi g to the same convictio n on esel f P rid e
work s fr om w i thi n ; it is the direct appreciation of
o n esel f Van ity is the de s ire to arrive at this a ppre
m
i
tho t
o w e find that vai n
e
r
o
d
i
n
n
r
ctl
i
a
o
w
S
t
i
i
c
yf
u
u
,
.
,
’
,
n
.
.
,
u
.
PR I D E
.
people are talkative and proud taciturn B u t the
vai n person ought to be aware that the good opinion
may be obtained much
o f ot h ers whic h h e striv e s f o
more easily a n d c ertainly by persisten t silence than by
speech even t hough he has very g ood things to say
A n yone who wish e s to a ff ect pri de is not there f ore a
proud man ; b u t he will soon have to dro p this as
ev ery other assum ed c haracter
I t is o n ly a firm u n shakeable conviction of pr e
emine n t worth an d special value wh i c h makes a man
proud in the true sense of the word —a conviction
which may n o doubt be a mis taken one or rest on
adva ntages which are of an adventi tious a n d c on v en
ti on al c harac ter still pride is not the l e ss prid e for
all that so long as it be prese n t in real earnest A n d
si n ce p rid e is thus rooted i n convicti on i t resembles
every other f orm of knowledge in not b ei n g withi n
our own arbitrament P ride s worst f oe I mean its
—
greatest O bstacle is vanity which courts the a p
l
a u s e of the world in order to gain the necessary
p
f ou n datio n f or a high opinion of on e s own worth
whilst prid e is based upon a pre existin g convictio n
o f it
I t is q u ite true t hat pride is something which is
gen erally f oun d f ault with an d cried dow n ; but
usually I imagin e by t hose who hav e nothi n g upon
w hic h th ey c a n pride th emselves I n view of the
i m pudence and f oolhardi n e s of most peo ple an yo n e
w h o poss es es a n y kind of superiority or merit will
d o w el l to ke ep his eyes fixed on i t i f he does n ot
wan t it to b e e n tire ly f orgotte n ; f o i f a man is good
na tured e n o gh to ignore his own privileges an d
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u
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70
WI S D O M
T HE
FE
OF LI
.
hob n ob with the g enerality of oth er people as i f he
were quite on their l ev el t h ey will be sur e to treat
nd
can didly as one of the m s elves
hi m f rankly
This is a piec e of advice I would specially o ffer to
those whose superiority is of the highest k ind— real
su periority I mean of a purely personal nature
which can not like orders and titles app eal to the eye
or ear at every moment as otherwise th ey will fin d
that f amiliarity breeds contempt or as the R omans
used to say s u s M i n er va m Joke w i th a s l a ve a n d
he l l s oon s how hi s heel s is an excelle n t A rabian
proverb nor ought we to despise w hat Horace says
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’
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S a me
a
p erbi a m
esi ta m m eri ti s
su
.
—usurp the f ame you have deserved
N
.
d oubt
o
,
when modesty was m a de a virtue it was a very a d
thing f or the f ools for everyb ody is
v a n tageou s
expected to speak of himsel f as i f he were one T his
is lev llin g down indeed ! f or it comes to look as i f
there w ere nothing b u t f ools in the world
T h e cheapest sort of pride is natio n al pride f or i f
a man is proud of his own nation it argu es that he
ha s no qualities of his own of w h ich h e can be pro d ;
otherwise he would not have recours e to those w hic h
he shares with so man y millions of his f ellow m en
The man who is endowed with important perso n al
qualiti es will be o n ly too ready to see clearly i n w hat
respect s his own nation f alls short S ince their f aili n gs
B t every miser
will b con stantly bef ore his ey
able f ool who has nothing at all O f w hich he can be
,
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e
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,
u
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es
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u
WI S D O M
T HE
OF LI
FE
.
na m e f or the particular form which the l ittl en ess
perversity and baseness O f manki n d take i n ev ery
country I f we become disgusted with one we praise
another until we get disgusted with this too E very
n atio n mocks at ot h er nations and all are right
The contents of this chapter which treats as I
have said of what we represent in the world or what
w e are in the eyes of oth e rs may be f urther d i s t i
buted under three heads ho n our rank and f ame
,
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,
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,
.
,
,
,
,
,
r
,
.
,
S ec ti on 3 — R
.
ank
.
us tak e rank first as it may be dismissed in a
f ew words although it plays an important part in
the eyes of the masses and of the philistines and is a
most se ful wheel in the machinery of the S tate
S trictly
I t h as a purely conventional value
speaki n g it is a sham ; its method is to exact an
artificial respect and as a m atter of fact the whole
thing is a mer f arc e
O rders it may be said are bills of exchan ge drawn
on publ ic opinion and the m easur e of th eir value is
the credit of the drawer O f course as a substitute
f or pensions they save the S tate a good deal of
money and besid es they serve a very use f ul purpose
i f t hey are distributed with discriminatio n and judg
m ent For people in ge n eral have eyes and c ars it is
true but not much else very little judgment indeed
or even m emory There are many services to the
S ta te quite beyond the range of their u nderstan di n g
oth ers agai n are appreciated an d mad e much of f or a
ti m e an d t hen soon forgotten I t seems to me th ere
L et
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HO N O U R
f ore
73
.
very proper that a cross or a star should
proclaim to the mass of people a l ways and every
where T hi s m a n i s n ot l i ke you ; he ha s d on e
But orders lose their value when th ey
s om ethi n g
are distributed unjustly or without due sel ection or
i n too great numbers : a prince should be as care f ul in
con ferring them as a man of business is in signi n g
a bill I t is a pleo n as m to inscribe on any order f or
d i s ti n gu i s hed s er v i c e f or e very order ought to be f or
distinguished servic e That stan ds to reason
,
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.
—
h Hon ou
S ec ti on
r
.
Hon our
is a much larger questio n than rank and
more di ffi c lt to discuss Let us begi n by trying to
d efi n e it
I f I w ere to say Hon ou r i s ex ter n a l c on s c i en c e
no doubt a good
a n d c on s c i en c e i s i n wa r d hon o r
man y people would assen t ; but there would be more
show than reality about such a definitio n and it
would hardly go to the root O f the matter I pre f er
to say Ho ou r i s on i ts obj ec ti ve i de other p eop l e s
,
u
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,
u
‘
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n
,
op i n i on o
f
’
s
,
wha t we
are
,
wor th ; on i ts
bj ec ti v e s i d e
su
,
From
the
p
latter point of view to be a m a n of hon ou r is to
exercise w hat is o f ten a v ery whol esom e but by no
m ean s a purel y m oral i n flu en ce
The f eeli n gs O f hon our and Sham e e ist i n every
m a n who is n ot utterly depraved a n d honour is
everywhere r ec ogn i s ed as som ethi n g par ticularly
valuable T he r ea on of this is a s f ollo ws By an d
in himsel f a man can accomplish v ery little ; he
i t i s the
r es
ec t
we p a y to thi s
op i n i on
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,
,
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x
,
,
.
s
.
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
is like R obi n s on C rusoe on a desert island I t is onl y
in soci ety that a man s p o wers c n be called into f ull
activity He v ery soon fin ds this out when his
consciousness b egi n s to develo p and there arises i n
him the desire to b e looked upon as a usef l member
o f society as on e that is who is capable of playing
his part as a man —p o p a rte vi r i li — thereby a c qu i r
i n g a right to the be n efits of social li f e
N ow to be
a usef ul member of society one must do two things
firstly what everyone is expected to do everywh ere ;
and secondly wha t one s own particular position in the
world demands and re q uires
But a man soon discovers that everythi n g de
pends upon hi s b eing us ef ul not in his own O pinion
but in the O pi n ion of oth ers ; and so he tries his best
to mak tha t f avourabl e impression upon the world
to which he attaches such a hi gh val e Hen ce this
primitive and in n ate characteristic of human nature
which is called th e fe eling of honour or und r
an other aspect the f eeli n g of shame —v er ec u n di a I t
is this which bri n gs a blush to his cheek at the
tho u ght of havi n g sudd en ly to f all i n the estimatio n
of ot h e rs ev en wh e n h e k n ows t h at he is in n ocent
na
i
f
n ess extends to no absolute
even
his
remiss
y
obligation but o nl y to on e which he ha s taken upon
himsel f of his own f ree will
C onversely nothing in
li f e gives a man so much courage as the attainment
or ren ewal of the conviction that other people regard
him with f av our ; b ecause it mean s that everyone
j oi n s to give him help and protection which is an
i n finitely stron ger bulwark against the ills of li f e
than an ything he c a n do himself
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T HE
WI S D O M
OF L I
FE
.
no more than mere abuse is a ki n d of summary slander
with a su ppression O f the reasons What I mean may
be w ell pu t in the Greek phrase — not quoted f rom
O
any author é w j h d p S /8 W]
I t is
true that i f a man abuses another he is simply S ho w
i n g that he has no real or true causes of complaint
against him ; as o therwise he woul d bri ng these
f orward as the pr e mises and rely upon his hearers
to draw the conclusion themselves : i n stead of which
he gives the co n clusion an d leaves out th e premises
trusting t hat p eople wil l suppose that he has done so
only f or the sake of being brie f
O i v i c honour draws its existence and name f rom
the middl e classes ; but it appli es equally to all not
e xcepti n g the hig h est
N O man can disregard it a n d
it is a very s erious thing of which every one s hould
be care f ul not to make light The man who breaks
confidence has for ev er f orf eited con fid en ce whatever
he may do and whoever he may be ; a n d the bitter
cons equences of the loss of confid en ce can nev er be
averted
T here is a s ense in w hic h honour may b e said to
have a n ega ti e c haracter in opposition to the p os i ti ve
character of fame For honour i s n t the opinion
people have of particular qualities which a man may
happen to poss e s exclusively it is rath er the opinion
th ey have of the qualiti es which a man may be ex
t
ed to exhibit a n d to which he s h ould n o t p rove
e
c
p
Ho n our t here f or e means t hat a m a n is n o t
f alse
exceptio n al ; f ame that he is Fam e is som et hi ng
which must be won ; hon our on ly something w hich
mus t not b e lost The absence of f ame is obscuri ty
,
.
'
'
et
i
‘
r
rr
o
ta
ta
01
O U VT O LL
‘
I
‘
S
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,
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v
o
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s
:
,
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,
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,
HO N
O
UR
.
which
is only a negative but l es s of honour is S hame
which is a positive quality Thi s negative character
O f honour m u st not be co n f used with anything p as s i ve
It
for honour is above all things active in its working
is the only qual ity whi ch proceeds di r ec tly f rom the
man who exhibits it : it is concerned entirely with
what he does and leaves undone and has nothing to
do with the actions O f others or the obstacles they
place in hi s way I t is somethi n g entirely in our own
power— d é t iynw This distinction as we shall see
presently mark s off t rue honour f rom the sham honour
of chi v alry
S lander is the only weapon by which honour can be
attacked f rom without ; and the only way to repel
the attack is to co n fute the slander with the proper
amount of publicity and a due unmasking of him who
utters it
The reason why respec t is paid to age is that old
people have necessarily shown in the course of their
lives whether or not they have been able to maintain
their honour unble m ished ;while that of young people
has not yet been put to the proof though they are
credited with the possession of it For neither length
equalled as it is and even excelled in the
of years
—
f
o
f
the lower animals nor again ex peri
c ase o some
ence w hich is only a closer knowledge of the world s
ways can be any su fficient reas on f or the respect
which the youn g are everywhere required to S ho w
towards the old : for i f it were merely a matter of
y ears the weak ness which attends on age would call
rather f or consideration than f or respect I t is how
ever a r emarkable fact that white hair always com
,
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v
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G
,
WI S D O M
T HE
O F LI
FE
.
mands reverence—a reverence really innate and i n
s ti n c ti v e
Wrinkles—a much surer S ign of old age
command no reverence at all you never hear any one
speak of ven er a ble wri n kles but v ener ble whi te ha i r
is a common expression
Honour has o n ly an indirect value For as I ex
plained at the begi n n ing of this chapter what other
people thi n k of us i f it a ff ects us at all c an affect us
only in so f a r as it governs their behaviour towards
us and only j ust so long as we live with or have to
do with them But it is to society alone that we owe
that saf ety which we and our possessions e nj oy in a
state of civilisation in all we do we need the help of
others and they i n their turn must have confidence
in u S bef ore they c a n have anything to do with us
A ccordingly their O p ni on of us is indirectly a matter
though I cann ot see how it can
of great importance
have a direct or immediate value This is an opinion
also held by C icero I qu i te agr ee he writes wi th
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i
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.
wha t Chr ys i pp u
'
re u
o
d
o
g
p
ta ti
on
D i ogen es
s
an d
u s ed
is
n ot wor th r a i s i n g a
,
to
sa
i
n
er
g
f
t
h
a
t
a
y
to obta i n ,
,
f l T his truth has
been insisted upon at great length by Hel v e ti u s in hi s
chie f work D e l E sp r i t the conclusion of which is
th at we l ove es teem n ot f or i ts own s a ke bu t s ol el y f or
A n d as the means
the a dv a n ta ges whi c h i t br i n gs
c a n never be more t h a n the end that saying of which
so much is made Hon ou r i s de a r er tha n l i fe i ts elf i s
as I have remarked a very ex aggerated s tatement
S o much then f or civic ho n our
i f i t wer e
n ot
tha t i t i
s
1
s o u se u
.
2
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1
2
D efin i bu
D is c
,
:
iii
s
.
,
iii
.
13
.
,
17
.
T HE
WI S D O M
OF L I
FE
.
S ub ordi n ate
to the honou r of o fficial personages
comes that of those who serve the S tate in any other
capacity as doctors lawyers teachers a n yone in
short who by graduati ng in any subject or by any
other public declaration t hat he is qualified to ex er
cise some S pecial S kill claims to prac tise i t ; in a
word the honour of all those who tak e any
pub lic pledges whatever Under this head comes
military honour in the tr u e sense of the word the
opinion that people who have bound thems elv es to
de f e n d their country really possess the requis i te
qualities which will e n able them to do so especially
courage personal bravery and strength and that they
are perf ectly ready to def end their country to the
d eath and never and under no circumstances desert
the flag to which they have O nce sworn allegiance I
have here taken o fficial honour in a wider sense than
that i n which it is generally used namely the respect
due by citizens to an O ffi ce itsel f
I n treating of s ex u a l hon ou r and the principles on
which it rests a little more attention and a n alysis are
necessary and what I shall say will support my con
te n tion that all honour really rests upon a utilitarian
basis There are two n atural divisions of the subj ect
—the hon our of wom en and the hon our of men in
either side issui n g in a well understood esp r i t de c orps
T h e f ormer is by f ar the more important of the two
because the most essen tial f eature in woman s li f e is
her relation to man
Female honour is the general O pinion in regard to a
girl that S he is pure an d in regard to a wi f e that S he
is f aith ful T he i mportance of this opinion re ts upon
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Honou
R
.
considerations Women depend upon
men i n all the relations of li f e ; men u pon women it
might be said in one only S o an arrangement is
made f or mutual interdependence— man underta king
responsibility f or all woman s needs and also for the
—
children that spring f rom their union an arrange
ment on which is based the wel fare of the whole
To carry out this plan women have to
f emale race
ban d together wit h a S how of esp r i t d e c orp s and
present one undivided f ront to their common enemy
m an — who possesses all the good things of the earth in
v irtue of his superior physical and intellectual power
i n order to lay S iege to and conquer him and so get
possession of him and a share O f those good things
To this end the honour of all women d epends upon
the en force m ent of the 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 arrangement pro
vision is made for the whole of the f emale race This
is a result however which can be obtained only by a
strict observance of the rule and accordingly women
every where S how true esp r i t de c orp s in care f ully i n
sisting upon its maintenance A n y girl who commits
a breach of the rule b trays the whole f emale race
because its wel fare would be destroyed i f every woman
were to do likewise so S he is cast out with s hame as
one who has lost her honour N o woman will have
anythi n g more to do with her ; she is avoided like
the plague The same doom is awarded to a woman
who breaks the marriage tie ; f or in so doi n g she is
f alse to the terms upon which the man capitulated ;
th e f ollowi n g
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WI S D O M
THE
OF
L I FE
.
and as her conduct is such as to frighten other men
from making a similar s urrender it imperils the wel
f are O f all her sisters
N ay more this deception and
coarse breach of troth is a crime punishable by the
loss not only O f personal but also of civic honour
T his is why we minimise the shame of a girl but not
of a wi f e ; because in the f ormer case m arriage can
restore honour while in the latter no atonemen t can
be made for the breach of contract
O n ce this esp r i t d e c orp s is acknowledged to be the
f ou n dation of f emale honour and is seen to be a
wholesome nay a necessary arrangement as at bottom
a matter of prudence and interest its extreme import
ance f or the wel f are of wome n will be recognised But
it does not possess an ything more than a relative
value I t is no absolute end lying beyond all other
aims of existence and valued above li f e itsel f I n
this view there will be nothing to applaud in the
f orced and extravagan t conduc t of a L ucretia or a
Vi rgi n i u s — conduct which can easily degenerate i n to
tragic f arce and produce a terri ble feeli n g of revulsion
The conclusion of E m i li a Ga lotti f or instance makes
one leav e the theatre completely ill at ease and on the
other hand all the rules of f emale honour cannot pre
vent a certain sympathy with Clara in Egm on t To
carry this principle of f emale hon our too f ar is to
f orget the end in thi n king of the means—a n d th i s i s
j u st what peo ple O f ten do ; fo such exaggeration
suggests that the value of sexual hono u r is absolu te
while the truth is that it is more relative than any
other kind O n e might go so f ar as to say that its
value is purely conventional when one se es fro m
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T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
Government of the country From her point of
view s h e occupies an exceptional position and does
not come under the ordinary rules of sexual honour
f or she has merely given hersel f to a man who loves
her and who m S he loves but cannot marry A n d in
general the f act that the principle of f emale honour
has no origi n in nature is sho wn by the many bloody
sacrifices which have been offered to i t —the murder
of children and the mother s s u icid e
N o doubt a girl
who contravenes the code commits a breach of f aith
against her whole sex but this f aith is one which is
only secretl y taken f or granted and not sworn to
A n d S ince i n most cases her own prospects su ffer
most immediately her folly is infinitely greater than
her crime
The corresponding virtue in men is a product of
the one I have been discussing I t is their esp r i t de
c orp s which d emands that once a man has made that
surrender of himsel f in marriage which is so a dv an
tageou s to his con q ueror he shal l take care that the
terms of the treaty are maintained ; both in order
that the agreement itsel f may lose none of its f orce
by the p ermission of a n y laxity in its observance and
that m en havi n g given up everythi n g may at least
be assured of their bargain namely exclusive posses
sion A ccordi n gly it is p art of a man s honour to
resent a breach of the marriage tie on the part of his
wi f e and to punish it at the very least by separating
I f he condones the o ffence his f ellow men
from h er
cry shame upon hi m ; but the shame in this case is
not nearl y so f oul as that of the woman who has lost
her honour ; the stain is by no means of so deep a
the
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HO N O UR
—
dye l evi or i s
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la ;—because
a man s relatio n
to woman is subordi n at e to many oth er a n d more
important afl a i rs in his li f e The two great dramatic
poets of modern times have each taken man s honour
as the theme of two plays ; S hakespeare in O thel l o
and T he Wi n ter s T a le and Calderon in E l m edi c o de
the P hysician of his Honour) and A s ec eto
s u hon r a (
f
t
I
S
ecret
ns
lt
ecre
a gr a vi o s ec r eta ven ga n z a
o
r
S
u
(
Vengeance ) I t S hould be said however that honour
deman d s the punishment of the wi fe only to pu n ish
her p aramour too is a work of supererogation This
confirms the Vie w I have tak en that a man s honour
origi n ates in esp r i t de c orp s
The k ind of honour which I have been discussing
hith erto has always existed in its various f orms and
principles amongst all nations and at al l times ;
althou gh the history of f emale honour shows that its
principles have u ndergone certain local modifications
at di fferent periods But there is another species of
honour which di ffers from this entirely a species of
honour of w hich the Greeks and R omans had no con
c e ti on and up to this day it is perf ectly unknown
p
amongst Chinese Hi n doos or Mohammedans I t is a
kind of honour which arose only in the Middle A ge
and is indigenous only to C hristian Europe nay only
to an extrem ely small portion of the populatio n that
i s to say the higher classes of society and those who
ape them I t is kn i ghtl y hon ou r or p oi n t d hon n eu r
I ts principles are quite di fferent f rom those w hic h
underlie the kind of honour I have been treating
u n til now and in some respects are even opposed to
the m The sort I am ref erring to produces the
n ota e m ac u
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86
WI S DO M
T HE
O F LI
FE
.
while the other k ind creates the m a n of
A s this is so I S hall proceed to give an
hon owr
explan ation of its principles a s a k ind of code or
mirror of k nightly courtesy
To begin with ho nour of this sort c onsists not
in other peopl e s O pinion of what we are worth but
wholly and e n tirely in whether they express i t or not
no matter W hether they really have any O pinion at all
let alone whether they kn o w of reasons for having
one O ther people m ay entertain the worst O pinion
of us in consequence of what we do and may despise
us as much as they like ; so long as no one dares to
n ion
ive
expression
to
his
opi
our
honour
remains
g
untarnished S o i f our actions and qualities compel
the highest respect f rom other p eople and they have
as soon as anyone
no option but to give this respect —
no matter how wicked or f oolish he may be utters
somethin g depreciatory of us our honour is o ffended
nay gone for ever unless we can manage to restore it
A su perfluous proo f of what I say namely that
k nightly honour de p ends not upon what people thi n k
but upon what they say is f urnished by the f act that
insu l ts can be withdraw n or i f necessary f orm the
subj ect of an apology w hich mak es them as though
they had never been uttered Whether the O pinion
which underlay the expression has also been rectified
and why the expression S hould ever have been use d
are questions which are perf ectly unimportant : so
long as the statem ent is wit hdrawn all i s well The
truth is that conduct of t his kind aims not at earning
respect but at extorti ng it
I n the second place t hi s s ort of honour rests
c av a l i er
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T HE
become your f riends
reproach to them
Wa s
WI SD O M
or L I
FE
.
your whole being is a standing
f
i
,
kla gs t du
ber Fei n de
u
S oll ten S olc he je werden F reu
D en en d a s
I m
Wesen
s ti ll en ei n ewi
,
n de
wi e da bi s t,
ger
Vor wu
i st?
f
r
I t is
obvious that people of this wor thless des c ri p
tion have good cause to be thankf ul to the principle
of honour because it puts them on a level with people
who in every ot her respect stand far above them I f
a f ellow likes to insult any one attribute to hi m f or
example some bad quality this is taken p r i m a fa c i e
as a well founded opinion true in f act ; a decree as it
were with all the f orce of law ; n ay i f it is not at
once wiped out in blood it is a j udgment which
holds good and valid to all time I n other words the
—
man who is insulted remains i n the eyes of all
hon ou r a ble p eop le— what the man who uttered the
insult— even though he were the greatest wr etch on
earth— was p l eas ed to call hi m ; f or he has p u t u p
the technical term I believe
wi th the insult
A ccordingly all hon ou r a ble p eop le will have nothi n g
more to do with him an d treat him like a leper and
it may be ref use to go into any compan y where he
may be f ound and S O on
This wi e procee di ng may I think be traced back
to the fact that in the Middle A ge up to the fi fteenth
century it was not the accuser i n any cri mi n al
process who had to prove the guil t of the accused but
the accused who had to prov e his innocence This
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1
S ee 0 G
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e s p ec i all y
th e
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v on
Wac htei
’
s
B ei trage
c hap te r on c ri m i n al
l aw
.
z u /r
deu tsc hen Ges c hi c hte,
HO N
O
UR
.
he could do by swearing he was not guilty ; and his
—
—
l
backers c on s a c r a m en ta es had to come and swear
that in their O pinion h e was incapable of perjury I f
he could find no one to hel p h i m in this way or the
accuser took objection to his backers recourse was
had to trial by the Ju dgm en t of God which generally
For the accused was now i n di s gr a c e
m eant a d u el
and had to clear himsel f Here then is the origin of
the notion of disgrace and of that whole system
which prevails now a days amongst hon ou r a ble p eop le
—only that the oath is omitted This is also the
explanation of that deep f eel ing of indignation which
hon ou r a ble p eop le are called upon to S how i f they are
iven
the
lie
it
is
a
reproach
which
they
say
must
;
g
be wiped out in blood I t seldo m comes to this
pass however though lies are of common occur
rence ; bu t in En gland more than elsewhere it i s a
superstition which has taken very deep root A s a
matter of order a man who threatens to kill another
f or telling a lie S hould never have told one himsel f
The f act is that the criminal trial of the Middle A ge
also admitted of a S horter f orm I n reply to the charge
the accused answered : T ha t i s a li e; whereupon it was
l e f t to be decided by the J dgm e t of God
Hence
the code of knightly honour prescribes that when the
lie is given an appeal to arms f ollows as a matter of
cours e S o much t he n f or the theory of insult
But there is something even worse t han insult
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1
’
T ra n s la tor s
a n oth e r
an d
N
ote
s p ec i al
C hi v al ry, b u t i t i s the
f or the Ge rni a n
—ei n
.
I t is
tru
e
m eani n g i n the
n ea re s t
B
tha t thi s
pr es s i on h as
te c hn i c al te rm i n ol ogy of
ex
E n gl i s h e qu i v al en t whi c h I
es c holten er.
c an
fin d
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
something so dread f ul that I must b eg pardon of all
hon ou r a ble p eop le f or so much as me n tioning it in
this code of k nightly honour ; for I know they will
shiver and their hair wil l stand on end at the very
thought of i t— the s u m m u m m a l m the greatest evil
on earth worse than death and damnation A man
may give another— hor r i bi le d i c tu ! —a slap or a blow
This is such an aw f ul thi n g and so utterly f atal to all
honour that while any other S pecies of insult may be
healed by blood letting t his can be cured only by the
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c ou
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e gr d c e
p
I n the
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third place this kind of honour has
absol utely nothing to do with what a man may be in
and fo himsel f or again with the ques tion whether
his moral charact er can ever b ecome better or worse
and all such pedan tic inquiries I f your honour
happens to be attacked or to all appearan ces gone it
can very soo n be restored in i ts entirety i f you are
only quick enough in having recourse to the one
—
universal remedy a d u el But i f the aggressor does
not belon g to the classes w hich recognise the code of
kn i ghtly honour or has him s el f once o ffended against
it there is a saf er way of meeting a n y atta k pon
your honour whether it consists in blows or merely
in words I f you are armed you can s trike down
your opponent on the spot or perhaps an hour later
This w ill restore your hon our
But i f you wish to avoid such an extrem e step f rom
f ear of any u npleas an t con sequences arising there from
or f rom uncertainty as to whether the aggressor is
subj e ct to the laws of knightly honour or not there is
anoth er m eans of making your position goo d namely
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T HE
WI S D O M
OF L I
FE
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we can at once annul his superiority and our own
shallowness and in our turn be superior to him by
bei n g i nsulting and off ensive For rudeness is better
than any argument ; it totally eclipses intellect I f
our op ponent does not care f or our mode of attack
and will not answer still more r u dely so as to p l unge
us into the ignoble rivalry of the A va n tage we
are the victors and honour is on our side Truth
knowledge understanding intellect wi t must beat
a retreat an d leave the field to this almighty
insolence
Hon o r a bl e p eop le immediately mak e a S h ow of
mounting th ir wa r horse i f anyone utters an opinion
adverse to theirs or shows more intelligence than they
can muster ; and i f in any controversy they are at
a loss f or a reply they loo k about f or some weapon of
rudeness which will serve as well and come readier to
hand so they retire masters of the position I t must
now b e obvious that people are quite right in applaud
ing this principle of honour as having ennobled the
tone of society This principle springs f rom another
which f orms the heart and soul of the en tire code
Fif thly the code implies that the highest court
to which a man can appeal in a n y di ff erences he may
have with another on a point of honour is the court
of p hysical f orce that is of brutality
Every piece of
rudeness is strictly speak ing an appeal to brutality
f or it is a declaration that intellectual stre n gth and
moral insight are incom petent to decide and that the
battle must be fought out by physical f orce —a
struggle which in the case of m an whom Franklin
defines as a tool m a ki n g a ni m a l is decided by the
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HO N
O
UR
.
weapons peculiar to the species ; and the decision is
irrevocable This is the well known principle of the
—
i ght of m i ght irony of course like the wi t of a fool
a parallel phrase The honour of a knight may be
called the glory of might
L astly i f as we s a w above civic honour is very
scrupulous in the matter of m eu m and t m payi n g
great respec t to obligations and a promise onc e made
the cod e we are here discussi n g displays on the oth er
hand the n oblest li berality There is only one word
which may not be broken the wo d of honou — upon
—
no
my ho u r as people say the presum ption bei n g of
co u rse that every other f orm of promise may be brok en
N a y i f the worst comes to the worst it is easy to brea k
even one s word of hono u r and still remain honour
able— again by ado ptin g that un i versal remedy the
duel an d fighti n g wit h those who maintain that we
pledged our word Further there is one debt and
on e alone that under n o circumstances must be le f t
unpaid— a gambling debt w hich has accordingly been
I n all other kinds of debt you
cal led a d ebt of honou
may cheat Jews and Christians are much as you
like ; and your knightly honour remains without a
stain
The unprej udice d reader will see at once that such
a strange sav age and ridiculous code of honour as
this has no f ou n dation in human nature nor an y
warrant in a healthy vi ew of human aff airs The
extremely narro w sphere of its O peration ser v es only
to inte n si f y the f eeli n g w hich is excl u siv ely confined
to Euro pe since the Middle A ge and the n on ly to the
upp er classes O fli c ers and soldiers and people who
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H
T HE
i mitate
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
them N either Gre eks nor R omans k n ew
anyt hing of this code of honour or of its pri n ciples ;
nor the highly civilised nations of A sia ancient or
A m on gst them no other kind of honour is
m odern
recogn ised but that which I di cussed first in v irtue
o f w h ic h a m an is w h at he shows himsel f to b e by hi s
actio n s n ot what any waggin g to n gue is pleas ed to
say of hi m They thought that what a man said or
did might perhaps affect hi s own hon our but n ot a n y
other man s To them a blow was but a bl ow — an d
any horse or don key could give a harder one— a blow
w hich un der certain circumstances m ight m ake a man
an gry a n d d eman d imme diate ven gean ce ; but it ha d
nothi n g to do with honour N o on e kept account of
blows or insulti n g words or of the s a ti sf a c ti on which
was demanded or omitted to be dem an ded Y et in
personal brav ery an d contempt of death the an cients
were certa nly n ot in f erior to the nation s of C hristian
T he Greeks and R oman s were thorough
Euro pe
heroes i f you like ;but they knew n othi n g about
l
I
f
f
nt d hon n eu r
they
had
idea
a
due
it
i
an
o
o
p
y
was totally uncon n ected with the li f e of the nobles
it was merel y the exhibi tion of mercenary gladiators
slav e s d e vot ed to sla ght r co ndem n ed crimi n als
wh o alt ernately with wild b easts w ere s et to butc her
When Chris
on e a n other to make a R oman h oliday
ti an i ty was introduced gladiatorial shows w er e d on e
away with and th eir place take n i C hristia n times
b y the d ue l w h ic h was a way of settli n g d i fficulti e s
I f the gladiatorial figh t was
u dgm en t of God
by the J
a cruel sacrifice to the prevaili n g d esire f or great
spectacles d u elli n g is a cruel sacr ifice to existi ng pre
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n
,
T HE
WI S D O M
O F L I FE
.
and he bore it all mildly O n ce f or instance when
somebody kicked hi m the patience with which he
took the insult surprised one of hi s friends D o you
thi nk said S ocrates th t i f a n a s s h pp en ed to ki k m e
1
I s hou l d r es en t i t ?
O n another oc c asion when he
was asked Has n ot th tf ellow a bu s ed a n d i n s u lted you ?
N o was his answer wh t he s a ys i s n ot a dd r es s ed to
me
S tob aeu s has preserved a long passage f rom
Mu s on i u s from which we can see how the ancients
treated insults They kn ew no other f orm of satis
f actio n than that which the law p rovided and wise
people despised even this I f a Greek received a box
on the ear he could get satisf action by the aid of the
law ; a s is evident f r om P lato s Gorgi
where
The same thi n g
S ocrates o pinion may be f ound
may be seen in the account given by Gel li u s of one
L ucius Vera ti u s who had the audacity to give some
R oman citizens whom he met on the road a box on
the ear without any provocation w hatever ;but to avoid
any ulterior consequences he told a slave to bri n g a
bag of small money and on the spot paid the trivial
legal penalty to the men whom he had astonished by
his conduct
Crates the celebrated Cy n ic philosopher got such
a box on the ear f rom N i c odrom u s the musician that
his f ace swelled up and became black and blue ;
whereupon he put a label on his forehead with the
inscription N i c odr om u s fec i t which brought much
disgrace to the fl u tepl ayer who had committed such
a piece of brutality u pon the man whom all A thens
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1
2
Di oge n es L
I bi d 36
.
aerti u s ,
ii
.
,
21
.
,
HO N
O
UR
.
hon oured as a household god A n d in a letter to
Mel es i ppu s D iogenes of S inope tells us that he got a
beati n g f rom the drunken sons of the A t hen ian s but
he adds that it was a matter of no importanc e A n d
S eneca devotes the las t f e w chap ters of his D e Con
—
n
insult c on tu m eli a ;
s ta n ti a to a leng thy discussion o
in order to S how that a wise man will ta k e n o not i ce
I n Chapter ! I V he says Wha t s ha l l a wi e
of it
1
.
,
2
.
.
.
m a n d o, i f he i s gi v en
s om e on e s tr u c k hi m
a ven ge
the i
l t,
n su
or
a
s
,
bl ow
on
the
Wha t Ca to d i d
m ou th — n ot f i r e
2
.
even r etu
rn
,
when
u
p
or
the bl ow, bu t s i m p l y
i gn or e i t
.
—A nd
you say b t thes e
w
you are f ools eh P recisely
I t is clear that the whole code of knightly honour
was utterly unknown to the an cients f or the S imple
reason that they al ways took a natural and u n pre
ff
human
a
airs
and
did
not
allow
u di c ed V iew of
j
themselves to be influenced by any s u c h vicious a n d
abomi n able f olly A blow in the face was to th em a
blow and nothing more a trivial physical inj ury
whereas the moderns make a catastro phe out of it a
theme f or a tragedy ; as f or i n stance in the Ci d of
Corneille or in a re cent German come dy of middle
class li fe called T he P ower of Ci r c u m s ta n c e which
should have been entitled T he P ower of P r ej di c e I f a
member of the N ational A ssembly at P aris got a blow
on the ear it would resound from one end of Europe
to the other T he examples which I have given of
the way i n which such an occurrence would have been
Y es ,
m en
u
,
er e
i
o
s op her s
h
l
p
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1
2
D i ogen es L
a erti u s , v
Cf C as a u b on
.
’
s
87,
A p u l : F l or : p 1 26
N ote , a d D i og L a er t , v i 33
i
.
an d
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.
.
WI S D O M
T HE
FE
OF LI
.
treated in classic times may not suit the ideas of
hon ou r a bl e p eop l e ; so let me recommend to their
n otice as a ki n d of antidote the s tory of Monsieur
a c q es l e fa ta
D es gl a n d s in D iderot s masterpiece J
I t is an exc elle n t specime n of modern k n igh tly
l i s te
honour which n o doubt they will find enj oyable and
edi f yi ng
From what I have said it must be quite evide n t
that the principle of knightly honour has no essential
and S pon taneous origin in h u man nature I t is an
artificial product an d its source is not hard to fin d
I ts existence O bviously dates f ro m the time when
people used t heir fists more than their heads when
priestcraf t ha d e n chained the human i n t ellec t the
much bepraised Middle A ge with its sy te m of
chivalry That was the time when peo ple let the
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1
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s
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1
T r a n s la tor
’
s
N
T he
ote.
to whi c h S c h op en h au
s tory
h er e
er
T wo gen tl em en , on e o f whom wa s
n a m ed D es gl an d s , wer e p ayi n g c ou r t to th e s a m e l a d y
As
th ey s a t a t tab l e s i d e b y s i d e , wi th th e l ad y opp os i te, D e s gl an d s
re f ers
i s b ri efl y
as
f ol l ows
:
.
di d hi s b es t to c ha rm h er wi th hi s
ten d e d
to h ear hi m ,
n ot
an d
c on v e rs ati on
; bu t
hi s
r i val
k ep t l ooki n g
at
s he
p re
I n th e
.
i
D
l
h
i
n
f
h
i
n
h
s
d
s
s
e
a
n
s
a
h
e
w
as
o
ld
a
r
e
e
s
,
g
y,
g
gg
ha n d , i n v ol u n tari l y c ru s h ed i t ; th e S hel l b r ok e , an d i ts c on ten ts
j eal ou
agon y of
s
b es pa ttere d hi s
s ei z e d
a
n
s
l
d
g
ri v a l s
it
t d ay D es gl an d s
i n g p l as ter u p on hi s
-
th e
siz e
a n oth er
l
a
er
s
t
p
ev e ry
s ev erel y
of
du
a
du
ri v a l was
a pp ear e d
r i gh t c
th e p l as ter
el
l i ttl e
.
S i r, I
:
wi th
heek
n d ed
wou
.
hi s
W h en
hi s
l
u
n
o
p
r i v al
as
.
whi c h h e
r e c ov er e d ,
a ga i n , a n d agai n
f or fiv e
D es gl an d s p l as ter gr ew l es s
ki l ed
el
’
ven
i
g
o f b l ac k
ta ke i t
T he
l a rge p i ec e
s ti c k
I n th e d u el wh i c h f oll o wed ,
ri v al
a n d s o on
hi s han d , D es
a
D e s gl an d s d r e w b l ood
s m all er
r ai s e
S eei n g h i m
.
whi s p ere d
an d
n ex
D e s gl an d s
f ac e
’
an d
or s i x
l es s
th ey ha d
m ad e hi s
ti m es
u n ti l
r ed u c e d
.
A fter
at l as t
hi s
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
you were to p rove the warmth of your room by holding
your hand on the thermometer and so make it rise
I n f act the ke nel of the matter is this : whereas
civic honour aims at peaceable intercourse and con
sists in the O pinion of other people that we des erve
fu l l c onfiden c e because we pay unconditional respec t
to t heir rights ; kn ightly honour on the other hand
lays down that we a r e to be fea r ed as being deter
mined a t all costs to maintain our own
A s not much reliance can be placed upon human
integ i ty the principle that it is more essential to
arouse fear than to invite confidence wou l d n ot
perhaps be a f alse one i f we were livi n g in a state of
nature where every man would have to protect him
sel f a n d directly maintain his own rights But i n
civilised li fe where the S tate undertakes the prote o
tion of our person and prop erty the principle is no
longer ap pl icable : it stands like the castles and
w atch towers of the age when might was right a
useless and forlorn obj ect amidst well tilled fields and
f re q uented roads or even rail ways
A ccordi n gly the a pplication o f knightly honour
which stil l r ecogn ises this pri n ciple is confined to
those small cases of personal assault which meet with
but slight pu n ishment at the han ds of the law or
—
o
n
n
even none at all f r de m i n i m i s o
mere trivial
wrongs committed s om e times only in j est The con
sequence of this limited application of the pri n ipl e is
that it has f orced itsel f into an ex aggerated respect
a respect utterly alie n to
f o the v alue of the perso n
—
f
the nature constit u tion or destiny o man which it
h as elevated into a species of sanctity and as it con
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c
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HO N
O
UR
.
siders that the S tate has imposed a very insu fficient
pe n alty on the com m ission of suc h trivial i nj uries it
takes upon itsel f to punish them by attacking the
aggressor in lif e or limb The whole thing mani festly
rests upon an excessive degree o f arrogant pride
which completely f orgetting what man really is
claims that he shall be absolutely free f rom all attack
or even censure T hose who determine to carry ou t
this principle by main force and announce as their
rule of action whoeve i n u lts o s t i ke m e s ha l l d i e !
1
ought f or their pains to be banished the country
A S a palliative to this rash arrogance people are
in the habit of giving way on everything I f two
intrepid persons meet and neither will give way the
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r
s
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1
K n i ghtl y hon ou
r
,
i s th e c hi l d
p ri d e an d f ol l y, an d i t i s n eed,
of th e h u m an rac e
I t i s a v ery
of
p ri d e , whi c h i s th e h eri tage
r em arkab l e f ac t th a t thi s ex tr e m e f orm
n ot
ex c l u s i v el y a m on gs t
th e
th e d e ep es t h u m i li ty
.
r el i gi on ,
b u t,
n ob l e m an
an d
rathe r,
l earn ed to
i
h
a
l
u
n
s
b
e
p
th e d u
el
i t,
or
th e
p ri d e s hou l d b e f ou n d
reli gi on whi c h teac h es
who
r ec ogn i s ed
no
h u m an
ju
d ge,
hi s p ers on a s s ac red a n d i n v i ol abl e , a n d
an y b l o w o r i n s u l ti n g word , a s a n offe n c e
T h e p ri n c i p l e of k n i ghtl y h on ou r a n d of
a t fi rs t c on fi n e d to th e n ob l e s , a n d , l a te r on , al s o to
b y d ea th
wa s
fi c ers i n the
of
s hi p
re gard
n
o
p
of
S ti l l , thi s pr i d e m u s t n ot b e p u t d own to
to th e f e u dal s ys tem , whi c h m a d e ev ery
t
i
t
s
o
v
ere
e
p
y
gn
a
an y atta c k u
a dhe r e n ts of
.
.
i
h
e
n
j
o
i
n
a
k
n
d
o
f
ff
n
o
a
n
d
w
o
o
r el a ti on
,
,
y
y g
h
v
h
r
c
l
as
s
s
t
h
o
u
t
e
w
e
r
e
n
e
e
e
er i n c orp orate d
,
pp
g
y
a rm
wi th th e
u
wi th them , were
an x
-
i ou
to b e b ehi n d th em
s n ot
.
-
I t i s tru
e
tha t
wer e th e p rodu c t of the ol d ord eal s ; b u t the l atter ar e n ot
th e f ou n d ati on , b u t rath er th e c on s e qu en c e a n d a p p l i c ati on of
du
el s
th e p ri n c i pl e
ju
dge
of
app e al ed
hon ou
Hi n d oos
them
,
th e m an who
to th e d i v i n e
l i ar to C hri s ten d om
th e
r
.
O rd eal s , however ,
th ey m ay b e f ou
es p e c i al l y of an c i en t
ev en n o
w
,
rec ogn i s e d
nd
ti m es
no
hu m an
ar e n ot
p eou
i n great f orc e am on g
; an d the re are trac es of
T
HE W I S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
s lightest di fference may cause a shower of abuse then
fis ti c u ffs and finally a f atal blow : so that it would
really be a more decorous proceeding to omit the
intermediate steps and appeal to arms a t once A n
appeal to arms has its own S pecial formalities ; a n d
t hese have developed into a rigid and precise system
of laws and regulations
together f orming the most
sol emn f arce there is —a regular temple of honour
dedicated to f olly ! For i f two intrepid persons dis
pute over some triv i al matter (more important affairs
are dealt with by law) one of t hem the cleverer of the
two wi l l of course yield ;an d they will agree to di ffer
That t his is so is proved by the f act that common
—
r rather the numero u s cla s e s o f the com
eople
o
p
mu n ity who do not acknowledge the principle of
knightly honour let any dispute run its natural
course A mongst these class es homicide is a hu n dred
f old rarer than among those — a n d they amount per
haps in all to hardly one in a thousan d —who pay
hom age to the princi ple : and even blows are of no
very f requent occurrence
Then it has b een said that the manners an d ton e of
good society are ultimately based upon this pri n ciple
of honour which w ith its system of duels is m ade out
to be a bulwark against the assaults of savage y and
rudeness But A thens Corinth and R ome could
a ssuredly boast of good
na
excellent
society
and
y
manne s an d tone of a high order without an y sup
port from the bogey of k n ightly honour I t is true
that women did not occu py that promi n ent place in
an cien t society w hich th ey hold n ow w h en conversa
ti on has taken on a f i volous an d tri fl ing charact er to
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r
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r
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r
,
T HE
i n the s haft of
en v
WI S D O M
t
h
at
y
even
OF LI
FE
f
m en
o
.
wi s dom
and
wor th
i
n the
and
nowhere
f
world except perhaps in a f ew religious sects is an
insult or a blow taken with e q uanimity A n d yet a
natural view of either would in no case demand any
thi n g more than a re qu i tal proportionate to the offence
and would never go the length of assigning de th as
the proper penalty f o anyone who a ccuses anot h er of
lyi n g or s tupidity or cowardice The old Germ an
theory of blood f o a blow is a revolting superstition
A n d i n any case the return
of the age of chivalry
or requital of an insult is dictated by anger and not
by any such obligation of honour a n d duty as the a d
The fact is
v oc ates of chivalry seek to attach to it
that the greater the truth the greater the slander ;
a n d it is clear that the slightest hint of some real
delinqu ency will give much greater offence than a
most terrible accusation which is perf ectly baseless :
so that a m an who is quite sure that he ha s done
nothing to deserve a reproach may treat it with con
tempt and will be saf e in doing so The theory of
honour demands that he shal l S how a suscep tibility
w h ich he does not possess an d take bloody vengeance
A man m ust hi m
f or insults which h e can n ot f e l
s el f h ave but a poor O pinion of his own worth who
hastens to preve n t the utterance of an unf avourable
O pinion by giving hi s enemy a blac k eye
True appreciation of his own value will mak e a man
really indi fferent to insult but i f he cannot h elp 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
c o u ld only get rid of thi s su perstition about hono u r
n d i ts wou
i
f
,
nd
a
p
ai n u
l
on e ;
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r
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e
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.
HO N O UR
.
the idea I m ean that it disappears when you are i n
s u l te d and can be restored by returning the insult ;
i f we could o n ly stop peo ple f rom t hinking that wron g
brutality and insolence can be legalised by expressi n g
readiness to give satisf action that is to fight in de
f ence of it we S h ould all soon come to the general
O pinion t h at insult and depreciation are like a battle in
which the loser wins ;and that as Vince n zo M onti says
abuse resembles a church procession because it always
returns to the point f rom which it set out I f we
could only get p eo ple to look upon i n sult in this light
we should no lon ger have to say som ething rude in
order to prove that we are in the right N ow u n
f ortunately i f we wan t to take a seri ous v iew of any
question we have first of all to consider whether it
will not give o ff ence in some way or other to the
dullard who generally shows alarm and resentment at
the merest S i gn of intelligence : and it may easily
happen that the head which contains the i ntelligent
view has to be pitted against the noddle which is
empty of everything but narrowness and stupidity
I f all t his were done away wi th intellectual s u peri o
rity could take the leadi n g p l ace i n soci ety w h ich is
its due — a place now occupied though people do not
like to conf ess it by excellence of physique mere
fightin g pluck in f act : and the natural effect of such
a c hange wou ld be that the best kind of people would
have one rea son the l es s f or withdrawing f rom society
T his would p ave the way f or the introduction of real
courtesy and genu nely good society such as u n
doubtedly existed in A thens Corinth and R ome
I f anyone wants to see a good example of what
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i
,
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.
WI S D O M
T HE
I
mean
B a n qu
,
OF LI
FE
.
should like him to read
I
!
:
enophon s
’
et
.
last argument in d ef ence of k n ightly honour
no doubt is that but f or its existence the world
aw ful thought I— would be a regular bear garden To
which I may briefly re pl y that nine h u ndred and
ninety nine people out o f a thousand who do not re
cogn ise the code have o f ten giv en and received a blow
without any fatal conse quences : whereas amongst the
adherents of the code a blo w usually means death to
one of the parties But let me examine this argument
more closely
I have o f ten tried to find some tenable or at any
—
rate plausible basis other than a merely conventional
—
one some positive reasons t hat is to say f or the
rooted conviction which a portion of man kind enter
tains that a blow is a very dread f ul thing but I have
looked for it in vain either in the animal or in the
ration al side of human nature A blow is and always
will be a trivial physical i njury which one man can
do to another ; provi n g thereby n othing more than
his superiority in strength or skill or that his enemy
was off hi s guard A n alysis will carry us no f urther
The same knight who regards a blow from the human
han d as the greatest of evils i f h e gets a ten tim es
harder blow f rom his horse will give you the assur ance
as he limps away in suppressed pain that it is a
matter o f no conseq ence whatever S o I have come
to think that it is the human hand which i s at the
bottom of the mischief A n d yet i n a battle th e
kn ight may get cuts and thrusts f rom the same h an d
and sti ll assure you that hi s wounds are n ot worth
T he
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T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
imaginary misf ortun es which bring real ones in their
trai n : and yet this is the precise e ff ect of the super
s ti ti on w hich thus prove s itsel f at once stupid and
malign
I t does not seem to me wise of governments and
legislative bodies to promote any such f olly by
attempting to do away with floggi ng as a punishme n t
in civil or military li f e Their idea is that they are
acti n g in the interests of humanity ; but in point of
fact they are doi n g j ust the op p osite ; f or the abolition
of flogging will serve only to stre n gthen this i n human
and abominable superstitio n to which so many sacri
fic es have already been m ade
For all o ffences except
the worst a beati n g is the obvious and theref ore the
natural penalty ; and a man who will not listen to
reason will yield to blows I t seems to me right and
proper to administer corporal pu n ishment to the man
who possesses not hing and theref ore can not be fine d
or cannot be put in prison because his master s interests
would su ff r by the l oss of his services There are
really no arguments against it only mere talk about
the d i g i ty of m a n — tal k whic h proceeds not f rom
any clear notions on the subj ect but from the per
That it
n i c i ou s superstition I h ave been describi n g
is a superstition which lies at the bottom of the whole
business is p roved by an almost laughable example
N ot long ago in the m ilitary discipli n e of man y
countries the cat was replaced by the stick I n either
case the obj ect was to produce p hysical pain but the
latter method involved no disgrace and was not
derogatory to hono r
By promoting this superstition the S tate is playing
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;
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u
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HO
UR
N O
.
into the hands of th e principle of k nightly honour
and theref ore of the duel while at the same time it
is trying or at a n y rate it pretends that it is trying
to abolis h th e duel by l egislative enactment A s a
natural consequence we find that this fragme n t of the
theory that m i ght i s fi ght which has come down to
us from the most savage days of the M idd l e A ge has
still in this ni n eteenth century a good d eal of li f e le f t
in i t— more shame to us ! I t is high time f or the
principle to be driven out bag and baggage N o w a
days no one is al lowed to set dogs or cocks to fight
—
each other at any rate in Englan d it is a penal
o ffence but men are plunged into deadly stri f e
against their will by the operation of this ridiculo u s
superstitious a n d absurd principle which imposes
upon us the obligation as its narro w minded sup
porters and advocates declare of fighting with one
another like gladiators f or any little trifle Let me
recommend our purists to adopt the expression ba i ti n g
i n stead of du c t which probably comes to us not f ro m
the Latin du el lu m but f rom the S panis h du el o
mean ing su ffering nuisance annoyance
I n any case we may well l a u gh at the pedantic
excess to which this foolish system ha s been carried
I t is really revolting that this principle with its absurd
code can form a power within the S tate — i m p er i a m
—
m
i i p er i o a p ower too easily put in m otion which
recogn isi n g no right but might tyran nises over the
classes which come withi n its ran ge by keepi n g u p a
sort of i n quisition bef ore whi ch any one may be haled
on the most flimsy pretext and ther e and then b e
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n
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1
R i tterhetz e
.
,
T HE
'
WI S D O M
or L I
FE
.
tried on an issue of lif e and death between himsel f and
his opponent This i s the lurking place f rom which
every rascal i f he only belongs to the cl asses in ques
tion may men ace and even exterminate th e noblest and
best of men who as such must of course be an obj ect
of hatred to him
O u r system o f j ustice and police
protection ha s made it impossible in these days for
any scoundrel i n the street to attack u s with— Y o
li fe ! and common sens e ought now to
m o ey o you
be able to prevent rogues disturbing the peaceable
intercourse of society by comi n g at us with — Y ou
hon ou r or you r li fe
A n end should be put to the
burden which w ighs upon the higher classes— the
burden I mean of having to be ready every moment
to expose li f e and limb to the mercy of anyone who
takes i t i n to his rascally head to be coarse rude
f oolish or malicious
I t is perf ectly atrocious that a
pair of silly passionate boys should be wounded
maimed or even killed si m ply because they have had
a f ew words
The stre n gth of this tyrannical power wi thin the
S tate and th e f orce of the superstition may be
measured by t he f act that peo ple who are prevented
from restoring their knightly honour by the superior
or i n f erior rank of their aggressor or anything else
that puts the persons on a di ffe rent level o f ten come
to a tragic comic end by committing suicide in sheer
despair Y ou may generally know a thing to be
f alse and ridiculous by finding that i f it is carried to
its logical conclusion it results in a contradiction ;
For
an d here too we have a very glaring absurdity
an ofli c er is f orbidden to tak e part i n a duel ; but i f
.
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u r
n
r
r
r
e
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T HE
WI S D O M
O F LI
FE
.
me to try first of all whether he c an shoot or fence
better than I ; as i f he c an he will not onl y have
wronged me but have taken my li f e into the bargain
I t is R ousseau s O pinion that the proper way to
avenge an i n sult is not to fight a du el with your
aggr essor but to assassinate him an opinion h o wever
which he is cautious enough only to barely i n dicate in a
mysterious note to one of the books of his E m i le
T his shows the philosop h er so completely under the
influence of the medi aeval super tition of knightly
honour that he considers it justifiable to murder a
man who accuses you of lying : whilst he must have
known that every man and himsel f especially has
deserved to have the lie given him times without
number
The prejudice which justifies the killing of your
adversary so long as it is done in an open contest and
with equal weapons obviously looks upon might as
really ri ght and a duel as the i n ter f ere n ce o f God
The I talian who in a fit of rage f alls upon his
aggressor wherever he finds him and despatches him
without any ceremony acts at an y rate consistently
and naturally he may be cleverer but he is n ot
worse than the duellist I f you say I a m j ustified
in killing my adversary in a d u el because he is at the
moment doi n g his best to kill me I can reply that i t
is your chal l en ge which has placed him under the
necessity of d ef e n di n g hims l f an d that by mut u ally
putting it on the grou n d of s el f de fence the combat
ants are seeki n g a plausibl e pretext f or committi n g
murd er I should rather justi fy the de ed by the l egal
maxim Volenti n on fit i nj i ; because the parties
of
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,
’
,
-
,
,
,
,
.
s
,
,
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,
,
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,
,
,
,
,
,
,
:
,
.
,
,
,
e
-
,
.
u r a
HO N O UR
.
mutually agree to set their li f e upon the issue This
argument may however be rebutted by showi n g that
the injured party is not inj ured v ol en because it is
this tyran nical principle of knightly honour with i ts
absurd code which forcibly drags one at least of the
combatants bef ore a bl oody in quisition
.
,
,
s
,
,
.
have been rather prolix on the subj ect of k n i ghtly
ho n our but I had good reasons f or being so because
th e A ugean stable of moral and intellectual enormity
i n t his world can be cleaned out only with the
besom of philosophy There are two things w hich
mor e than all else serve to make the social arrange
ments of modern lif e compare unf avourably with
those of anti q uity by giving our age a gloomy dark
and sinister aspect f rom wh i ch an tiquity f resh
natural a n d as it were in the morn ing of li f e is com
l
t
mean
modern
honour
and
moder
n
ely f ree ; I
e
p
—
—
disease p n obi le fr a tr u m
which have combined
to poison all the relations of li f e wh ether public or
private T he second of this noble pair extends its
influen c e much f arther than at first appears to be the
case as being not merely a physical but also a moral
disease From the time that poisoned arrows have
been fou n d in Cupid s quiver an estran ging hostile
nay devilish element has entered into the relatio n s of
men and women like a sinister thread of fear and
mistrust in the warp and woo f of their i n tercourse ;
i n dir ectly shaking the foundations of hu m an f ellow
ship and so more or less aff ecting the whole tenor of
existence B u t it would be beside my present purpose
to pursue the subject f urther
I
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
ar
,
,
.
,
,
.
’
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
influen ce an alogous to this though working on
other lines is exerted by the principle of knightly
—
honour that solemn farce u nknown to the ancient
world which makes modern society sti ff gloomy and
timid f orci n g us to keep the strictest watch on every
word that falls N or is this all T he principl e is a
uni versal Minotaur ; and the goodly compan y of the
sons of noble houses which it d emands in yearly
tribute comes not f rom one country alone as of old
but f rom every l and i n Europe I t is high time to
mak e a regular attack upon this f oolish system ; and
this 1 8 what I am trying to do n o w Would that
these two monsters of the modern world might di s
appear bef ore the end of the century
Let us hope that medicine may be able to fin d som e
means of preventi n g the one and that by cl eari n g
our ideas philosophy may put an end to the other ;
f or it is only by clearing our ideas t hat the evil c an
be eradicated Governments have tried to do s o by
legislation and f ailed
S till i f they are really concerned to suppress the
duellin g system ; and i f the small success that has
atten ded their e ff rts is really due only to their i n
ability to cope with the evil I do not mind proposing
a l a w the success of which I am prepared to guaran tee
I t will involve no sanguinary measures and can be
put into operation without recourse either to the
scaffold or the gallows or to imprisonment for lif e
I t is a smal l homoeopathic pilule with no serious
af ter efl ec ts I f any man send or acc ept a challen ge
let the corporal take hi m be fore the guard house,a n d
there give him in broad daylight twelve strokes with
A
n
,
,
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,
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o
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,
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,
,
,
.
,
,
T HE
WI S D O M
O F LI
allowed to p ass u n heeded
civic and of k n ightly honour
It
.
S ec ti
on
FE
.
is a combi n ation
of
.
—
5 Fa ni e
.
.
U n der the headi n g of pl ac e in the estimation of the
world we have p u t Fa m e and this we must now
proceed to consider
Fame and honour are twins ; and twins too lik e
Castor and P ollux of vrhom the one was mortal and
the other was not Fame i s the undyi n g brother of
e phemeral ho n our I sp eak of co u rse of the highest
k ind of fame t hat is of f ame i n the true and genuine
sense of the word ; f or to be sure there are man y
sorts of f ame some of which last but a day Hon our
is concern ed merely with such q u al ities as every
one m ay be ex pected to show under similar circum
stances ; f ame on ly of those which cannot be required
Ho n our is of qualities which everyone
of any m an
has a ri gh t to a ttribute to himsel f ; f ame o n ly of
those which should be le ft to others to attribu te
Whilst our honour extends as f a r as people hav e
knowledge of us ; f ame runs in advance and makes
us known wherever it finds its way Every one
can make a claim to honour ; v ery f ew to fame as
bei n g attainable only in virtue of extraordi n ary
achievements
These achievemen ts m ay b e of two kinds either
a c ti on s or wo ks ; a n d so to fame there are two pat hs
open O n the path of actio n s a great h eart is the
chie f recom m endation ;on that of works a great head
Each of the two paths has its own pecu l iar advan tages
.
,
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r
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FA ME
the chi ef di fference betwee n
them is th at action are fleeti n g whil e works remai n
T he i n fluence of an action be it never so n oble can
last but a short tim e ; but a work of g en ius is a livi n g
i n flu en ce be n eficial and ennobli n g throughout the
ages A l l that can r emai n of actions is a m emory
—
n
d
e
disfigur d by time a
an d that becomes weak a
matterof i n diff ere n ce to us until at last it is e ti n
u i s h ed altogether ; u n les s i n deed history takes it up
g
and presents it f ossilized to posterity Works are
immortal i n thems elv es and o n ce co m mitt ed to writ
ing may l i ve for ever O f A lexander the Great we
have but the name and the record but P lato and
A ristotle Homer and Horace are alive and as directly
at work to day as they were in their own li f e time
The Veda a n d their Up a n i ha ds are still with U S
but of all cont emporaneous actio n s n ot a trace has
come down to u s
an
d d etrime n ts ;
.
an d
s
,
.
,
,
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,
.
x
,
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:
,
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-
-
.
s,
s
‘
,
1
.
1
A
c c ord i n gl y
f as hi on ab l e
c om p l i m e n t,
p oor
a
thou gh
s om eti m es
to try to p ay h on ou r to a work b y c alli n g i t
work i s s om ethi n g es s en ti all y h i gher i n i ts n a tu
on e ,
ac ti on
.
A
ti on i s
n ac
it is
F or
a
a l ways s om ethi n g
b a s ed
on
m oti v e,
a
an
re
.
th er ef or e ,
an d ,
f ragm en tary a n d fl e eti n g—a p art, i n f ac t, of th at Wi ll whi c h i s
th e u n i v e rs al an d o ri gi n al el e m en t i n th e c on s ti tu ti on of th e
world
ac
I
B
.
ter ,
as
n tel l ec t,
of
t
gr ea t
b ei n g of u
u
T he fa m e
r al l y s tarts
an d
an d
b eau ti f u l work has
n i v e rs al
wh i c h r i s es , l i ke
th e world
h eard
a
of
fi c an c e
,
r
m
a
n
n
h
a
e
e
t
c
r
p
an d s ru n
p
g
p erf u m e, ab ov e th e fa u l ts
f rom the
an d
f ol l i es
.
gr eat ac ti on has th i s a d van tage , that i t gen e
wi th a l ou d ex p l os i on ; s o l ou d , i n d e ed , as to b e
of a
all ov er
grad u al
Wi ll
a
s i gn i
a
Eu
rop e
wher ea s th e fa m e
of a
r
g eat
work i s
i n i ts b egi n n i n gs the n oi s e i t m ak e s i s a t
on gr owi n g greater , u n ti l a t l a s t, a f ter
b u t i t go es
i
r
h
a
s
t
e
e ars
,
p
p
y
a tta i n s
w
slo
fi rs t s l i ght,
a
i ts f u l l f orc e ; b u t then i t
hu
n d re d
rem ai n s ,
WI S D O M
T HE
O F L I
FE
.
noth er disadvan tage u nder which actions labour is
that they depend u p on chance for the possibility of
comi ng into existence ; and hence the f ame they wi n
does not fl ow entirely f rom their intrinsic value but
also f rom the circumstances w hich happened to lend
them importance and lustre A gain the fame of
actions i f as in war they are purely personal depends
upon the testimony of f ewer witnesses ; and these are
not always present and even i f prese n t are not always
j ust or unbiassed obs ervers This disadvantage how
ever is counterbalanced by the fact that actions have
the advantage of being of a practical character an d
there f ore within the range of general human i n tel l i
gence ; so that o n ce the facts have been correctly re
ported j ustice is immediatel y done unless indeed the
motive underlying the ac tion is not at first properl y
understood or appreciated N o action c an be really
understood apart f rom the motive which prompted it
I t is j ust the contrary with works
Their inception
does not depend upon chance but wholly and entirely
upon their author ; a n d whatever they are in an d for
themselves that they remain as long as they live
Further there is a di fficulty i n pro perly judging them
which becomes all the harde the hi gher their character ;
o f ten there are no pers ons competent to understand
the work and o ften no unbiassed or hon est critics
T heir f ame however does not depend upon on e ju dge
A
’
,
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,
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.
.
,
,
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,
r,
.
,
,
b ec au
se
th e works
oth er c as e ,
,
f or thou
rem a i n ,
wh en th e fi rs t
th e page s
of
hi s tory
.
B u t i n th e
years
th e n oi s e i t m ake s
.
pl os i on i s ov er,
h eard b y f ewer a n d f e wer p ers on s ;
ha v i n g on l y a s had owy ex i s ten c e i n
ex
grows l e s s an d l e s s , an d i s
u n ti l i t en d s b y th e ac ti on
s a n d s of
T HE
WI S DO M
O F L I FE
.
f avour
the bad : it is an art well u n d erstood in our
day too man if esting its el f both then and now in a n
,
,
,
en v i ou s c on sp i r a c y o
f
si
,
l en c e
.
a general rule the longer a man s f ame is li k ely
to last the l ater it will be in comi n g f o all excellent
products require time f or their development The
f ame which lasts to posterity is like an oak of very
slow growth and that which endures but a little
while like plants which sprin g up in a y ear and then
die ; w hilst f alse f ame is like a fungus shooting u p in
a night and peri hing as soon
A n d why
For this reason ; the more a man
belongs to posterity in other words to human ity in
general the more of an alien he is to his con tem
o ari es ; si n ce his work is not meant f or them as
p
such but only fo them in so fa r as th ey f orm part of
mankind at large there i n on e of that familiar local
colour about hi s p roductions which wo u ld appeal to
them ;and so what he does f ails of recognition becau se
it is stran ge P eople are more likely to appreciate
the man who serves the circumstances o f his own brie f
hou r or the temper of the moment — b elon gi n g to it
and living and dyi n g with it
T he genera l history of art and literature shows that
the high est achiev emen ts of the human mi nd are as a
r le not f avourably received at first ; but remain in
obscurity u n til they wi n noti ce f rom intelligence of a
higher order by whose i n flue n ce they are brought
into a positio n which they then maintain in virtue of
the authority thus given them
I f the reason of this should be asked it will be
f ound that ultimately a m an c a n really understa n d
A
’
s
,
r
,
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,
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,
s
.
,
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,
r
r
,
.
s
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
u
,
,
,
.
,
,
F A ME
.
appreciate those things o n ly w hich are of like
nature with hims el f The du ll person will lik e what
is dull and the common p erson what is common ; a
m an whose ideas are mixed will be attracted by con
f usion of thought ; and folly will appeal to him who
has no brains at all ; but best of all a man will like
his own work s as being of a character thoroughly a t
one with hims el f T his is a truth as old as Epi c ha r
mus of f abulous memory
an d
.
,
,
,
.
ea vu
‘
382 50 7 5la c
bv
aa r
'
K a koi s
t
1/
01
K a i dvddvew
-
i
'
i
arf o o
t
n ec v k
é va v
kw r ov elyev
’
t
'
8 ci t
-
w
Ka
dv fl
’
r
i
ov rw
‘
i
a r r m s, K a
i ydp 6
K
( al m/ c r a b, K a
p
hw rdv [ go n
-
’
i 80 K e
.
no w v
i
fi
fi
3
i
o s
.
]
u
hé ygw
‘
,
0
?
’
fi g 8 i i
i
.
The sen se of this passage— f or it should not be lost
is that we should not be surprised i f people are pleased
with themselves an d f ancy that they are in good case ;
f o to a dog the best t hing in th e world is a dog ; to
an ox an ox to an ass an ass an d to a s ow a sow
The stron gest arm is unavaili n g to give impetus to
a f eather weight f or ins tead of speedi n g on its way
and hitti ng its mark with e ffect it will soon f all to the
ground having e xpend ed what little energy was given
to it an d possessi n g no mass of its own to be the
vehicle of momentum S o it i s with great and noble
thou ghts n ay with the very masterpieces of ge n ius
when there are no n e but little weak and perverse
—
minds to appreciate them a f act which has been
de plored by a chorus of the wise in all ages Jesus
th
son of S irach f o instance declar es t hat He tha t
,
r
,
,
,
.
-
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
e
,
r
,
,
WI S D O M
T HE
tell eth
ta l e to
a
fool
a
FE
OF LI
e
a
k
e
t
h
p
s
.
to
i
on e
n
s lu
m ber
:
when he ha th tol d hi s ta le he wi ll s a y Wha t i s the
1
A n d Hamlet s ays A kn a vi s h sp eec h s l eep s
m a tter ?
2
i n a fool s ea r
A n d Goethe is of the same opini on
,
,
,
’
.
,
t hat a dull ear mocks at the wisest word
,
D as gl u c kli c hs te Wort es wi r d verhb hn t,
Wen n der B orer ei n S c hi ef ohr i s t
‘
‘
and again that we should not be discouraged i f people
are stupid for you can m ake no rings i f you thro w
your s tone into a mars h
,
,
.
.
D u wi rkes t n i c ht, A lles blei bt s o s tu mp f
S c i gu ter Di n ge
D er S tei n i n S u mpf
M ac ht kei n e R i ngs
L ichtenberg
i n to
asks : When
.
hea d
a
c oll i s i on , a n d on e s ou n d s
book ?
A
nd
a nd
m i rr or ; i f a n as s l ooks i
W
a os tl e to l ook ou t
e
p
book
c om e
holl ow i s i t a lwa ys the
,
in another place : Wor ks
n,
a
a
l i ke thi s
are as
c a n n ot ex p ec t a n
o
u
y
should do well to rem emb er
old Gellert s fine and touching lamen t that the best
gi f ts of a ll find the f ewest ad m irers an d that most
m en mistake the bad f or the good — a da i l v evil that
nothi n g can prevent like a p l ague which no remedy
can cure There is but on e thing to be done though
—
—
f
the oolish must become wise and
ho w di fficult
that they can n ever be The value of li f e they never
know ; they s ee with the outer eye but never with
.
’
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
1
2
Ec c l es i as ti c u
A ct iv
.
,
80
.
s, x x u
2
.
.
,
8
.
T HE
WI S D O M
OF LI
FE
.
lived at all ; f rom their desire to appear im portant
themselves people gladly ignore our very existence
,
Hti tte i c h gez a u
d ert z u
werd en ,
B i s m a n m i r s L eben gegonn t,
I c h ware n oc h n i c ht a u f E rden ,
’
‘
'
l Vi e i h/r begreif en kenn t,
Wen n i hr s eht, wi e s i c s i c h geberden ,
Di e, u m etwas z u s c hei n en ,
‘
'
M i c h gern e m oc hten
’
vern ei nen
.
Honour on the contrary generally meets with fair
,
,
appreciation and is not ex posed to the onslaught of
envy ; nay every man is credited with the possession
of it until the contrary is prove d
But fame has to
be won in despite of envy and the tribunal which
awar ds the laurel is composed of j udges biassed
against the applicant f rom the very firs t Honour is
something which w
e are able and r ady to share with
everyone f ame suffers encroachment a n d is rendered
more unattainable in proportion as more people come
by it Fur ther the di fficulty of winni n g f ame by any
given work stands in inverse ratio to the number of
people who are likely to re ad i t ; and hence it is
so much harder to become famous as the author of a
learned work than as a writer who aspires only to
amuse I t is hardes t of all in the case of phi los o
i
h
al works because the resu l t at which they aim is
c
p
rather vague and at the same tim e useless f rom a
material point of view ; they appeal chiefly to readers
who are working on the same lines themselves
I t is clear then f rom what I have said as to the
di fficul ty of wi n ni n g f ame that those who labour not
out of love f or their subj ect n o f rom pleasure i n
,
,
.
,
.
e
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
r
FA M E
.
pursu i ng it but u n der the stimulus of ambition rarely
or never leav e mankind a legacy of imm ortal works
The man who seeks to do what is good and genuine
must avoid what is bad and be ready to def y the
opinion s of the mob nay even to despise it and its
misleaders Hence the truth of the remark (es pec i
ally insisted upon byO s ori u s d e Glori a )tha t f ame shuns
t hose who seek it and seeks those who shun it ; f or
the one adapt themsel ves to the taste of their c on
temporaries and the others work in defiance of it
But di fficult though it be to acquire f ame it is an
easy thing to keep it when once acquired Here
again f ame is i n dir ct opposition to honour with
which everyone is presumably to be accredited
Honour has not to be won ; it must only not be lost
But t here lies the di fficulty ! For by a single u n
worthy action it is gone irretrievably But fame in
the proper sense of the word can never disa ppear ;
f or the action or work by which it was acquired c a n
never be u n done ; and f ame attaches to its aut hor
even though he does nothing to deserve it an ew The
f ame whic h van ishes or 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 of a
m an s work ; not to speak of the kind of f ame whic h
Hegel enj oyed and which Lichten berg describes a s
tr u m p eted for th by a c li qu e of a dm i r i n g u n d er
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
e
,
,
.
.
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
-
,
’
,
ra
d
u
g
su
u
ch a
o
n
p
—
the
a tes
r es ou n di n g ec ho o
f
em p ty
hea d s
fa m e as wi ll m a ke p os ter i ty s m i l e when
a
r otes qu e a r c hi
g
tec tu
f
re o
wor ds
,
a
i t li ghts
fi
n e n es t
i t wi ll kn oc k a t the
8 l on g a go fl own
wi th the d
door of thi s d ec a yed s tr u c tu r e of c on v en ti on a l i ti es
x
T HE
an d
thou
nd
fi
it
u
WI S D O M
tter l y
t
t
r e to i
h
h
e
g
n vi te
em
OF LI
t
p y
-
FE
n ot
.
even
a
tr a c e
f
o
the p a s s er by
-
.
The truth is that f ame means nothing b u t what a
man is in comparison with others I t is ess entially
relative in character and theref ore only indirectly
valuable ; f or it van sh es the mo ment other people
become what the f amous man is A bsolute value c a n
be predicated only of what a man possesses under any
and all circumstances — h ere what a man is directly
and in himsel f I t is the pm s es s i on of a g eat heart or a
great head and not the mere f ame of it which i s
worth having and conducive to happiness N ot
f ame but that which deserves to be f amous is what
a man should hold i n esteem This is as it were the
true underlying substance and fame is o n ly an acci
dent affecting its su bj ect chie fl y as a kind of external
symptom which serves to confirm his o wn opinion of
himsel f Light is not visible unless it meets with
something to reflect it ; and talent is su re of itsel f
only whe n its f ame is noised abroad But fame is not
a certain symptom of merit ; because you can have
the one without the oth er or as L essi n g nicely puts
it S om e p eop le obta i n fa m e a n d others d es er ve i t
I t would be a miserable existence which shoul d
make its value or want of value de p end u pon wh a t
other people think ; but such would be the lif e of a
hero or a genius i f its worth con isted in f am e t hat
is in the applause of the world Every m an lives
and exists on his own accoun t and there f ore mai n ly
i n a n d f or himsel f ; an d w h a t he is an d the whole
manner of his bein g co n cern himsel f more than an y
one els e so i f he is n o t worth much in this respect
.
i
.
.
,
r
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
.
,
s
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
T HE
WI S D O M
FE
OF LI
.
an u nreasonable value is set upon other people s
opinion and one quite dispropor tionate to its real
worth Hobbes has some strong r emarks on this s u b
ec t ; and no doubt he is quite ri ght
M
e
n
t
a
l
l
e
eas
u
/r
j
p
he writes a nd ec s tasy of a ny ki n d ari s e when on c om
’
,
.
.
,
,
,
rs elv es wi th
i
o
u
p
g
tha t we m ay thi nk well
ar n
other s ,
we
,
c om e
to the
i
l
c on c u s on
we can easily
understand the great value which is always attached
to f ame as worth any sacrifices i f there is the slightest
hope of attai n i n g it
f
o
ou
l
rs e v es
So
.
,
.
F a m e i s the sp u r tha t the c lean sp i ri t doth
T
r
i
l
e
b
h
a
t
l
as
t
i
n
m
t
o
n
o
m
i
n
d
fi
y
f
(
)
:
To
A
nd
s c orn
d eli ghts
a nd
li ve l a bori ou
s
da ys
ra i s e
1
.
again
How ha rd
i t i s to c li m b
T he hei ghts where Fa m e s p r ou d temp le s h i n es
’
We can thus und erstand how it
f
a ar
that the vainest
l
eople
in
the
world
are
a
ways
talking
about
l
a
l
i
r
e
o
p
g
wi th the mos t implicit f aith in it as a stimulus to
great actions and great works B u t there can be no
doubt that f ame is something secondary in its char
acter a mere echo or refl ec ti on —as it were a shadow
or symptom— of merit and in any ca s e what excites
admiration must be of more value th an the admiration
itself The truth is that a man is made happy not
by f ame but by that which brings him f am e by his
m erits or to speak more correctly by th e disposition
a n d capacity f rom which his merits proceed whet h er
they be moral or i n tellectual T he best side of a
is
,
.
,
,
:
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
1
M i l ton
.
L yc i da s
FA M E
.
man s nature must of n ecessity be more important f or
him than f or anyone else : the r eflection of it the
opi n ion w hich exists in the heads of others is a m atter
t hat c a n affect him o n ly in a v ery subordinate d egree
He who deserves f ame wit hout getting it poss esses by
f a the more important element of happiness whic h
should consol e him f o the loss of the other I t is not
that a man is thought to be great by m asses of i n
c ompetent and of ten i n fatu ated people but that he
really is great which should move us to envy hi s
position ; an d his happiness lies not in the f act that
posterity will hear of him but that he is the creator
of thoughts wort h y to be treasured up and studied
for hu n dreds of years
Besides i f a man has done this he possesses some
thing which cannot be wrested from him ; and unlike
f ame it is a possession depen d ent entirely upon
I f admiration were hi s chief aim ther e
h imsel f
would be n othing in him to admire This is just
what happen s in the case of f alse that is un m erited
f ame f or its recipie n t liv e s upon it without actually
possessing the solid substratum of which f ame is th e
outward and visible sign False f ame m ust of ten put
its possessor out of conceit with hims el f ; f or the
time may come when in spite of the illusion s born of
sel f love he will f eel gid dy on the heights w hich he
was never meant to climb or look upon himsel f as
spurious coin ; and in the an guish of threatened
discovery and well merited degradatio n he will read
the sentence of posterity on the f oreheads of the wise
—
li k e a man who owes his property to a f orged wil l
T he tru est fa m e the f ame that comes a f ter d eath
’
,
,
.
r
,
r
.
°
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
-
,
,
-
,
.
,
,
,
WI S D O M
T HE
OF LI
FE
.
is never heard of by its recipient ; and yet he is
called a happy man Hi s happiness lay both in the
possession of those great qualities which won hi m
f ame and in the o p portunity that was granted him
of d evelopi n g them —the leisure he had to a c t as he
pleased to dedicate himsel f to his f avourite pursuits
I t is o n ly work done f rom the heart that ever gains
the laurel
Greatness of soul or w eal th of intellect is wha t
makes a m an happy — intellect such as when stamped
on its productions will rec eive the admiration of c en
—
u
r
i
to
com
thoughts which made him happy at
es
t
a
the time a n d will i n their tu rn be a source of study
and delight to the n oblest mi n ds of the most remote
h
f
ost
rity
T
value
o
f
posthumous
ame
lies
in
e
e
p
deserving it ; and t his is its own reward Whether
works destined to f ame attain i t in the lif etime of
their author is a chance affair of no v ery g eat i m
portance For the average man has no critical pow r
of his own a n d is absolutely i n capable of appreciati n g
P eople are al ways
th e di fficulty of a great work
s wayed by autho ri ty a n d where f m e i s widespread
it mean s that ni n ety nine ou t of a hundred take it
on faith lon e I f a m an i s f amed f a and wide i n
hi s own li f e time he will i f he is wise n o t set too
much valu e upon it because it is no more than the
echo of a few voices which the chance of a day has
touched in his f avour
Woul d a musician feel fla ttered by the loud ap
i
l
f
f
w
an
audience
he
kne
that
they
were
a se
o
p
n early all deaf an d tha t to conc eal their i n firmity
th ey set to work to clap vigorously as soon as ever
.
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
r
,
e
.
,
.
a
,
-
a
r
.
-
,
,
,
,
,
.
u
,
,
,
T HE
WI S D O M
FE
OF LI
.
wint er 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 greater consolation in age than the f eeling
of having
u t the W hole f orce of one s youth into
p
works w hich still remain young
Finally let us examine a little more clos ely the
kinds of f ame which attach to various intellectual
pursuits ; f or it is wi th f ame of th s sort that my re
marks are more immediately concerned
I t hink it may be said broadly that the intellectual
supe iority it denotes consists in f ormi n g theories
that is new combinations of certain f acts These
f acts may be of very di fferent kinds ; but the b ett e r
they are known and the more they come within
everyday ex p erience the greater and w ider will be
the fame which is to be won by theorising abou t them
For instance i f the f acts in question a e n umbers or
lin es or special branches of scie n ce such as physics
zoology botany a natomy or corrupt passages in
ancient authors or undecipherable inscription s written
it may be in some unknown al phabet or obsc u re points
in history ; the kind of f ame which may be obtained
by correctly manipulating such f acts wi ll not extend
much beyon d th ose who make a study of them a
small number of persons most of whom live retired
lives and are envious of oth ers w ho become famous in
their special branch of k nowledge
But i f the f acts be suc h as a e k n own to everyone
f or example the f undamental charact eristics of the
human mind or the human heart which are shared by
a l l alike ; or the great physical agencies which are
c onstantly in o peration be f o re our eyes or the general
.
,
,
.
’
.
,
i
.
r
,
.
,
,
,
.
r
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
-
,
.
r
,
,
,
,
FA M E
.
course of natural laws the kind of f ame which is to
be won by spreading the li ght of a new and man i
f es tly tru e theory in regard to t hem is such as in time
will extend almost all over the civilised world for i f
the f acts be such as everyo n e can grasp the theory
also will be generally intelligibl e But th e extent of
the f ame will d epend upon the di fficulties overcome ;
and the more gen erally known the facts are the harder
it will be to f orm a theory that s hall be both n e w and
true : because a great man y heads will have been
occupied with them and there will be little or no possi
b i l i ty of saying a nything that has not been said b ef or e
O n the other hand f acts which are not accessibl e to
e v e rybody and can be got at only a f ter much di ffi
culty and labour nearly always admit of n ew combi
nations and theories so that i f sound u nderstan ding
and judgment are brought to bear upon them— quali
ties which do not involve very high intelle c tual power
—
a m a n may easily be so f ortunate as to light upon
s ome new theory in regard to them w hich shall be
But fame won on such paths d oes not ex
also true
tend much beyond those who possess a knowledge of
the facts in question To solve problems of this sort
requires no doubt a great deal of study and labour
i f only to get at the facts ; whilst on the path where
the greatest an d most widespread f ame is to be won
the facts may be grasped without a n y labour at all
But just in proportion as less labour is necessary more
talent or genius is required ; and betwee n such quali
ties a n d the drudgery of research no com parison is
possible in respect either of their intri n sic value or of
the es timation i n which they a e held
,
:
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
:
,
.
.
,
,
,
‘
,
.
,
,
,
r
,
WI S D O M
T HE
O F LI
FE
.
so people who feel that they possess solid i n
tell ec tu al capacity and a sound j u dgmen t and yet
cannot claim the highest mental powers should not
be a fraid of laborious study ; f o by its aid th ey may
work themselves above th e great mob of humanity
who have the f acts cons tantly be fore th ei eyes and
reach those secluded spots which are accessible to
learned toil For this is a sphere where there are
infinitely fewer rivals and a man of only moderate
capacity may so on find an opportunity of proclaimi n g
a theory that shall be both new an d true ; nay the
merit of his discov ery will partly rest u pon the di th
culty of coming at the f acts But a pplause f rom on e s
f ellow students wh o are the only perso n s wi th a
knowle dge of the subject sounds very f ai n t to the
A n d i f we f ollow up this sort of
f a off multitude
fame f ar enough we shall at last come to a point
where f acts very d i fficult to get at are in themselves
su fficient to la y a f oundation of f am e wi thout any
—
f
n
necessity fo ormi g a theory travels f o i n stanc e
in remote and little kn own countries which make a
man f amous by what he ha s seen not by what he has
though t The grea t a dvantage of t his kind of f ame
is that to relate what one has seen s much easier
than to impart one s thoughts and people are apt to
better than ideas reading
u nderstand descriptions
the one more readily than the other : for as A smus
says
A
nd
,
,
r
r
,
.
,
,
’
.
-
,
,
r
-
.
,
,
r
r
,
,
-
,
,
.
i
’
,
,
,
,
I Vhen
'
on e
He ha s
A n d yet f or
,
a
o
es
g
ta le to tel l
all that a
,
f
or th a voya gi n g
-
.
ersonal
ac
q
uaintance
p
with
ILOSOPH
INS lIBRARY [ll PH
Y
SU
NSG
H
E
NNE
’
.
H
I
R
M
U
HE A D M
J
E d it ed by
I N T R O D UC T I O N
T HE
.
.
,
.
A
.
‘
P HI L O S O P HY
HI S T O R Y O F
B y Dr
.
JE
.
.
.
ER D
M
A
NN
.
E ngl i s h T r a ns la ti on b y s e v eral E n gl i s h an d A m eri c a n S c hol ars
E d i ted b y P rofes s or I V S HO U G H, i n 3 v ol s
Vol s i an d i i , ea c h
.
.
1 53
v ol
.
.
iii
.
,
1 23
N O T I C ES
g
.
.
.
A S ec on d Ed i ti on,
I t i s m atter
wor ov e r th e w
.
.
.
rev i s ed ,
n ow rea d y
is
.
HE
O F T
h
ph h
P R ES S
.
g
g h
l ati on , i n th e d ear t s ti l l of ori i n al E n l i s or A m eri c an
i s tori c al
i l os o
ol e
el d of
y, t a t b y th e s i d e of th e on e i m ortan t
erm an c om e n d o f t i s
en era ti on th e o t er, s o wel l
tted to s erve as i ts c om l em en t, i s
n ow m a d e a c c es s i l e to th e E n l i s
s ea i n
d
s tu d en t
s
“
I t i s n ot n ec es s ary to s ea of th e reat m eri ts of E rd m an n s Hi s tory of P hi l os op hy
I ts rem a r a l e c l earn es s a n d c om re en s i v en es s are wel l
n own
T h e tra n s l a ti on i s a
"
ood , f a i t f u l r en d eri n
a n d i n s om e
i
arts ev en reac es a
li terary l ev el
rof es s or
JO HN W A T S O N i n T he Week
T h e tran s l ati on of E rd m ann i s an i m ortan t ev en t i n i ts el f , a n d i n th e f a c t t at i t i s
th e rs t i n s talm en t of an u n d erta i n of rea t s i n i c an c e f or th e s tu d y o f
i l os o
yin
t i s c ou n try
Mr
i l os o
U I R H E A D h as
ers u ad e d m en w os e wor
in
y h as won f or
t e m a reat re u tati on , to c on tri u te to th e s eri es
He h as got rof es s or A I R D , D r
W A R D , & c , & c t es e a re s u f c i e n t to s ow th e c arac ter of th e wor to b e d o n e, a n d th e
i
a i m o f th e ed i tor a n d
l i s ers
u
A l l the wri ters av e d on e ood wor , t ou
t ei r
es t wor
re m ai n s to b e d on e —S p ec ta tor
A s l en d i d m on u m e n t of ati en t l a ou r, c ri ti ca l ac u m en , an d a d m i ra l e m et od i c al
treatm en t
I t i s n ot too m u c
to
red i c t t at, f or th e l i rary of th e s a va n t, f or th e
a c a d e m i c al s tu d en t, a n d f o r th e l i te rary d i l e ttan te , t es e v ol u m es wi l l a t o n c e
ec om e a
n ec es s i ty f or
u r os es a t l eas t, o f r e fere n c e , i t n ot of ac tu a l s tu d y
W e os s es s n ot i n
a ll
a z ette
t at c a n ear a n y c om ari s on wi t i t i n oi n t of c om l ete n es s — a l l
n o wn ,
t to
I t h a s e en l o n
i
l y es teem e d , a n d i n i ts s u c c es s i ve ed i ti o n s h as s ou
m a e i ts el f m ore wort y of th e s u c c es s i t h as ju s tl y ac i ev ed
E rd m a n n s wor i s ex c el
l en t
Hi s i s tory of m ed i aev a l
i l os o
ra i s e f or i ts
y es ec i al l y d es erv es atten ti on an d
S c ots m a n
c om a ra ti v e f u l n es s a n d i ts a d m i ra l e s c ol a rs i
T h e c om i n a ti on o f q u al i ti es n ec es s a ry to rod u c e a wor of th e s c o e an d rad e of
I n d u s try, a c c u ra c y, a n d a fa i r d e ree of
i l os o
i c u n d ers ta n d i n
E rd m a n n s i s ra re
m ay i v e u s a wor l i e U e b erweg s
b u t E rd rn a n n s i s tory, w i l e i n n o wa y s u ers ed i n
E rd m ann
U eb erweg s a s a an d oo f or en eral u s e , ye t oc c u i es a d i ff e ren t os i ti on
wrote hi s oo , n ot a s a ref eren c e o o , to i ve i n ri ef c om a s s a d i es t o f th e wri ti n s o f
i s tory o f
i l os o
in a
b u t as a
e n e ti c wa y the
v a ri o u s a u t ors
en u i n e
y, trac i n
ic
t i n i ts trea tm en t o f
i l os o
ro l e m s
u r os e i s to
I ts
d ev e l o m en t of t ou
i n f orm a ti on
W en we a d d t a t,
i los o
i c i n tell i en c e ra t e r t an to f u rn i s
d ev e l o
to th e s u c c es s f u l ex ec u ti on of t i s i n ten ti on , E r d m a n n u n i tes a m i n u te a n d ex a u s ti ve
i l os o
rs t
el d of
n owl ed e of p h i I O S O p h i c s ou rc es a t
an d , e q u a l l ed o ver th e en ti re
y
ro a l y b y n o ot er on e m a n , w e a re i n a c o n d i ti o n to f or m s om e i d ea o f th e v a l u e of the
i l os o
T o th e s tu d en t wh o W i s es , n ot s i m l y a en eral i d ea of th e c o u rs e of
oo
y,
n owl ed e o f
n or a s u m m ary of w at t i s a n d t a t m a n h as s a i d , b u t a s om e w at d eta i l ed
av e c on tri u ted to i t,
t, a n d of w at t i s a n d th e ot e r wri ter
th e ev ol u ti on of t ou
E W E Y , i n T he
rof ess or J
E rd m a n n i s i n d i s en s a l e ; t ere i s n o s u s ti tu te
O HN
A nd over R ev i ew
“
f or th e ord i n ary s tu d ent, a nd f u l l en ou
I t i s a wor t at i s at on c e c om ac t en ou
"
Jou rna l qf E du ca ti on
f or th e read er of l i tera tu re A t on c e s ys tem ati c an d i n teres ti ng
G
k
h
p
o f real c on
fi
h g
b
h
ph
h
g h p k g
p k
g
p h
.
-
k b
h
g
ratu
g
.
p
fi
—
.
’
p
,
p
.
k
h gh
h
—P
.
.
.
fi
h
h
h gh
b
.
g
p
.
.
k g
p
b
M
.
h
g fi
h
h
.
.
.
p p
b
b
h
k
p
.
gk
h gh
h
h
ph
h
’
b k
h
p
p ph
k
g
p b b
b k
.
k k
h b k
,
ph
h
gh
ph
p
h
hp
p
g
h
g
g
h
h
h
h
h
.
h
h
h
h
C
.
.
.
p
h
g
k
.
p
ph
ph
h
p
g
ph
g
ph p b
p
.
g
.
h
.
g
h
h
.
—P
.
h
—
g
g
g
p
fi
b
gh
ph
’
h
p
h
p
b
ph
ph
h
fi
p
.
g
P M
-
.
’
b k
ph
k h gh h
b
h
b
p
h g
G
gh
k
.
.
h
”
’
h
h gh
p
b
k h
ph
b
h
.
g
h
h
p
p
b
b
'
ph
P
k
g
.
,
p
k
.
fi
h
p b h
p
b
h p
k
p
h
p
g
D
g
p p
ph
ph
k
b
h
h
ph
ph
g
gh
.
WO
O F
L IS T
R KS
P R EP A R A T IO N
IN
FO R
ILOSOPH
EIN S L I BRARY OF PH
Y
S ONNENSCH
’
.
FI R S T S E R I E S
B y W L C O UR T N E Y , M A ,
I DEA LI S M D es c artes to L e i bn i tz
’
Hon L L D (S t A n d rew s ), Fell ow of N ew C ol l ege , O x f ord
B y W M W A LL A CE , M A , I Vhyte
GER MA N I DEA L I S TS K an t to Hegel
P r ofes s or of M oral P hi l os ophy, Un i v ers i ty of O x f or d
EA R L
Y
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Herb art
ND
R E W S ET H, M A , P ro
L otz e , & c
By A
’
f es s or of L ogi c a n d E n gl i s h L i tera tu r e, U n i v ers i ty of S t A n d rew s
B y W S HO U G H, P h M , A s s i s tan t
S EN S A TI O N A L /S TS : L oc k e to M i l l
P rof e s s or of M en tal a n d M oral P h i l os ophy, U n i v e rs i ty of M i n n es ota ,
U S A
B y HE N R Y J
O ES , M A ,
THE E THI CS O F I DEA L I S M : K an t a n d Hegel
P rof es s or of M en tal an d M oral P h i l os op hy, U n i v ers i ty C ol l ege , B an go r
MO DER N R EA L I S TS
.
,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
N
.
.
.
.
B y W R S O R LEY ,
THE UTI L I TA R /A N S : Hu m e to C on te m p ora r y W ri te rs
M A , Fel l ow of T ri n i ty C oll ege , C am b ri dge, an d P r of es s or of P h i l o
s op hy i n U n i v e rs i ty C ol l ege , C ar d i ff
MO RA L S EN S E WR I TER S
S haf tes b u ry to M arti n eau
B y W I LL I A M
’
K I G HT , M A , P rof es s or of M oral P hi l os op h y, S t A n d re w s , N B
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
N
.
.
.
.
.
PRI N CI P L E O F E VO L UTI O N I N I TS S CI EN TI FI C A N D P HI L O S O P HI CA L
B y J O H W A T S O , L L D , P r of es s or of M oral P hi l os ophy,
A S P EC TS
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U n i v ers i ty of ! u e en s C ol lege, K i n gs ton , C a n a d a
N
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N
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S E CO N D S E R I E S
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B y R O B ER T
O F P S YCHO L O C Y :—Em p i ri c a l an d R a ti on al
A A MS O , M A
L L D , P rofe s s or o f L ogi c a n d P ol i ti c a l E c on om y,
’
O wen s C ol l ege , M an c h e s ter
THE HI S TO R Y O F P O L I TI CA L P HI L O S O P HY
B y D G R I T CHI E, M A ,
Fell ow of J es u s C oll ege , O x fo r d
P HI L O S O P HY A N D ECO N O MI CS I N THEI R HI S TO R I CA L R EL A TI O N S
By
J BO A R , M A , L L D
B y B ER A R
THE HI S TO R Y O F I ZES THETI CS
B O S A ! U E T , M A , l ate
Fel l ow of Un i v e rs i ty C ol l e ge , O x f ord
THE DE VEL O P MEN T O F R A TI O N A L THEO L O GY s i n c e K an t
B y P rof os
s or O T T O P FL E I
E R E R , of B erl i n
[ R ea d y
THE
HI S TO R Y
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N D
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D
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T HI R D S E R I E S
D
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B y E WA R
CA I R , L L D
Profe s s or
THE THEO R Y O F ETHI CS
M oral P hi l os ophy i n th e U n i ver s i ty of G l a s gow
A M ES WA R
EPI S TEMO L O GY, O R THE THEO R Y O F KN O WL EDGE B y J
B s e , L L D , Fel l o w an d L ec tu r er o f T ri n i ty C ol l ege, C a m b r i dge
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S O N N EN S C HEI N
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P rof JE T HO R O L D R O G E R S
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d oc tri n e i n a c l ear a n d read a l e f orm
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s u c c i n c t,
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G erm an s oc i al
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h ow God wi at h i s b es t ; wi th
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temp or a ry R
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P a 11 Ma ll Ga ette
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ti o n
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m ean s
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s twor t y ou tl i n e —S eots m a n
T h e S to ry
13
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B os a
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n tu ry
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