The Road To Happine
It i a commonplace among moralit that you cannot get happine by puruing it。 Thi i only true if you purue it unwiely。 Gambler at Monte Carlo are puruing money， and mot of them loe it intead， but there are other way of puruing money， which often ucceed。 So it i with happine。 If you purue it by mean of drink， you are forgetting the hang-over。 Epicuru purued it by living only in congenial ociety and eating only dry bread， upplemented by a little cheee on feat day。 Hi method proved ucceful in hi cae， but he wa a valetudinarian， and mot people would need omething more vigorou。 For mot people， the puruit of happine， unle upplemented in variou way， i too abtract and theoretical to be adequate a a peronal rule of life。 But I think that whatever peronal rule of life you may chooe it hould not， except in rare and heroic cae， be incompatible with happine。
There are a great many people who have all the material condition of happine， i。e。 health and a ufficient income， and who， neverthele， are profoundly unhappy。 In uch cae it would eem a if the fault mut lie with a wrong theory a to how to live。 In one ene， we may ay that any theory a to how to live i wrong。 We imagine ourelve more different from the animal than we are。 Animal live on impule， and are happy a long a external condition are favorable。 If you have a cat it will enjoy life if it ha food and warmth and opportunitie for an occaional night on the tile。 Your need are more complex than thoe of your cat， but they till have their bai in intinct。 In civilized ocietie， epecially in Englih-peaking ocietie， thi i too apt to be forgotten。 People propoe to themelve ome one paramount objective， and retrain all impule that do not miniter to it。 A buineman may be o anxiou to grow rich that to thi end he acrifice health and private affection。 When at lat he ha become rich， no pleaure remain to him except harrying other people by exhortation to imitate hi noble example。 Many rich ladie， although nature ha not endowed them with any pontaneou pleaure in literature or art， decide to be thought cultured， and pend boring hour learning the right thing to ay about fahionable new book that are written to give delight， not to afford opportunitie for duty nobbim。[由wWw.HaozuoWen.com整理]
If you look around at the men and women whom you can call happy， you will ee that they all have certain thing in common。 The mot important of thee thing i an activity which at mot gradually build up omething that you are glad to ee coming into exitence。 Women who take an intinctive pleaure in their children can get thi kind of atifaction out of bringing up a family。 Artit and author and men of cience get happine in thi way if their own work eem good to them。 But there are many humbler form of the ame kind of pleaure。 Many men who pend their working life in the city devote their weekend to voluntary and unremunerated toil in their garden， and when the pring come， they experience all the joy of having created beauty。