Further, the constitution of our consciousness is the ever present and lasting13 element in all we do or suffer; our individuality is persistently14 at work, more or less, at every moment of our life: all other influences are temporal, incidental, fleeting15, and subject to every kind of chance and change. This is why Aristotle says: It is not wealth but character that lasts.3
[Greek:— hae gar phusis bebion ou ta chraemata]
3 Eth. Eud., vii. 2. 37:]
And just for the same reason we can more easily bear a misfortune which comes to us entirely16 from without, than one which we have drawn17 upon ourselves; for fortune may always change, but not character. Therefore, subjective18 blessings — a noble nature, a capable head, a joyful19 temperament20, bright spirits, a well-constituted, perfectly21 sound physique, in a word, mens sana in corpore sano, are the first and most important elements in happiness; so that we should be more intent on promoting and preserving such qualities than on the possession of external wealth and external honor.
And of all these, the one which makes us the most directly happy is a genial22 flow of good spirits; for this excellent quality is its own immediate reward. The man who is cheerful and merry has always a good reason for being so — the fact, namely, that he is so. There is nothing which, like this quality, can so completely replace the loss of every other blessing5. If you know anyone who is young, handsome, rich and esteemed23, and you want to know, further, if he is happy, ask, Is he cheerful and genial? — and if he is, what does it matter whether he is young or old, straight or humpbacked, poor or rich? — he is happy. In my early days I once opened an old book and found these words: If you laugh a great deal, you are happy; if you cry a great deal, you are unhappy; — a very simple remark, no doubt; but just because it is so simple I have never been able to forget it, even though it is in the last degree a truism. So if cheerfulness knocks at our door, we should throw it wide open, for it never comes inopportunely; instead of that, we often make scruples24 about letting it in. We want to be quite sure that we have every reason to be contented25; then we are afraid that cheerfulness of spirits may interfere26 with serious reflections or weighty cares. Cheerfulness is a direct and immediate gain — the very coin, as it were, of happiness, and not, like all else, merely a cheque upon the bank; for it alone makes us immediately happy in the present moment, and that is the highest blessing for beings like us, whose existence is but an infinitesimal moment between two eternities. To secure and promote this feeling of cheerfulness should be the supreme28 aim of all our endeavors after happiness.
Now it is certain that nothing contributes so little to cheerfulness as riches, or so much, as health. Is it not in the lower classes, the so-called working classes, more especially those of them who live in the country, that we see cheerful and contented faces? and is it not amongst the rich, the upper classes, that we find faces full of ill-humor and vexation? Consequently we should try as much as possible to maintain a high degree of health; for cheerfulness is the very flower of it. I need hardly say what one must do to be healthy — avoid every kind of excess, all violent and unpleasant emotion, all mental overstrain, take daily exercise in the open air, cold baths and such like hygienic measures. For without a proper amount of daily exercise no one can remain healthy; all the processes of life demand exercise for the due performance of their functions, exercise not only of the parts more immediately concerned, but also of the whole body. For, as Aristotle rightly says, Life is movement; it is its very essence. Ceaseless and rapid motion goes on in every part of the organism. The heart, with its complicated double systole and diastole, beats strongly and untiringly; with twenty-eight beats it has to drive the whole of the blood through arteries29, veins30 and capillaries31; the lungs pump like a steam-engine, without intermission; the intestines32 are always in peristaltic action; the glands33 are all constantly absorbing and secreting34; even the brain has a double motion of its own, with every beat of the pulse and every breath we draw. When people can get no exercise at all, as is the case with the countless35 numbers who are condemned36 to a sedentary life, there is a glaring and fatal disproportion between outward inactivity and inner tumult37. For this ceaseless internal motion requires some external counterpart, and the want of it produces effects like those of emotion which we are obliged to suppress. Even trees must be shaken by the wind, if they are to thrive. The rule which finds its application here may be most briefly39 expressed in Latin: omnis motus, quo celerior, eo magis motus.
How much our happiness depends upon our spirits, and these again upon our state of health, may be seen by comparing the influence which the same external circumstances or events have upon us when we are well and strong with the effects which they have when we are depressed40 and troubled with ill-health. It is not what things are objectively and in themselves, but what they are for us, in our way of looking at them, that makes us happy or the reverse. As Epictetus says, Men are not influenced by things, but by their thoughts about things. And, in general, nine-tenths of our happiness depends upon health alone. With health, everything is a source of pleasure; without it, nothing else, whatever it may be, is enjoyable; even the other personal blessings — a great mind, a happy temperament — are degraded and dwarfed41 for want of it. So it is really with good reason that, when two people meet, the first thing they do is to inquire after each other’s health, and to express the hope that it is good; for good health is by far the most important element in human happiness. It follows from all this that the greatest of follies42 is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness, whatever it may be, for gain, advancement43, learning or fame, let alone, then, for fleeting sensual pleasures. Everything else should rather be postponed44 to it.
But however much health may contribute to that flow of good spirits which is so essential to our happiness, good spirits do not entirely depend upon health; for a man may be perfectly sound in his physique and still possess a melancholy45 temperament and be generally given up to sad thoughts. The ultimate cause of this is undoubtedly46 to be found in innate47, and therefore unalterable, physical constitution, especially in the more or less normal relation of a man’s sensitiveness to his muscular and vital energy. Abnormal sensitiveness produces inequality of spirits, a predominating melancholy, with periodical fits of unrestrained liveliness. A genius is one whose nervous power or sensitiveness is largely in excess; as Aristotle4 has very correctly observed, Men distinguished48 in philosophy, politics, poetry or art appear to be all of a melancholy temperament. This is doubtless the passage which Cicero has in his mind when he says, as he often does, Aristoteles ait omnes ingeniosos melancholicos esse.5 Shakespeare has very neatly49 expressed this radical50 and innate diversity of temperament in those lines in The Merchant of Venice:
4 Probl. xxx., ep. 1]
5 Tusc. i., 33.]
Nature has framed strange fellows in her time;
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh, like parrots at a bag-piper;
And others of such vinegar aspect,
That they’ll not show their teeth in way of smile,
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.
This is the difference which Plato draws between [Greek: eukolos] and [Greek: dyskolos]— the man of easy, and the man of difficult disposition51 — in proof of which he refers to the varying degrees of susceptibility which different people show to pleasurable and painful impressions; so that one man will laugh at what makes another despair. As a rule, the stronger the susceptibility to unpleasant impressions, the weaker is the susceptibility to pleasant ones, and vice52 versa. If it is equally possible for an event to turn out well or ill, the [Greek: dyskolos] will be annoyed or grieved if the issue is unfavorable, and will not rejoice, should it be happy. On the other hand, the [Greek: eukolos] will neither worry nor fret53 over an unfavorable issue, but rejoice if it turns out well. If the one is successful in nine out of ten undertakings54, he will not be pleased, but rather annoyed that one has miscarried; whilst the other, if only a single one succeeds, will manage to find consolation56 in the fact and remain cheerful. But here is another instance of the truth, that hardly any evil is entirely without its compensation; for the misfortunes and sufferings which the [Greek: auskoloi], that is, people of gloomy and anxious character, have to overcome, are, on the whole, more imaginary and therefore less real than those which befall the gay and careless; for a man who paints everything black, who constantly fears the worst and takes measures accordingly, will not be disappointed so often in this world, as one who always looks upon the bright side of things. And when a morbid57 affection of the nerves, or a derangement58 of the digestive organs, plays into the hands of an innate tendency to gloom, this tendency may reach such a height that permanent discomfort59 produces a weariness of life. So arises an inclination60 to suicide, which even the most trivial unpleasantness may actually bring about; nay61, when the tendency attains62 its worst form, it may be occasioned by nothing in particular, but a man may resolve to put an end to his existence, simply because he is permanently63 unhappy, and then coolly and firmly carry out his determination; as may be seen by the way in which the sufferer, when placed under supervision64, as he usually is, eagerly waits to seize the first unguarded moment, when, without a shudder65, without a struggle or recoil66, he may use the now natural and welcome means of effecting his release.6 Even the healthiest, perhaps even the most cheerful man, may resolve upon death under certain circumstances; when, for instance, his sufferings, or his fears of some inevitable67 misfortune, reach such a pitch as to outweigh68 the terrors of death. The only difference lies in the degree of suffering necessary to bring about the fatal act, a degree which will be high in the case of a cheerful, and low in that of a gloomy man. The greater the melancholy, the lower need the degree be; in the end, it may even sink to zero. But if a man is cheerful, and his spirits are supported by good health, it requires a high degree of suffering to make him lay hands upon himself. There are countless steps in the scale between the two extremes of suicide, the suicide which springs merely from a morbid intensification69 of innate gloom, and the suicide of the healthy and cheerful man, who has entirely objective grounds for putting an end to his existence.
6 For a detailed70 description of this condition of mind Cf Esquirol, Des maladies mentales.]
Beauty is partly an affair of health. It may be reckoned as a personal advantage; though it does not, properly speaking, contribute directly to our happiness. It does so indirectly71, by impressing other people; and it is no unimportant advantage, even in man. Beauty is an open letter of recommendation, predisposing the heart to favor the person who presents it. As is well said in these lines of Homer, the gift of beauty is not lightly to be thrown away, that glorious gift which none can bestow72 save the gods alone —
[Greek: outoi hapoblaet erti theon erikuoea dora,
ossa ken38 autoi dosin, ekon douk an tis eloito].7
7 Iliad 3, 65.]
The most general survey shows us that the two foes73 of human happiness are pain and boredom74. We may go further, and say that in the degree in which we are fortunate enough to get away from the one, we approach the other. Life presents, in fact, a more or less violent oscillation between the two. The reason of this is that each of these two poles stands in a double antagonism75 to the other, external or objective, and inner or subjective. Needy76 surroundings and poverty produce pain; while, if a man is more than well off, he is bored. Accordingly, while the lower classes are engaged in a ceaseless struggle with need, in other words, with pain, the upper carry on a constant and often desperate battle with boredom.8 The inner or subjective antagonism arises from the fact that, in the individual, susceptibility to pain varies inversely77 with susceptibility to boredom, because susceptibility is directly proportionate to mental power. Let me explain. A dull mind is, as a rule, associated with dull sensibilities, nerves which no stimulus78 can affect, a temperament, in short, which does not feel pain or anxiety very much, however great or terrible it may be. Now, intellectual dullness is at the bottom of that vacuity79 of soul which is stamped on so many faces, a state of mind which betrays itself by a constant and lively attention to all the trivial circumstances in the external world. This is the true source of boredom — a continual panting after excitement, in order to have a pretext80 for giving the mind and spirits something to occupy them. The kind of things people choose for this purpose shows that they are not very particular, as witness the miserable81 pastimes they have recourse to, and their ideas of social pleasure and conversation: or again, the number of people who gossip on the doorstep or gape82 out of the window. It is mainly because of this inner vacuity of soul that people go in quest of society, diversion, amusement, luxury of every sort, which lead many to extravagance and misery83. Nothing is so good a protection against such misery as inward wealth, the wealth of the mind, because the greater it grows, the less room it leaves for boredom. The inexhaustible activity of thought! Finding ever new material to work upon in the multifarious phenomena84 of self and nature, and able and ready to form new combinations of them — there you have something that invigorates the mind, and apart from moments of relaxation86, sets it far above the reach of boredom.
8 And the extremes meet; for the lowest state of civilization, a nomad87 or wandering life, finds its counterpart in the highest, where everyone is at times a tourist. The earlier stage was a case of necessity; the latter is a remedy for boredom.]
But, on the other hand, this high degree of intelligence is rooted in a high degree of susceptibility, greater strength of will, greater passionateness89; and from the union of these qualities comes an increased capacity for emotion, an enhanced sensibility to all mental and even bodily pain, greater impatience90 of obstacles, greater resentment91 of interruption; — all of which tendencies are augmented92 by the power of the imagination, the vivid character of the whole range of thought, including what is disagreeable. This applies, in various degrees, to every step in the long scale of mental power, from the veriest dunce to the greatest genius that ever lived. Therefore the nearer anyone is, either from a subjective or from an objective point of view, to one of those sources of suffering in human life, the farther he is from the other. And so a man’s natural bent93 will lead him to make his objective world conform to his subjective as much as possible; that is to say, he will take the greatest measures against that form of suffering to which he is most liable. The wise man will, above all, strive after freedom from pain and annoyance94, quiet and leisure, consequently a tranquil95, modest life, with as few encounters as may be; and so, after a little experience of his so-called fellowmen, he will elect to live in retirement96, or even, if he is a man of great intellect, in solitude97. For the more a man has in himself, the less he will want from other people — the less, indeed, other people can be to him. This is why a high degree of intellect tends to make a man unsocial. True, if quality of intellect could be made up for by quantity, it might be worth while to live even in the great world; but unfortunately, a hundred fools together will not make one wise man.
But the individual who stands at the other end of the scale is no sooner free from the pangs98 of need than he endeavors to get pastime and society at any cost, taking up with the first person he meets, and avoiding nothing so much as himself. For in solitude, where every one is thrown upon his own resources, what a man has in himself comes to light; the fool in fine raiment groans99 under the burden of his miserable personality, a burden which he can never throw off, whilst the man of talent peoples the waste places with his animating100 thoughts. Seneca declares that folly101 is its own burden — omnis stultitia laborat fastidio sui — a very true saying, with which may be compared the words of Jesus, the son of Sirach, The life of a fool is worse than death9. And, as a rule, it will be found that a man is sociable103 just in the degree in which he is intellectually poor and generally vulgar. For one’s choice in this world does not go much beyond solitude on one side and vulgarity on the other. It is said that the most sociable of all people are the negroes; and they are at the bottom of the scale in intellect. I remember reading once in a French paper10 that the blacks in North America, whether free or enslaved, are fond of shutting themselves up in large numbers in the smallest space, because they cannot have too much of one another’s snub-nosed company.
9 Ecclesiasticus, xxii. 11.]
10 Le Commerce, Oct. 19th, 1837.]
The brain may be regarded as a kind of parasite104 of the organism, a pensioner105, as it were, who dwells with the body: and leisure, that is, the time one has for the free enjoyment of one’s consciousness or individuality, is the fruit or produce of the rest of existence, which is in general only labor102 and effort. But what does most people’s leisure yield? — boredom and dullness; except, of course, when it is occupied with sensual pleasure or folly. How little such leisure is worth may be seen in the way in which it is spent: and, as Ariosto observes, how miserable are the idle hours of ignorant men! — ozio lungo d’uomini ignoranti. Ordinary people think merely how they shall spend their time; a man of any talent tries to use it. The reason why people of limited intellect are apt to be bored is that their intellect is absolutely nothing more than the means by which the motive106 power of the will is put into force: and whenever there is nothing particular to set the will in motion, it rests, and their intellect takes a holiday, because, equally with the will, it requires something external to bring it into play. The result is an awful stagnation107 of whatever power a man has — in a word, boredom. To counteract108 this miserable feeling, men run to trivialities which please for the moment they are taken up, hoping thus to engage the will in order to rouse it to action, and so set the intellect in motion; for it is the latter which has to give effect to these motives109 of the will. Compared with real and natural motives, these are but as paper money to coin; for their value is only arbitrary — card games and the like, which have been invented for this very purpose. And if there is nothing else to be done, a man will twirl his thumbs or beat the devil’s tattoo110; or a cigar may be a welcome substitute for exercising his brains. Hence, in all countries the chief occupation of society is card-playing,11 and it is the gauge111 of its value, and an outward sign that it is bankrupt in thought. Because people have no thoughts to deal in, they deal cards, and try and win one another’s money. Idiots! But I do not wish to be unjust; so let me remark that it may certainly be said in defence of card-playing that it is a preparation for the world and for business life, because one learns thereby112 how to make a clever use of fortuitous but unalterable circumstances (cards, in this case), and to get as much out of them as one can: and to do this a man must learn a little dissimulation113, and how to put a good face upon a bad business. But, on the other hand, it is exactly for this reason that card-playing is so demoralizing, since the whole object of it is to employ every kind of trick and machination in order to win what belongs to another. And a habit of this sort, learnt at the card-table, strikes root and pushes its way into practical life; and in the affairs of every day a man gradually comes to regard meum and tuum in much the same light as cards, and to consider that he may use to the utmost whatever advantages he possesses, so long as he does not come within the arm of the law. Examples of what I mean are of daily occurrence in mercantile life. Since, then, leisure is the flower, or rather the fruit, of existence, as it puts a man into possession of himself, those are happy indeed who possess something real in themselves. But what do you get from most people’s leisure? — only a good-for-nothing fellow, who is terribly bored and a burden to himself. Let us, therefore, rejoice, dear brethren, for we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
11 Translator’s Note. — Card-playing to this extent is now, no doubt, a thing of the past, at any rate amongst the nations of northern Europe. The present fashion is rather in favor of a dilettante114 interest in art or literature.]
Further, as no land is so well off as that which requires few imports, or none at all, so the happiest man is one who has enough in his own inner wealth, and requires little or nothing from outside for his maintenance, for imports are expensive things, reveal dependence115, entail8 danger, occasion trouble, and when all is said and done, are a poor substitute for home produce. No man ought to expect much from others, or, in general, from the external world. What one human being can be to another is not a very great deal: in the end every one stands alone, and the important thing is who it is that stands alone. Here, then, is another application of the general truth which Goethe recognizes in Dichtung und Wahrheit (Bk. III.), that in everything a man has ultimately to appeal to himself; or, as Goldsmith puts it in The Traveller:
Still to ourselves in every place consign’d
Our own felicity we make or find.
Himself is the source of the best and most a man can be or achieve. The more this is so — the more a man finds his sources of pleasure in himself — the happier he will be. Therefore, it is with great truth that Aristotle12 says, To be happy means to be self-sufficient. For all other sources of happiness are in their nature most uncertain, precarious116, fleeting, the sport of chance; and so even under the most favorable circumstances they can easily be exhausted117; nay, this is unavoidable, because they are not always within reach. And in old age these sources of happiness must necessarily dry up:— love leaves us then, and wit, desire to travel, delight in horses, aptitude118 for social intercourse119; friends and relations, too, are taken from us by death. Then more than ever, it depends upon what a man has in himself; for this will stick to him longest; and at any period of life it is the only genuine and lasting source of happiness. There is not much to be got anywhere in the world. It is filled with misery and pain; and if a man escapes these, boredom lies in wait for him at every corner. Nay more; it is evil which generally has the upper hand, and folly makes the most noise. Fate is cruel, and mankind is pitiable. In such a world as this, a man who is rich in himself is like a bright, warm, happy room at Christmastide, while without are the frost and snow of a December night. Therefore, without doubt, the happiest destiny on earth is to have the rare gift of a rich individuality, and, more especially to be possessed of a good endowment of intellect; this is the happiest destiny, though it may not be, after all, a very brilliant one.
12 Eth. Eud, vii 2]
There was a great wisdom in that remark which Queen Christina of Sweden made, in her nineteenth year, about Descartes, who had then lived for twenty years in the deepest solitude in Holland, and, apart from report, was known to her only by a single essay: M. Descartes, she said, is the happiest of men, and his condition seems to me much to be envied.13 Of course, as was the case with Descartes, external circumstances must be favorable enough to allow a man to be master of his life and happiness; or, as we read in Ecclesiastes14 — Wisdom is good together with an inheritance, and profitable unto them that see the sun. The man to whom nature and fate have granted the blessing of wisdom, will be most anxious and careful to keep open the fountains of happiness which he has in himself; and for this, independence and leisure are necessary. To obtain them, he will be willing to moderate his desires and harbor his resources, all the more because he is not, like others, restricted to the external world for his pleasures. So he will not be misled by expectations of office, or money, or the favor and applause of his fellowmen, into surrendering himself in order to conform to low desires and vulgar tastes; nay, in such a case he will follow the advice that Horace gives in his epistle to Maecenas.15
13 Vie de Descartes, par2 Baillet. Liv. vii., ch. 10.]
14 vii. 12.]
15 Lib. 1., ep. 7.]
Nec somnum plebis laudo, satur altilium, nec
Otia divitiis Arabum liberrima muto.
It is a great piece of folly to sacrifice the inner for the outer man, to give the whole or the greater part of one’s quiet, leisure and independence for splendor120, rank, pomp, titles and honor. This is what Goethe did. My good luck drew me quite in the other direction.
The truth which I am insisting upon here, the truth, namely, that the chief source of human happiness is internal, is confirmed by that most accurate observation of Aristotle in the Nichomachean Ethics16 that every pleasure presupposes some sort of activity, the application of some sort of power, without which it cannot exist. The doctrine122 of Aristotle’s, that a man’s happiness consists in the free exercise of his highest faculties123, is also enunciated124 by Stobaeus in his exposition of the Peripatetic125 philosophy17: happiness, he says, means vigorous and successful activity in all your undertakings; and he explains that by vigor85 [Greek: aretae] he means mastery in any thing, whatever it be. Now, the original purpose of those forces with which nature has endowed man is to enable him to struggle against the difficulties which beset126 him on all sides. But if this struggle comes to an end, his unemployed127 forces become a burden to him; and he has to set to work and play with them — to use them, I mean, for no purpose at all, beyond avoiding the other source of human suffering, boredom, to which he is at once exposed. It is the upper classes, people of wealth, who are the greatest victims of boredom. Lucretius long ago described their miserable state, and the truth of his description may be still recognized to-day, in the life of every great capital — where the rich man is seldom in his own halls, because it bores him to be there, and still he returns thither128, because he is no better off outside; — or else he is away in post-haste to his house in the country, as if it were on fire; and he is no sooner arrived there, than he is bored again, and seeks to forget everything in sleep, or else hurries back to town once more.
16 i. 7 and vii. 13, 14.]
17 Ecl. eth. ii., ch 7.]
Exit saepe foras magnis ex aedibus ille,
Esse domi quem pertaesum est, subitoque reventat,
Quippe foris nihilo melius qui sentiat esse.
Currit, agens mannos, ad villam precipitanter,
Auxilium tectis quasi ferre ardentibus instans:
Oscitat extemplo, tetigit quum limina villae;
Aut abit in somnum gravis, atque oblivia quaerit;
Aut etiam properans urbem petit atque revisit.18
18 III 1073.]
In their youth, such people must have had a superfluity of muscular and vital energy — powers which, unlike those of the mind, cannot maintain their full degree of vigor very long; and in later years they either have no mental powers at all, or cannot develop any for want of employment which would bring them into play; so that they are in a wretched plight129. Will, however, they still possess, for this is the only power that is inexhaustible; and they try to stimulate130 their will by passionate88 excitement, such as games of chance for high stakes — undoubtedly a most degrading form of vice. And one may say generally that if a man finds himself with nothing to do, he is sure to choose some amusement suited to the kind of power in which he excels — bowls, it may be, or chess; hunting or painting; horse-racing or music; cards, or poetry, heraldry, philosophy, or some other dilettante interest. We might classify these interests methodically, by reducing them to expressions of the three fundamental powers, the factors, that is to say, which go to make up the physiological131 constitution of man; and further, by considering these powers by themselves, and apart from any of the definite aims which they may subserve, and simply as affording three sources of possible pleasure, out of which every man will choose what suits him, according as he excels in one direction or another.
First of all come the pleasures of vital energy, of food, drink, digestion132, rest and sleep; and there are parts of the world where it can be said that these are characteristic and national pleasures. Secondly133, there are the pleasures of muscular energy, such as walking, running, wrestling, dancing, fencing, riding and similar athletic134 pursuits, which sometimes take the form of sport, and sometimes of a military life and real warfare135. Thirdly, there are the pleasures of sensibility, such as observation, thought, feeling, or a taste for poetry or culture, music, learning, reading, meditation136, invention, philosophy and the like. As regards the value, relative worth and duration of each of these kinds of pleasure, a great deal might be said, which, however, I leave the reader to supply. But every one will see that the nobler the power which is brought into play, the greater will be the pleasure which it gives; for pleasure always involves the use of one’s own powers, and happiness consists in a frequent repetition of pleasure. No one will deny that in this respect the pleasures of sensibility occupy a higher place than either of the other two fundamental kinds; which exist in an equal, nay, in a greater degree in brutes137; it is this preponderating138 amount of sensibility which distinguishes man from other animals. Now, our mental powers are forms of sensibility, and therefore a preponderating amount of it makes us capable of that kind of pleasure which has to do with mind, so-called intellectual pleasure; and the more sensibility predominates, the greater the pleasure will be.19
19 Nature exhibits a continual progress, starting from the mechanical and chemical activity of the inorganic139 world, proceeding140 to the vegetable, with its dull enjoyment of self, from that to the animal world, where intelligence and consciousness begin, at first very weak, and only after many intermediate stages attaining141 its last great development in man, whose intellect is Nature’s crowning point, the goal of all her efforts, the most perfect and difficult of all her works. And even within the range of the human intellect, there are a great many observable differences of degree, and it is very seldom that intellect reaches its highest point, intelligence properly so-called, which in this narrow and strict sense of the word, is Nature’s most consummate142 product, and so the rarest and most precious thing of which the world can boast. The highest product of Nature is the clearest degree of consciousness, in which the world mirrors itself more plainly and completely than anywhere else. A man endowed with this form of intelligence is in possession of what is noblest and best on earth; and accordingly, he has a source of pleasure in comparison with which all others are small. From his surroundings he asks nothing but leisure for the free enjoyment of what he has got, time, as it were, to polish his diamond. All other pleasures that are not of the intellect are of a lower kind; for they are, one and all, movements of will — desires, hopes, fears and ambitions, no matter to what directed: they are always satisfied at the cost of pain, and in the case of ambition, generally with more or less of illusion. With intellectual pleasure, on the other hand, truth becomes clearer and clearer. In the realm of intelligence pain has no power. Knowledge is all in all. Further, intellectual pleasures are accessible entirely and only through the medium of the intelligence, and are limited by its capacity. For all the wit there is in the world is useless to him who has none. Still this advantage is accompanied by a substantial disadvantage; for the whole of Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.]
The normal, ordinary man takes a vivid interest in anything only in so far as it excites his will, that is to say, is a matter of personal interest to him. But constant excitement of the will is never an unmixed good, to say the least; in other words, it involves pain. Card-playing, that universal occupation of “good society” everywhere, is a device for providing this kind of excitement, and that, too, by means of interests so small as to produce slight and momentary143, instead of real and permanent, pain. Card-playing is, in fact, a mere27 tickling144 of the will.20
20 Vulgarity is, at bottom, the kind of consciousness in which the will completely predominates over the intellect, where the latter does nothing more than perform the service of its master, the will. Therefore, when the will makes no demands, supplies no motives, strong or weak, the intellect entirely loses its power, and the result is complete vacancy145 of mind. Now will without intellect is the most vulgar and common thing in the world, possessed by every blockhead, who, in the gratification of his passions, shows the stuff of which he is made. This is the condition of mind called vulgarity, in which the only active elements are the organs of sense, and that small amount of intellect which is necessary for apprehending146 the data of sense. Accordingly, the vulgar man is constantly open to all sorts of impressions, and immediately perceives all the little trifling147 things that go on in his environment: the lightest whisper, the most trivial circumstance, is sufficient to rouse his attention; he is just like an animal. Such a man’s mental condition reveals itself in his face, in his whole exterior148; and hence that vulgar, repulsive149 appearance, which is all the more offensive, if, as is usually the case, his will — the only factor in his consciousness — is a base, selfish and altogether bad one.]
On the other hand, a man of powerful intellect is capable of taking a vivid interest in things in the way of mere knowledge, with no admixture of will; nay, such an interest is a necessity to him. It places him in a sphere where pain is an alien — a diviner air, where the gods live serene150.
[Greek: phusis bebion ou ta chraematatheoi reia xoontes]21
21 Odyssey151 IV., 805.]
Look on these two pictures — the life of the masses, one long, dull record of struggle and effort entirely devoted152 to the petty interests of personal welfare, to misery in all its forms, a life beset by intolerable boredom as soon as ever those aims are satisfied and the man is thrown back upon himself, whence he can be roused again to some sort of movement only by the wild fire of passion. On the other side you have a man endowed with a high degree of mental power, leading an existence rich in thought and full of life and meaning, occupied by worthy153 and interesting objects as soon as ever he is free to give himself to them, bearing in himself a source of the noblest pleasure. What external promptings he wants come from the works of nature, and from the contemplation of human affairs and the achievements of the great of all ages and countries, which are thoroughly154 appreciated by a man of this type alone, as being the only one who can quite understand and feel with them. And so it is for him alone that those great ones have really lived; it is to him that they make their appeal; the rest are but casual hearers who only half understand either them or their followers155. Of course, this characteristic of the intellectual man implies that he has one more need than the others, the need of reading, observing, studying, meditating156, practising, the need, in short, of undisturbed leisure. For, as Voltaire has very rightly said, there are no real pleasures without real needs; and the need of them is why to such a man pleasures are accessible which are denied to others — the varied157 beauties of nature and art and literature. To heap these pleasures round people who do not want them and cannot appreciate them, is like expecting gray hairs to fall in love. A man who is privileged in this respect leads two lives, a personal and an intellectual life; and the latter gradually comes to be looked upon as the true one, and the former as merely a means to it. Other people make this shallow, empty and troubled existence an end in itself. To the life of the intellect such a man will give the preference over all his other occupations: by the constant growth of insight and knowledge, this intellectual life, like a slowly-forming work of art, will acquire a consistency158, a permanent intensity159, a unity160 which becomes ever more and more complete; compared with which, a life devoted to the attainment161 of personal comfort, a life that may broaden indeed, but can never be deepened, makes but a poor show: and yet, as I have said, people make this baser sort of existence an end in itself.
The ordinary life of every day, so far as it is not moved by passion, is tedious and insipid162; and if it is so moved, it soon becomes painful. Those alone are happy whom nature has favored with some superfluity of intellect, something beyond what is just necessary to carry out the behests of their will; for it enables them to lead an intellectual life as well, a life unattended by pain and full of vivid interests. Mere leisure, that is to say, intellect unoccupied in the service of the will, is not of itself sufficient: there must be a real superfluity of power, set free from the service of the will and devoted to that of the intellect; for, as Seneca says, otium sine litteris mors est et vivi hominis sepultura — illiterate163 leisure is a form of death, a living tomb. Varying with the amount of the superfluity, there will be countless developments in this second life, the life of the mind; it may be the mere collection and labelling of insects, birds, minerals, coins, or the highest achievements of poetry and philosophy. The life of the mind is not only a protection against boredom; it also wards164 off the pernicious effects of boredom; it keeps us from bad company, from the many dangers, misfortunes, losses and extravagances which the man who places his happiness entirely in the objective world is sure to encounter, My philosophy, for instance, has never brought me in a six-pence; but it has spared me many an expense.
The ordinary man places his life’s happiness in things external to him, in property, rank, wife and children, friends, society, and the like, so that when he loses them or finds them disappointing, the foundation of his happiness is destroyed. In other words, his centre of gravity is not in himself; it is constantly changing its place, with every wish and whim165. If he is a man of means, one day it will be his house in the country, another buying horses, or entertaining friends, or traveling — a life, in short, of general luxury, the reason being that he seeks his pleasure in things outside him. Like one whose health and strength are gone, he tries to regain166 by the use of jellies and drugs, instead of by developing his own vital power, the true source of what he has lost. Before proceeding to the opposite, let us compare with this common type the man who comes midway between the two, endowed, it may be, not exactly with distinguished powers of mind, but with somewhat more than the ordinary amount of intellect. He will take a dilettante interest in art, or devote his attention to some branch of science — botany, for example, or physics, astronomy, history, and find a great deal of pleasure in such studies, and amuse himself with them when external forces of happiness are exhausted or fail to satisfy him any more. Of a man like this it may be said that his centre of gravity is partly in himself. But a dilettante interest in art is a very different thing from creative activity; and an amateur pursuit of science is apt to be superficial and not to penetrate167 to the heart of the matter. A man cannot entirely identify himself with such pursuits, or have his whole existence so completely filled and permeated168 with them that he loses all interest in everything else. It is only the highest intellectual power, what we call genius, that attains to this degree of intensity, making all time and existence its theme, and striving to express its peculiar169 conception of the world, whether it contemplates170 life as the subject of poetry or of philosophy. Hence, undisturbed occupation with himself, his own thoughts and works, is a matter of urgent necessity to such a man; solitude is welcome, leisure is the highest good, and everything else is unnecessary, nay, even burdensome.
This is the only type of man of whom it can be said that his centre of gravity is entirely in himself; which explains why it is that people of this sort — and they are very rare — no matter how excellent their character may be, do not show that warm and unlimited171 interest in friends, family, and the community in general, of which others are so often capable; for if they have only themselves they are not inconsolable for the loss of everything else. This gives an isolation172 to their character, which is all the more effective since other people never really quite satisfy them, as being, on the whole, of a different nature: nay more, since this difference is constantly forcing itself upon their notice they get accustomed to move about amongst mankind as alien beings, and in thinking of humanity in general, to say they instead of we.
So the conclusion we come to is that the man whom nature has endowed with intellectual wealth is the happiest; so true it is that the subjective concerns us more than the objective; for whatever the latter may be, it can work only indirectly, secondly, and through the medium of the former — a truth finely expressed by Lucian:—
[Greek: Aeloutos ho taes psychaes ploutus monos estin alaethaes
Talla dechei ataen pleiona ton kteanon —]22
22 Epigrammata, 12.]
the wealth of the soul is the only true wealth, for with all other riches comes a bane even greater than they. The man of inner wealth wants nothing from outside but the negative gift of undisturbed leisure, to develop and mature his intellectual faculties, that is, to enjoy his wealth; in short, he wants permission to be himself, his whole life long, every day and every hour. If he is destined173 to impress the character of his mind upon a whole race, he has only one measure of happiness or unhappiness — to succeed or fail in perfecting his powers and completing his work. All else is of small consequence. Accordingly, the greatest minds of all ages have set the highest value upon undisturbed leisure, as worth exactly as much as the man himself. Happiness appears to consist in leisure, says Aristotle;23 and Diogenes Laertius reports that Socrates praised leisure as the fairest of all possessions. So, in the Nichomachean Ethics121, Aristotle concludes that a life devoted to philosophy is the happiest; or, as he says in the Politics,24 the free exercise of any power, whatever it may be, is happiness. This again, tallies174 with what Goethe says in Wilhelm Meister: The man who is born with a talent which he is meant to use, finds his greatest happiness in using it.
23 Eth. Nichom. x. 7.]
24 iv. 11.]
But to be in possession of undisturbed leisure, is far from being the common lot; nay, it is something alien to human nature, for the ordinary man’s destiny is to spend life in procuring175 what is necessary for the subsistence of himself and his family; he is a son of struggle and need, not a free intelligence. So people as a rule soon get tired of undisturbed leisure, and it becomes burdensome if there are no fictitious176 and forced aims to occupy it, play, pastime and hobbies of every kind. For this very reason it is full of possible danger, and difficilis in otio quies is a true saying — it is difficult to keep quiet if you have nothing to do. On the other hand, a measure of intellect far surpassing the ordinary, is as unnatural177 as it is abnormal. But if it exists, and the man endowed with it is to be happy, he will want precisely178 that undisturbed leisure which the others find burdensome or pernicious; for without it he is a Pegasus in harness, and consequently unhappy. If these two unnatural circumstances, external, and internal, undisturbed leisure and great intellect, happen to coincide in the same person, it is a great piece of fortune; and if the fate is so far favorable, a man can lead the higher life, the life protected from the two opposite sources of human suffering, pain and boredom, from the painful struggle for existence, and the incapacity for enduring leisure (which is free existence itself)— evils which may be escaped only by being mutually neutralized.
But there is something to be said in opposition179 to this view. Great intellectual gifts mean an activity pre-eminently nervous in its character, and consequently a very high degree of susceptibility to pain in every form. Further, such gifts imply an intense temperament, larger and more vivid ideas, which, as the inseparable accompaniment of great intellectual power, entail on its possessor a corresponding intensity of the emotions, making them incomparably more violent than those to which the ordinary man is a prey180. Now, there are more things in the world productive of pain than of pleasure. Again, a large endowment of intellect tends to estrange181 the man who has it from other people and their doings; for the more a man has in himself, the less he will be able to find in them; and the hundred things in which they take delight, he will think shallow and insipid. Here, then, perhaps, is another instance of that law of compensation which makes itself felt everywhere. How often one hears it said, and said, too, with some plausibility182, that the narrow-minded man is at bottom the happiest, even though his fortune is unenviable. I shall make no attempt to forestall183 the reader’s own judgment184 on this point; more especially as Sophocles himself has given utterance185 to two diametrically opposite opinions:—
[Greek: Pollo to phronein eudaimonias
proton uparchei.]25
he says in one place — wisdom is the greatest part of happiness; and again, in another passage, he declares that the life of the thoughtless is the most pleasant of all —
[Greek: En ta phronein gar maeden aedistos bios.]26
The philosophers of the Old Testament186 find themselves in a like contradiction.
The life of a fool is worse than death27
and —
In much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.28
25 Antigone, 1347-8.]
26 Ajax, 554.]
27 Ecclesiasticus, xxii. 11.]
28 Ecclesiastes, i. 18.]
I may remark, however, that a man who has no mental needs, because his intellect is of the narrow and normal amount, is, in the strict sense of the word, what is called a philistine187 — an expression at first peculiar to the German language, a kind of slang term at the Universities, afterwards used, by analogy, in a higher sense, though still in its original meaning, as denoting one who is not a Son of the Muses188. A philistine is and remains189 [Greek: amousos anaer]. I should prefer to take a higher point of view, and apply the term philistine to people who are always seriously occupied with realities which are no realities; but as such a definition would be a transcendental one, and therefore not generally intelligible190, it would hardly be in place in the present treatise191, which aims at being popular. The other definition can be more easily elucidated192, indicating, as it does, satisfactorily enough, the essential nature of all those qualities which distinguish the philistine. He is defined to be a man without mental needs. From this is follows, firstly, in relation to himself, that he has no intellectual pleasures; for, as was remarked before, there are no real pleasures without real needs. The philistine’s life is animated193 by no desire to gain knowledge and insight for their own sake, or to experience that true aeesthetic pleasure which is so nearly akin55 to them. If pleasures of this kind are fashionable, and the philistine finds himself compelled to pay attention to them, he will force himself to do so, but he will take as little interest in them as possible. His only real pleasures are of a sensual kind, and he thinks that these indemnify him for the loss of the others. To him oysters194 and champagne195 are the height of existence; the aim of his life is to procure196 what will contribute to his bodily welfare, and he is indeed in a happy way if this causes him some trouble. If the luxuries of life are heaped upon him, he will inevitably197 be bored, and against boredom he has a great many fancied remedies, balls, theatres, parties, cards, gambling198, horses, women, drinking, traveling and so on; all of which can not protect a man from being bored, for where there are no intellectual needs, no intellectual pleasures are possible. The peculiar characteristic of the philistine is a dull, dry kind of gravity, akin to that of animals. Nothing really pleases, or excites, or interests him, for sensual pleasure is quickly exhausted, and the society of philistines199 soon becomes burdensome, and one may even get tired of playing cards. True, the pleasures of vanity are left, pleasures which he enjoys in his own way, either by feeling himself superior in point of wealth, or rank, or influence and power to other people, who thereupon pay him honor; or, at any rate, by going about with those who have a superfluity of these blessings, sunning himself in the reflection of their splendor — what the English call a snob200.
From the essential nature of the philistine it follows, secondly, in regard to others, that, as he possesses no intellectual, but only physical need, he will seek the society of those who can satisfy the latter, but not the former. The last thing he will expect from his friends is the possession of any sort of intellectual capacity; nay, if he chances to meet with it, it will rouse his antipathy201 and even hatred202; simply because in addition to an unpleasant sense of inferiority, he experiences, in his heart, a dull kind of envy, which has to be carefully concealed203 even from himself. Nevertheless, it sometimes grows into a secret feeling of rancor204. But for all that, it will never occur to him to make his own ideas of worth or value conform to the standard of such qualities; he will continue to give the preference to rank and riches, power and influence, which in his eyes seem to be the only genuine advantages in the world; and his wish will be to excel in them himself. All this is the consequence of his being a man without intellectual needs. The great affliction of all philistines is that they have no interest in ideas, and that, to escape being bored, they are in constant need of realities. But realities are either unsatisfactory or dangerous; when they lose their interest, they become fatiguing205. But the ideal world is illimitable and calm,
something afar
From the sphere of our sorrow.
NOTE. — In these remarks on the personal qualities which go to make happiness, I have been mainly concerned with the physical and intellectual nature of man. For an account of the direct and immediate influence of morality upon happiness, let me refer to my prize essay on The Foundation of Morals (Sec. 22.)
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1
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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6
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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entails
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| 使…成为必要( entail的第三人称单数 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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entail
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| vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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mediate
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| vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成 | |
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neutralized
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| v.使失效( neutralize的过去式和过去分词 )；抵消；中和；使（一个国家）中立化 | |
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12
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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18
subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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23
esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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24
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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26
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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28
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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29
arteries
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| n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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capillaries
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| 毛细管，毛细血管( capillary的名词复数 ) | |
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intestines
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| n.肠( intestine的名词复数 ) | |
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glands
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| n.腺( gland的名词复数 ) | |
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34
secreting
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| v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的现在分词 )；隐匿，隐藏 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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36
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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39
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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40
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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41
dwarfed
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| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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42
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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43
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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44
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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45
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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46
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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47
innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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48
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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50
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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51
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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52
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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53
fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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56
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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derangement
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| n.精神错乱 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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61
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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62
attains
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的第三人称单数 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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64
supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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66
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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67
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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68
outweigh
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| vt.比...更重，...更重要 | |
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69
intensification
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| n.激烈化，增强明暗度；加厚 | |
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70
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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71
indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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72
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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73
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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74
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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75
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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76
needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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77
inversely
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| adj.相反的 | |
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78
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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79
vacuity
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| n.(想象力等)贫乏，无聊，空白 | |
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80
pretext
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|
| n.借口，托词 | |
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81
miserable
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|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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82
gape
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| v.张口，打呵欠，目瞪口呆地凝视 | |
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83
misery
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|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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84
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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85
vigor
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|
| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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86
relaxation
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|
| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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87
nomad
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| n.游牧部落的人，流浪者，游牧民 | |
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88
passionate
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|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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89
passionateness
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90
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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91
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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92
Augmented
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|
| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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93
bent
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|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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94
annoyance
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|
| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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95
tranquil
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|
| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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96
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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97
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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98
pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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99
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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100
animating
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|
| v.使有生气( animate的现在分词 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
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101
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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102
labor
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|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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103
sociable
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|
| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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104
parasite
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| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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105
pensioner
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| n.领养老金的人 | |
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106
motive
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|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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107
stagnation
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| n. 停滞 | |
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108
counteract
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|
| vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消 | |
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109
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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110
tattoo
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| n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于 | |
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111
gauge
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| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
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112
thereby
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|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
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113
dissimulation
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|
| n.掩饰，虚伪，装糊涂 | |
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114
dilettante
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| n.半瓶醋，业余爱好者 | |
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115
dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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116
precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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117
exhausted
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|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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118
aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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119
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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120
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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121
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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122
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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123
faculties
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|
| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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124
enunciated
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|
| v.（清晰地）发音( enunciate的过去式和过去分词 )；确切地说明 | |
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125
peripatetic
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|
| adj.漫游的，逍遥派的，巡回的 | |
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126
beset
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|
| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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127
unemployed
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|
| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
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128
thither
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|
| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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129
plight
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|
| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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130
stimulate
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|
| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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131
physiological
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|
| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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132
digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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133
secondly
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|
| adv.第二，其次 | |
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134
athletic
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|
| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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135
warfare
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|
| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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136
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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137
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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138
preponderating
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|
| v.超过，胜过( preponderate的现在分词 ) | |
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139
inorganic
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| adj.无生物的；无机的 | |
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140
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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141
attaining
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|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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142
consummate
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|
| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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143
momentary
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|
| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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144
tickling
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| 反馈，回授，自旋挠痒法 | |
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145
vacancy
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|
| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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146
apprehending
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|
| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的现在分词 )； 理解 | |
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147
trifling
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|
| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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148
exterior
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|
| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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149
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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150
serene
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|
| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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151
odyssey
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| n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险 | |
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152
devoted
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|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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153
worthy
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|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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154
thoroughly
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|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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155
followers
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|
| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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156
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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157
varied
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|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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158
consistency
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|
| n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度 | |
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159
intensity
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|
| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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160
unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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161
attainment
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|
| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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162
insipid
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|
| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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163
illiterate
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| adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲 | |
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164
wards
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| 区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态 | |
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165
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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166
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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167
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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168
permeated
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|
| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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169
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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170
contemplates
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|
| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的第三人称单数 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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171
unlimited
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|
| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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172
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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173
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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174
tallies
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|
| n.账( tally的名词复数 )；符合；（计数的）签；标签v.计算，清点( tally的第三人称单数 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合 | |
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175
procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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176
fictitious
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|
| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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177
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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178
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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179
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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180
prey
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|
| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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181
estrange
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| v.使疏远，离间，使离开 | |
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182
plausibility
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|
| n. 似有道理, 能言善辩 | |
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183
forestall
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|
| vt.抢在…之前采取行动；预先阻止 | |
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184
judgment
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|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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185
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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186
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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187
philistine
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|
| n.庸俗的人；adj.市侩的，庸俗的 | |
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188
muses
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的第三人称单数 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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189
remains
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|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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190
intelligible
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|
| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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191
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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192
elucidated
|
|
| v.阐明，解释( elucidate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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193
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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194
oysters
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| 牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 ) | |
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195
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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196
procure
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|
| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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197
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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198
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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199
philistines
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| n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子 | |
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200
snob
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| n.势利小人，自以为高雅、有学问的人 | |
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201
antipathy
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| n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物 | |
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202
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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203
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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204
rancor
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| n.深仇，积怨 | |
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fatiguing
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| a.使人劳累的 | |
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