And in this connection it will be in place to observe that, when events and circumstances which have influenced us pass away in the course of time, we are unable to bring back and renew the particular mood or state of feeling which they aroused in us:  but we can remember what we were led to say and do in regard to them; and thus form, as it were, the result, expression and measure of those events.  We should, therefore, be careful to preserve the memory of our thoughts at important points in our life; and herein lies the great advantage of keeping a journal.

SECTION 9.  To be self-sufficient, to be all in all to oneself, to want for nothing, to be able to say omnia mea mecum porto—­that is assuredly the chief qualification for happiness.  Hence Aristotle’s remark, [Greek:  hae eudaimonia ton autarchon esti][1]—­to be happy means to be self-sufficient—­cannot be too often repeated.  It is, at bottom, the same thought as is present in the very well-turned sentence from Chamfort: 

Le bonheur n’est pas chose aisee:  il est tres difficile de le trouver en nous, et impossible de le trouver ailleurs.

[Footnote 1:  Eudem.  Eth.  VII. ii. 37.]

For while a man cannot reckon with certainty upon anyone but himself, the burdens and disadvantages, the dangers and annoyances, which arise from having to do with others, are not only countless but unavoidable.

There is no more mistaken path to happiness than worldliness, revelry, high life:  for the whole object of it is to transform our miserable existence into a succession of joys, delights and pleasures,—­a process which cannot fail to result in disappointment and delusion; on a par, in this respect, with its obligato accompaniment, the interchange of lies.[1]

[Footnote 1:  As our body is concealed by the clothes we wear, so our mind is veiled in lies.  The veil is always there, and it is only through it that we can sometimes guess at what a man really thinks; just as from his clothes we arrive at the general shape of his body.]

All society necessarily involves, as the first condition of its existence, mutual accommodation and restraint upon the part of its members.  This means that the larger it is, the more insipid will be its tone.  A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.  Constraint is always present in society, like a companion of whom there is no riddance; and in proportion to the greatness of a man’s individuality, it will be hard for him to bear the sacrifices which all intercourse with others demands, Solitude will be welcomed or endured or avoided, according as a man’s personal value is large or small,—­the wretch feeling, when he is alone, the whole burden of his misery; the great intellect delighting in its greatness; and everyone, in short, being just what he is.