Now, it is obvious that happiness, which consists for the most part in peace of mind and contentment, would be served by nothing so much as by reducing this impulse of human nature within reasonable limits,—­which would perhaps make it one fiftieth part of what it is now.  By doing so, we should get rid of a thorn in the flesh which is always causing us pain.  But it is a very difficult task, because the impulse in question is a natural and innate perversity of human nature.  Tacitus says, The lust of fame is the last that a wise man shakes off[1] The only way of putting an end to this universal folly is to see clearly that it is a folly; and this may be done by recognizing the fact that most of the opinions in men’s heads are apt to be false, perverse, erroneous and absurd, and so in themselves unworthy of attention; further, that other people’s opinions can have very little real and positive influence upon us in most of the circumstances and affairs of life.  Again, this opinion is generally of such an unfavorable character that it would worry a man to death to hear everything that was said of him, or the tone in which he was spoken of.  And finally, among other things, we should be clear about the fact that honor itself has no really direct, but only an indirect, value.  If people were generally converted from this universal folly, the result would be such an addition to our piece of mind and cheerfulness as at present seems inconceivable; people would present a firmer and more confident front to the world, and generally behave with less embarrassment and restraint.  It is observable that a retired mode of life has an exceedingly beneficial influence on our peace of mind, and this is mainly because we thus escape having to live constantly in the sight of others, and pay everlasting regard to their casual opinions; in a word, we are able to return upon ourselves.  At the same time a good deal of positive misfortune might be avoided, which we are now drawn into by striving after shadows, or, to speak more correctly, by indulging a mischievous piece of folly; and we should consequently have more attention to give to solid realities and enjoy them with less interruption that at present.  But [Greek:  chalepa ga kala]—­what is worth doing is hard to do.

[Footnote 1:  Hist., iv., 6.]

Section 2.—­Pride.

The folly of our nature which we are discussing puts forth three shoots, ambition, vanity and pride.  The difference between the last two is this:  pride is an established conviction of one’s own paramount worth in some particular respect; while vanity is the desire of rousing such a conviction in others, and it is generally accompanied by the secret hope of ultimately coming to the same conviction oneself.  Pride works from within; it is the direct appreciation of oneself.  Vanity is the desire to arrive at this appreciation indirectly, from without.  So we find that vain people are talkative, proud, and taciturn.  But the vain person ought to be aware that the good opinion of others, which he strives for, may be obtained much more easily and certainly by persistent silence than by speech, even though he has very good things to say.  Anyone who wishes to affect pride is not therefore a proud man; but he will soon have to drop this, as every other, assumed character.