Happiness comes from within, and rests most securely on simple goodness and clear conscience. Selfishness is its enemy; to make another happy is to be happy ones' self. It is quiet, seldom found for long in crowds, most easily won in moments of solitude and reflection. It cannot be bough; indeed money has very little to do with it.
No one is happy unless he is reasonably well satisfied with himself, so that the quest for tranquility must of necessity begin with self-examination. We shall not often be content with what we discover in this scrutiny. There is so much to do, and so little done. Upon this searching self-analysis, however, depends the discovery of those qualities that make each man unique and whose development alone can bring satisfaction.
Of all those who have tried, down the ages, to outline a program for happiness, few have succeeded so well as William Henry Channing, who wrote the following:
"To live content with small means;
to see elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich;
to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;
to listen to the stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;
to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never;
in a word to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common."
It will be noted that no one can do this for you; you must do it for yourself.
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