The Quest Of Happiness

Published in Boston by Philip Gilbert Hamerton in 1897. He is also the author of; "The Intellectual Life," "Thoughts About Art," "A Painter's Camp," "Etchers And Etching," "Human Intercourse," Etc (187 pages).

The Publisher has copy-edited this book to improve the formatting, style and accuracy of the text to make it readable. This did not involve changing the substance of the text.

Contents:

I. A Definition ---- II. The Author, Neither Optimist nor Pessimist ---- III. On the Dual Nature of Happiness ---- IV. On Happiness as a Gift of Nature ---- V. How our Happiness is Incomplete ---- VI. The Imperfection of the Higher Happiness ---- VII. The Origin of the Ideal ---- VIII. Happiness and the Ideal ---- IX. The Sense of Reality ---- X. Happiness in Our Occupations ---- XI. Congeniality of Occupation ---- XII. Insufficiency of Gifts ---- XIII. On the Question Whether our Happiness in the Use of our Faculties is in Proportion to their Strength ---- XIV. That Every Time of Life has a Happiness Peculiar to Itself ---- XV. Of the Perfection of the Senses ---- XVI. Grounds for Rational Encouragement ---- XVII. Some Real Experiences.

Excerpts:

....."I know by my own experience, and by the experience of many others, that the provision for our happiness, even in this world, is most abundant, and that we can generally enjoy it on two conditions, the first of which is that we learn to accept contentedly a sort of felicity that does not correspond with our ideal notions of what ought to be, and the second, that we make the best of the present without requiring of it that it shall be the future also. The discontented class of minds that are found in all ranks of society are like guests invited to a sumptuous and superabundant banquet who are out of temper because the arrangements are not exactly what they would have made if the ordering of it had been entrusted to themselves, and also because their invitation, though the hour of departure is not precisely fixed, is yet not absolutely without limits." From Author's Preface...

.....Let us first consider the physical basis of happiness. Leaving diseases out of the question (many of them attack the young quite as readily as the aged), there are certain constitutional changes which do not destroy physical well-being, but produce an alteration in its nature. Between the ages of fifteen and forty-five the constitution loses elasticity and gains firmness. The effect of this upon the mind is to replace the delight in very active and restless, and often quite useless, movement, by a sense of satisfaction in powers that may be calculated upon and employed by their possessor steadily in the course of his occupations. The physical exercises of middle age are rarely accompanied by the exhilaration of youth, but they are accompanied by a sense of power which is agreeable, and by a consciousness of being able to do all that is necessary both for health and occupation. Between forty-five and sixty there is usually some decline of strength, but, in a healthy subject, quite enough of it remains to meet all reasonable claims upon it. If the kind of life and the habits of the individual are favorable to the preservation of physical health and strength, there is no reason in the human constitution why life should not afford even considerable physical enjoyment between forty-five and sixty. It is an age that does not forbid either field sports or travelling of the more independent and active kinds, on horseback, on the bicycle, or on foot. The only rules that a healthy man need trouble himself to observe, as he approaches threescore, are never to allow his physical powers to be lost to him through indolence, and never to strain them or distress himself. The number of gray-headed men to be seen in the hunting-field, and now upon bicycles, is ample evidence that physical exercise may be really enjoyed after middle life and that it still invigorates. To keep these benefits nothing is required but a little prudence, and that is surely not a very high price to pay for the inestimable blessing of a well maintained activity.