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.

Further, if a man stands high in Nature's lists, it is natural and
inevitable that he should feel solitary. It will be an advantage to
him if his surroundings do not interfere with this feeling; for if he