Solitude is doubly advantageous to such a man. Firstly, it allows
him to be with himself, and, secondly, it prevents him being with
others--an advantage of great moment; for how much constraint,
annoyance, and even danger there is in all intercourse with the world.
_Tout notre mal_, says La Bruyère, _vient de ne pouvoir être seul_. It
is really a very risky, nay, a fatal thing, to be sociable; because
it means contact with natures, the great majority of which are bad
morally, and dull or perverse, intellectually. To be unsociable is not
to care about such people; and to have enough in oneself to dispense
with the necessity of their company is a great piece of good fortune;
because almost all our sufferings spring from having to do with other
people; and that destroys the peace of mind, which, as I have said,
comes next after health in the elements of happiness. Peace of mind
is impossible without a considerable amount of solitude. The Cynics
renounced all private property in order to attain the bliss of having
nothing to trouble them; and to renounce society with the same object
is the wisest thing a man can do. Bernardin de Saint Pierre has the
very excellent and pertinent remark that to be sparing in regard
to food is a means of health; in regard to society, a means of
tranquillity--_la diète des ailmens nous rend la santé du corps, et
celle des hommes la tranquillité de l'âme._ To be soon on friendly, or
even affectionate, terms with solitude is like winning a gold mine;
but this is not something which everybody can do. The prime reason for
social intercourse is mutual need; and as soon as that is satisfied,
boredom drives people together once more. If it were not for these two
reasons, a man would probably elect to remain alone; if only because
solitude is the sole condition of life which gives full play to
that feeling of exclusive importance which every man has in his own
eyes,--as if he were the only person in the world! a feeling which,
in the throng and press of real life, soon shrivels up to nothing,