ab omni parte beatum_, as Horace says; or, in the words of an Indian
proverb, _no lotus without a stalk_. Seclusion, which has so many
advantages, has also its little annoyances and drawbacks, which are
small, however, in comparison with those of society; hence anyone who
is worth much in himself will get on better without other people than
with them. But amongst the disadvantages of seclusion there is one
which is not so easy to see as the rest. It is this: when people
remain indoors all day, they become physically very sensitive to
atmospheric changes, so that every little draught is enough to make
them ill; so with our temper; a long course of seclusion makes it so
sensitive that the most trivial incidents, words, or even looks, are
sufficient to disturb or to vex and offend us--little things which are
unnoticed by those who live in the turmoil of life.

When you find human society disagreeable and feel yourself justified
in flying to solitude, you can be so constituted as to be unable to
bear the depression of it for any length of time, which will probably
be the case if you are young. Let me advise you, then, to form the
habit of taking some of your solitude with you into society, to learn
to be to some extent alone even though you are in company; not to say
at once what you think, and, on the other hand, not to attach too
precise a meaning to what others say; rather, not to expect much of
them, either morally or intellectually, and to strengthen yourself in
the feeling of indifference to their opinion, which is the surest way
of always practicing a praiseworthy toleration. If you do that, you
will not live so much with other people, though you may appear to move
amongst them: your relation to them will be of a purely objective
character. This precaution will keep you from too close contact with
society, and therefore secure you against being contaminated or even
outraged by it.[1] Society is in this respect like a fire--the wise