_Diversion._--If man were happy, he would be the more so, the less he
was diverted, like the Saints and God.--Yes; but is it not to be happy
to have a faculty of being amused by diversion?--No; for that comes from
elsewhere and from without, and thus is dependent, and therefore subject
to be disturbed by a thousand accidents, which bring inevitable griefs.


171

_Misery._--The only thing which consoles us for our miseries is
diversion, and yet this it the greatest of our miseries. For it is this
which principally hinders us from reflecting upon ourselves, and which
makes us insensibly ruin ourselves. Without this we should be in a state
of weariness, and this weariness would spur us to seek a more solid
means of escaping from it. But diversion amuses us, and leads us
unconsciously to death.


172

We do not rest satisfied with the present. We anticipate the future as
too slow in coming, as if in order to hasten its course; or we recall
the past, to stop its too rapid flight. So imprudent are we that we
wander in the times which are not ours, and do not think of the only one
which belongs to us; and so idle are we that we dream of those times
which are no more, and thoughtlessly overlook that which alone exists.
For the present is generally painful to us. We conceal it from our
sight, because it troubles us; and if it be delightful to us, we regret
to see it pass away. We try to sustain it by the future, and think of
arranging matters which are not in our power, for a time which we have