It is a commonplace among moralists that you cannot get happiness by pursuing it.This is only true if you pursue it unwisely.Gamblers at Monte Carlo are pursuing money, and most of them lose it instead, but there are other ways of pursuing money, which often succeed.So it is with happiness.If you pursue it by means of drink, you are forgetting the hang-over.Epicurus pursued it by living only in congenial society and eating only dry bread, supplemented by a little cheese on feast days.His method proved successful in his case, but he was a valetudinarian, and most people would need something more vigorous.For most people, the pursuit of happiness, unless supplemented in various ways, is too abstract and theoretical to be adequate as a personal rule of life.But I think that whatever personal rule of life you may choose it should not, except in rare and heroic cases, be incompatible with happiness.
道德家們常說:幸福靠追求是得不到的。只有用不明智的方式去追求才是這樣。蒙特卡洛城的賭徒們追求金錢,但多數(shù)人卻把錢輸?shù)袅耍硗庖恍┳非蠼疱X的辦法卻常常成功。追求幸福也是一樣。如果你通過暢飲來追求幸福,那你就忘記了酒醉后的不適。埃畢丘魯斯追求幸福的辦法是只和志趣相投的人一起生活,只吃不涂黃油的面包,節(jié)日才加一點(diǎn)奶酪。他的辦法對(duì)他來說是成功的,但他是個(gè)體弱多病的人,而多數(shù)人需要的是精力充沛。就多數(shù)人來說,除非你有別的補(bǔ)充辦法,這樣追求快樂就過于抽象和脫離實(shí)際,不宜作為個(gè)人的生活準(zhǔn)則。不過,我覺得無論你選擇什么樣的生活準(zhǔn)則,除了那些罕見的和英雄人物的例子外,都應(yīng)該是和幸福相容的。