And now I would go on to say a few words as to the larger object
which I have had in view. My aim has been to show how it is
possible for people living quiet and humdrum lives, without any
opportunities of gratifying ambition or for taking a leading part
on the stage of the world, to make the most of simple conditions,
and to live lives of dignity and joy. My own belief is that what is
commonly called success has an insidious power of poisoning the
clear springs of life; because people who grow to depend upon the
stimulus of success sink into dreariness and dulness when that
stimulus is withdrawn. Here my critics have found fault with me for
not being more strenuous, more virile, more energetic. It is
strange to me that my object can have been so singularly
misunderstood. I believe, with all my heart, that happiness depends
upon strenuous energy; but I think that this energy ought to be
expended upon work, and everyday life, and relations with others,
and the accessible pleasures of literature and art. The gospel that
I detest is the gospel of success, the teaching that every one
ought to be discontented with his setting, that a man ought to get
to the front, clear a space round him, eat, drink, make love, cry,
strive, and fight.
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