The World as Will and Idea, Vol. I — Arthur Schopenhauer, trans. Haldane & Kemp

Thus it either goes on for ever, or. what is more rare and presupposes a certain strength of character, till we reach a wish whicE is not satisfied and yet cannot he given up. ^ that case we have, as it were, found what we sought, Bmn^hmg tEat we can always blame, instead of our own nature, as the source of our suffering. And thus, alffiou^ we are now at variance with our fate, we are reconciled to our existence, for the knWledge is again put far ^om us that suffering is essential to this existence itself, and tone satisfaction impossible. The result of this form of development is a somewhat melancholy disposition, the constant endurance of a single great pain, and the contempt for aU lesser sorrows or joys that proceeds from it ; consequently an already nobler phenomenon thanjthat constaniT seizing iu^n evOT-ne^^ms oFfll^ion, whici w much more cqm^nr*^ ~

58, All satisfaction^^ or what is commonly called happiness, is always really and essfint^'ally only negative^ and”ne^r positive. It is not an original gratification coming to us of itself, but must always be the satisfaction of a wish. The wish, i.e., some want, is the condition which precedes every pleasure. But with the satisfaction the wish and therefore the pleasure cease. Tbus the satisfaction or the pleasing can never be more than the

41* THE WORLD .45 WILL. BK. iv.

deliverance from a pain, from want ; for such is not only every actu^, open sorrow, but evwy desire, the importuni^^^^lcK “disturbs our peace, and, indeedptEe deadening ennui alsonbHaFrnuKes life a burden to us. It is, howevmr7 sbnia^r(r~lo~atGun anything f~difficulties and troubles wi^xbut end are opposed to* eveiy purpose, and at every step hindrances accumiHafe. But when"^nairy’eve^TFim^S^VOTiro^jnrattained, nothing canlever be gained but deliverance from some sorrow or desire, so that we find ourselves just in the same position as we occupied before this sorrow or desire appeared All that is even directly given us is merely~€lie want, i.e., the pain. The satisfaction and the pleasure we can only know indirectly through the remembrance of the preceding suffering and want, which ceases with its appearance. Hence it arises that we are not properly conscious of the blessings and advantages we actually possess, nor do we prize them, but think of them merely as a matter of course, for they gratify us only negatively by restraining suffering. Only when we have lost them do we become sensible of their value ; for the want, the privation, the sorrow, is the positive, communicating itself directly to us. Thus also we are ^leas^ by the remembrance of past need, sickness, want, and such like, because this is the only means of enjoying the presentTilessings. And, further, it cannot be denied that in this respect,~and_from this standpoint of egoism, which is the form of the will to live, the sight or the description (rf the sufferings of others ai^ds us satisfaction and pleasure in precisely t^ way imcretius beautifully and frankly expresses it in the beginning of the Second Book —

“ Suave, mari magno, turhantxbus cequora ventis,

E terra magnum alterius spectare lahorem:

Non, quia vexari quemquam est jucunda volu/das ;

Sed, quibus ipse mails careas, quia cernere suave, est"

Yet we shall see farther on that this kind of pleasure,p. 413 tlirougii knowledge of our own well being obtained in this way, lies very near the source of real, positive wickedness.

That all happiness is only of a negative not a positive nature, thWlusf^jbn QnF account it cannot be lasting satisfaction and gratification, but merely delivers U3_frqm some pain or want which must be foll^ed" either by a new pain, or by languor, empty longing, and ennui ; this finds support in art, that true mirror of the world and life, and especially in poetry. Every epic and dramatic poem can only represent a struggle, an effort, and fight for happiness, never enduring and complete happiness itself. It conducts its heroes througli a thousand difficulties and dangers to the goal ; as soon as this is reached, it hastens to let the curtain fall; for now there would jeiaaiu nothing for it to do but to show tliat the glittering goal in which the bero expected to fiiid'EappTness Had only disappointed him, and that after its attainment he was