XII. What True Happiness Promises

The life of good character gives something no other life can.

True happiness is good character. What does good character offer in return?

No restraint. No want. Freedom. Safety. Nothing failed in what you attempt. Nothing denied. Everything proceeding as you wish. No misfortune. Nothing happening to you that you did not already expect.

This sounds too grand to be real. It is real. If a man's desires have been brought within his own control, what can he possibly lack? If everything he needs is concentrated in himself, what does he require from outside?

He who has genuinely made good character his foundation has enough. More than enough. Fortune cannot reach him, because there is nothing of hers he needs.

Those still on the path need some favor from Fortune while they work through the ordinary confusions of human life. Those who have arrived need nothing from outside at all. The difference between them is the degree of freedom from the chain. Some are bound loosely. Some are bound tightly. Some have even added their own knots. The one who has progressed far enough drags a lighter chain, and though not yet entirely free, is as good as free.