On the Happy Life, Section 1 — In Plain English

Beginning of On the Happy Life

Seneca — The Senator

As long as we wander around without direction, following nothing but the shouting and conflicting noise of people pulling us in different directions, we'll waste our short lives in pointless wandering. This happens even when we work day and night to understand things better. So we shouldn't decide where to go or what path to take without advice from someone experienced — someone who has already explored the territory we're about to enter. This journey isn't like other trips. On regular trips, you can follow clear roads and ask locals for directions to avoid getting lost. But in life, the most popular and crowded paths are exactly the ones that lead us furthest astray.

Seneca — The Senator Original

But as long as we wander at random, not following any guide except the shouts and discordant clamours of those who invite us to proceed in different directions, our short life will be wasted in useless roamings, even if we labour both day and night to get a good understanding. Let us not therefore decide whither we must tend, and by what path, without the advice of some experienced person who has explored the region which we are about to enter, because this journey is not subject to the same conditions as others; for in them some distinctly understood track and inquiries made of the natives make it impossible for us to go wrong, but here the most beaten and frequented tracks are those which lead us most astray.

Seneca — The Senator

All people, brother Gallio, want to live happily. But they're terrible at figuring out what actually makes life happy. It's so hard to reach happiness that the harder you chase it, the further away you get — if you're going the wrong way. When you're on the wrong road, your speed just carries you further from where you want to be. So first we need to define clearly what we're aiming for. Then we need to figure out the best path to get there. Once we're on the right path, we'll be able to see our daily progress and how much closer we're getting to the goal that our nature pushes us toward.

Seneca — The Senator Original

All men, brother Gallio, wish to live happily, but are dull at perceiving exactly what it is that makes life happy: and so far is it from being easy to attain to happiness that the more eagerly a man struggles to reach it the further he departs from it, if he takes the wrong road; for, since this leads in the opposite direction, his very swiftness carries him all the further away. We must therefore first define clearly what it is at which we aim: next we must consider by what path we may most speedily reach it, for on our journey itself, provided it be made in the right direction, we shall learn how much progress we have made each day, and how much nearer we are to the goal towards which our natural desires urge us.