When we're thinking about what makes a happy life, you can't just tell me, "Well, this view has the most supporters." That's exactly why it's probably wrong. Things aren't going so well with humanity that the majority would choose what's actually better. The more people do something, the worse it's likely to be. So let's not ask what most people do. Let's ask what's best for us to do — what will give us lasting happiness. Don't look for what the crowd approves of. The crowd is terrible at understanding truth. By "the crowd" I mean everyone — both the poor in rough clothes and the rich wearing crowns. I don't judge people by what they're wearing. I don't trust my eyes to tell me who someone really is. I have a better, more reliable way to tell what's true from what's false: let the mind figure out what's good for the mind.
When we are considering a happy life, you cannot answer me as though after a division of the House, "This view has most supporters;" because for that very reason it is the worse of the two: matters do not stand so well with mankind that the majority should prefer the better course: the more people do a thing the worse it is likely to be. Let us therefore inquire, not what is most commonly done, but what is best for us to do, and what will establish us in the possession of undying happiness, not what is approved of by the vulgar, the worst possible exponents of truth. By "the vulgar" I mean both those who wear woollen cloaks and those who wear crowns; for I do not regard the colour of the clothes with which they are covered: I do not trust my eyes to tell me what a man is: I have a better and more trustworthy light by which I can distinguish what is true from what is false: let the mind find out what is good for the mind.