like the Saints and God. Yes; but is it not to be happy to have a
faculty of being amused by diversion? No; for that comes from elsewhere and
from without, and thus is dependent, and therefore subject to be disturbed
by a thousand accidents, which bring inevitable griefs.

171. Misery.--The only thing which consoles us for our miseries is
diversion, and yet this is the greatest of our miseries. For it is this
which principally hinders us from reflecting upon ourselves and which makes
us insensibly ruin ourselves. Without this we should be in a state of
weariness, and this weariness would spur us to seek a more solid means of
escaping from it. But diversion amuses us, and leads us unconsciously to
death.

172. We do not rest satisfied with the present. We anticipate the future as
too slow in coming, as if in order to hasten its course; or we recall the
past, to stop its too rapid flight. So imprudent are we that we wander in
the times which are not ours and do not think of the only one which belongs
to us; and so idle are we that we dream of those times which are no more and
thoughtlessly overlook that which alone exists. For the present is generally
painful to us. We conceal it from our sight, because it troubles us; and, if
it be delightful to us, we regret to see it pass away. We try to sustain it
by the future and think of arranging matters which are not in our power, for
a time which we have no certainty of reaching.

Let each one exam