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  ...at all it is at worst nine-tenths of it true.
Mr Pontifex's life not only continued a long time, but was prosperous right up to the end. Is not this enough? Being in this world is it not our most obvious business to make the most of it--to observe what things do _bona fide_ tend to long life and comfort, and to act accordingly? All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it--and they do enjoy it as much as man and other circumstances will allow. He has spent his life best who has enjoyed it most. God will take care that we do not enjoy it any more than is good for us.   If Mr Pontifex is to be blamed it is for not having eaten and drunk less and thus suffered less from his liver, and lived perhaps a year or two longer.
Goodness is naught unless it tends towards old age and sufficiency of means. I speak broadly and _exceptis excipiendis_. So the psalmist says, "The righteous shall not lack anything that is good." Either this is mere poetical license, or it follows that he who lacks anything that is good is not righteous; there is a presumption...   Butler, Samuel

Excerpt from The Way of All Flesh · This quote is about joy · Search on Google Books to find all references and sources for this quotation.

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