To be able without hindrance to exercise his preeminent quality, whatever its nature, is real happiness.
Now men seem, not unreasonably, to form their notions of the supreme good and of happiness from the lives of men.
Happiness, whether consisting in pleasure or virtue, or both, is more often found with those who are highly cultivated in their minds and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods, than among those who possess external goods to a useless extent but are deficient in higher qualities.