Philosophy can add to our happiness in no other manner but by diminishing our misery; it should not pretend to increase our present stock, but make us economists of what we are possessed of. Happy were we all born philosophers; all born with a talent of thus dissipating our own cares by spreading them upon all mankind.
Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “Enquiry into the present state of polite learning. The citizen of the world”, p.234
![Philosophy can add to our happiness in no other manner but by diminishing our misery; it should not pretend to increase our present stock, but make us economists of what we are possessed of. Happy were we all born](http://cdn.quoteddaily.com/images/oliver-goldsmith/philosophy-can-add-to-our-happiness-in-no-other-manner-but-by-diminishing-our-misery-it-should-not-pretend-to.jpg)