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" Parsons, a wise man, often acted foolishly. Potts, a wit, that seldom acted wisely. If enough were the means to make a man happy, one had always the means of happiness without ever enjoying the thing; the other always had the thing without ever possessing the means. Parsons, even in his prosperity, always fretting! Potts, in the midst of his poverty, ever laughing! It seems, then, that happiness in this life rather depends on internals than externals; and that, besides the natural effects of wisdom and virtue, vice and folly, there is such a thing as being of a happy or an unhappy constitution. "

H.W. Brands , The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin


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H.W. Brands quote : Parsons, a wise man, often acted foolishly. Potts, a wit, that seldom acted wisely. If enough were the means to make a man happy, one had always the means of happiness without ever enjoying the thing; the other always had the thing without ever possessing the means. Parsons, even in his prosperity, always fretting! Potts, in the midst of his poverty, ever laughing! It seems, then, that happiness in this life rather depends on internals than externals; and that, besides the natural effects of wisdom and virtue, vice and folly, there is such a thing as being of a happy or an unhappy constitution.