,how to ,live on ,twenty-,four ,hours a ,day by ,arnold ,bennett ,,preface ,,to ,,this ,,edition ,this preface1 though placed at the beginning1 as a preface must be1 should be read at the end of the book4 ,i have received a large amount of correspondence concerning this small work1 and many reviews of it--some of them nearly as long as the book itself--have been printed4 ,but scarcely any of the comment has been adverse4 ,some people have objected to a frivolity of tone2 but as the tone is not1 in my opinion1 at all frivolous1 this objection did not impress me2 and had no weightier reproach been put forward ,i might almost have been persuaded that the volume was flawless6 ,a more serious stricture has1 however1 been offered--not in the press1 but by sundry obviously sincere correspondents--and ,i must deal with it4 ,a reference to page #dc will show that ,i anticipated and feared this disapprobation4 ,the sentence against which protests have been made is as follows3--,in the majority of instances he the typical man does not precisely feel a passion for his business2 at best he does not dislike it4 ,he begins his business functions with some reluctance1 as late as he can1 and he ends them with joy1 as early as he can4 ,and his engines1 while he is engaged in his business1 are seldom at their full 'h4p4' ,i am assured1 in accents of unmistakable sincerity1 that there are many business men--not merely those in high positions or with fine prospects1 but modest subordinates with no hope of ever being much better off--who do enjoy their business functions1 who do not shirk them1 who do not arrive at the office as late as possible and depart as early as possible1 who1 in a word1 put the whole of their force into their day's work and are genuinely fatigued at the end thereof4 ,i am ready to believe it4 ,i do believe it4 ,i know it4 ,i always knew it4 ,both in ,london and in the provinces it has been my lot to spend long years in subordinate situations of business2 and the fact did not escape me that a certain proportion of my peers showed what amounted to an honest passion for their duties1 and that while engaged in those duties they were really living to the fullest extent of which they were capable4 ,but ,i remain convinced that these fortunate and happy individuals 7happier perhaps than they guessed7 did not and do not constitute a majority1 or anything like a majority4 ,i remain convinced that the majority of decent average conscientious men of business 7men with aspirations and ideals7 do not as a rule go home of a night genuinely tired4 ,i remain convinced that they put not as much but as little of themselves as they conscientiously can into the earning of a livelihood1 and that their vocation bores rather than interests them4 ,nevertheless1 ,i admit that the minority is of sufficient importance to merit attention1 and that ,i ought not to have ignored it so completely as ,i did do4 ,the whole difficulty of the hard-working minority was put in a single colloquial sentence by one of my correspondents4 ,he wrote3 ,i am just as keen as anyone on doing something to 'exceed my programme1' but allow me to tell you that when ,i get home at six thirty p4m4 ,i am not anything like so fresh as you seem to imagine4 ,now ,i must point out that the case of the minority1 who throw themselves with passion and gusto into their daily business task1 is infinitely less deplorable than the case of the majority1 who go half-heartedly and feebly through their official day4 ,the former are less in need of advice how to live4 ,at any rate during their official day of1 say1 eight hours they are really alive2 their engines are giving the full indicated h4p4 ,the other eight working hours of their day may be badly organised1 or even frittered away2 but it is less disastrous to waste eight hours a day than sixteen hours a day2 it is better to have lived a bit than never to have lived at all4 ,the real tragedy is the tragedy of the man who is braced to effort neither in the office nor out of it1 and to this man this book is primarily addressed4 ,but1 says the other and more fortunate man1 although my ordinary programme is bigger than his1 ,i want to exceed my programme too6 ,i am living a bit2 ,i want to live more4 ,but ,i really can't do another day's work on the top of my official day4 ,the fact is1 ,i1 the author1 ought to have foreseen that ,i should appeal most strongly to those who already had an interest in existence4 ,it is always the man who has tasted life who demands more of it4 ,and it is always the man who never gets out of bed who is the most difficult to rouse4 ,well1 you of the minority1 let us assume that the intensity of your daily money-getting will not allow you to carry out quite all the suggestions in the following pages4 ,some of the suggestions may yet stand4 ,i admit that you may not be able to use the time spent on the journey home at night2 but the suggestion for the journey to the office in the morning is as practicable for you as for anybody4 ,and that weekly interval of forty hours1 from ,saturday to ,monday1 is yours just as much as the other man's1 though a slight accumulation of fatigue may prevent you from employing the whole of your h4p4 upon it4 ,there remains1 then1 the important portion of the three or more evenings a week4 ,you tell me flatly that you are too tired to do anything outside your programme at night4 ,in reply to which ,i tell you flatly that if your ordinary day's work is thus exhausting1 then the balance of your life is wrong and must be adjusted4 ,a man's powers ought not to be monopolised by his ordinary day's work4 ,what1 then1 is to be done8 ,the obvious thing to do is to circumvent your ardour for your ordinary day's work by a ruse4 ,employ your engines in something beyond the programme before1 and not after1 you employ them on the programme itself4 ,briefly1 get up earlier in the morning4 ,you say you cannot4 ,you say it is impossible for you to go earlier to bed of a night--to do so would upset the entire household4 ,i do not think it is quite impossible to go to bed earlier at night4 ,i think that if you persist in rising earlier1 and the consequence is insufficiency of sleep1 you will soon find a way of going to bed earlier4 ,but my impression is that the consequences of rising earlier will not be an insufficiency of sleep4 ,my impression1 growing stronger every year1 is that sleep is partly a matter of habit--and of slackness4 ,i am convinced that most people sleep as long as they do because they are at a loss for any other diversion4 ,how much sleep do you think is daily obtained by the powerful healthy man who daily rattles up your street in charge of ,carter ,patterson's van8 ,i have consulted a doctor on this point4 ,he is a doctor who for twenty-four years has had a large general practice in a large flourishing suburb of ,london1 inhabited by exactly such people as you and me4 ,he is a curt man1 and his answer was curt3 ,most people sleep themselves stupid4 ,he went on to give his opinion that nine men out of ten would have better health and more fun out of life if they spent less time in bed4 ,other doctors have confirmed this judgment1 which1 of course1 does not apply to growing youths4 ,rise an hour1 an hour and a half1 or even two hours earlier2 and--if you must--retire earlier when you can4 ,in the matter of exceeding programmes1 you will accomplish as much in one morning hour as in two evening hours4 ,but1 you say1 ,i couldn't begin without some food1 and servants4 ,surely1 my dear sir1 in an age when an excellent spirit-lamp 7including a saucepan7 can be bought for less than a shilling1 you are not going to allow your highest welfare to depend upon the precarious immediate co-operation of a fellow creature6 ,instruct the fellow creature1 whoever she may be1 at night4 ,tell her to put a tray in a suitable position over night4 ,on that tray two biscuits1 a cup and saucer1 a box of matches and a spirit-lamp2 on the lamp1 the saucepan2 on the saucepan1 the lid--but turned the wrong way up2 on the reversed lid1 the small teapot1 containing a minute quantity of tea leaves4 ,you will then have to strike a match--that is all4 ,in three minutes the water boils1 and you pour it into the teapot 7which is already warm74 ,in three more minutes the tea is infused4 ,you can begin your day while drinking it4 ,these details may seem trivial to the foolish1 but to the thoughtful they will not seem trivial4 ,the proper1 wise balancing of one's whole life may depend upon the feasibility of a cup of tea at an unusual hour4 ,a4 ,b4 ,,contents ,,preface ,i ,,the ,,daily ,,miracle ,,ii ,,the ,,desire ,,to ,,exceed ,,one',s ,,programme ,,iii ,,precautions ,,before ,,beginning ,,iv ,,the ,,cause ,,of ,,the ,,trouble ,v ,,tennis ,,and ,,the ,,immortal ,,soul ,,vi ,,remember ,,human ,,nature ,,vii ,,controlling ,,the ,,mind ,,viii ,,the ,,reflective ,,mood ,,ix ,,interest ,,in ,,the ,,arts ,x ,,nothing ,,in ,,life ,,is ,,humdrum ,,xi ,,serious ,,reading ,,xii ,,dangers ,,to ,,avoid ,i ,,the ,,daily ,,miracle ,yes1 he's one of those men that don't know how to manage4 ,good situation4 ,regular income4 ,quite enough for luxuries as well as needs4 ,not really extravagant4 ,and yet the fellow's always in difficulties4 ,somehow he gets nothing out of his money4 ,excellent flat--half empty6 ,always looks as if he'd had the brokers in4 ,new suit--old hat6 ,magnificent necktie--baggy trousers6 ,asks you to dinner3 cut glass--bad mutton1 or ,turkish coffee--cracked cup6 ,he can't understand it4 ,explanation simply is that he fritters his income away4 ,wish ,i had the half of it6 ,i'd show him-- ,so we have most of us criticised1 at one time or another1 in our superior way4 ,we are nearly all chancellors of the exchequer3 it is the pride of the moment4 ,newspapers are full of articles explaining how to live on such-and-such a sum1 and these articles provoke a correspondence whose violence proves the interest they excite4 ,recently1 in a daily organ1 a battle raged round the question whether a woman can exist nicely in the country on ,l#he a year4 ,i have seen an essay1 ,how to live on eight shillings a week4 ,but ,i have never seen an essay1 ,how to live on twenty-four hours a day4 ,yet it has been said that time is money4 ,that proverb understates the case4 ,time is a great deal more than money4 ,if you have time you can obtain money--usually4 ,but though you have the wealth of a cloak-room attendant at the ,carlton ,hotel1 you cannot buy yourself a minute more time than ,i have1 or the cat by the fire has4 ,philosophers have explained space4 ,they have not explained time4 ,it is the inexplicable raw material of everything4 ,with it1 all is possible2 without it1 nothing4 ,the supply of time is truly a daily miracle1 an affair genuinely astonishing when one examines it4 ,you wake up in the morning1 and lo6 your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life6 ,it is yours4 ,it is the most precious of possessions4 ,a highly singular commodity1 showered upon you in a manner as singular as the commodity itself6 ,for remark6 ,no one can take it from you4 ,it is unstealable4 ,and no one receives either more or less than you receive4 ,talk about an ideal democracy6 ,in the realm of time there is no aristocracy of wealth1 and no aristocracy of intellect4 ,genius is never rewarded by even an extra hour a day4 ,and there is no punishment4 ,waste your infinitely precious commodity as much as you will1 and the supply will never be withheld from you4 ,no mysterious power will say3--,this man is a fool1 if not a knave4 ,he does not deserve time2 he shall be cut off at the meter4 ,it is more certain than consols1 and payment of income is not affected by ,sundays4 ,moreover1 you cannot draw on the future4 ,impossible to get into debt6 ,you can only waste the passing moment4 ,you cannot waste to-morrow2 it is kept for you4 ,you cannot waste the next hour2 it is kept for you4 ,i said the affair was a miracle4 ,is it not8 ,you have to live on this twenty-four hours of daily time4 ,out of it you have to spin health1 pleasure1 money1 content1 respect1 and the evolution of your immortal soul4 ,its right use1 its most effective use1 is a matter of the highest urgency and of the most thrilling actuality4 ,all depends on that4 ,your happiness--the elusive prize that you are all clutching for1 my friends6--depends on that4 ,strange that the newspapers1 so enterprising and up-to-date as they are1 are not full of ,how to live on a given income of time1 instead of ,how to live on a given income of money6 ,money is far commoner than time4 ,when one reflects1 one perceives that money is just about the commonest thing there is4 ,it encumbers the earth in gross heaps4 ,if one can't contrive to live on a certain income of money1 one earns a little more--or steals it1 or advertises for it4 ,one doesn't necessarily muddle one's life because one can't quite manage on a thousand pounds a year2 one braces the muscles and makes it guineas1 and balances the budget4 ,but if one cannot arrange that an income of twenty-four hours a day shall exactly cover all proper items of expenditure1 one does muddle one's life definitely4 ,the supply of time1 though gloriously regular1 is cruelly restricted4 ,which of us lives on twenty-four hours a day8 ,and when ,i say lives1 ,i do not mean exists1 nor muddles through4 ,which of us is free from that uneasy feeling that the great spending departments of his daily life are not managed as they ought to be8 ,which of us is quite sure that his fine suit is not surmounted by a shameful hat1 or that in attending to the crockery he has forgotten the quality of the food8 ,which of us is not saying to himself--which of us has not been saying to himself all his life3 ,i shall alter that when ,i have a little more time8 ,we never shall have any more time4 ,we have1 and we have always had1 all the time there is4 ,it is the realisation of this profound and neglected truth 7which1 by the way1 ,i have not discovered7 that has led me to the minute practical examination of daily time-expenditure4 ,,ii ,,the ,,desire ,,to ,,exceed ,,one',s ,,programme ,but1 someone may remark1 with the ,english disregard of everything except the point1 what is he driving at with his twenty-four hours a day8 ,i have no difficulty in living on twenty-four hours a day4 ,i do all that ,i want to do1 and still find time to go in for newspaper competitions4 ,surely it is a simple affair1 knowing that one has only twenty-four hours a day1 to content one's self with twenty-four hours a day6 ,to you1 my dear sir1 ,i present my excuses and apologies4 ,you are precisely the man that ,i have been wishing to meet for about forty years4 ,will you kindly send me your name and address1 and state your charge for telling me how you do it8 ,instead of me talking to you1 you ought to be talking to me4 ,please come forward4 ,that you exist1 ,i am convinced1 and that ,i have not yet encountered you is my loss4 ,meanwhile1 until you appear1 ,i will continue to chat with my companions in distress--that innumerable band of souls who are haunted1 more or less painfully1 by the feeling that the years slip by1 and slip by1 and slip by1 and that they have not yet been able to get their lives into proper working order4 ,if we analyse that feeling1 we shall perceive it to be1 primarily1 one of uneasiness1 of expectation1 of looking forward1 of aspiration4 ,it is a source of constant discomfort1 for it behaves like a skeleton at the feast of all our enjoyments4 ,we go to the theatre and laugh2 but between the acts it raises a skinny finger at us4 ,we rush violently for the last train1 and while we are cooling a long age on the platform waiting for the last train1 it promenades its bones up and down by our side and inquires3 ,o man1 what hast thou done with thy youth8 ,what art thou doing with thine age8 ,you may urge that this feeling of continuous looking forward1 of aspiration1 is part of life itself1 and inseparable from life itself4 ,true6 ,but there are degrees4 ,a man may desire to go to ,mecca4 ,his conscience tells him that he ought to go to ,mecca4 ,he fares forth1 either by the aid of ,cook's1 or unassisted2 he may probably never reach ,mecca2 he may drown before he gets to ,port ,said2 he may perish ingloriously on the coast of the ,red ,sea2 his desire may remain eternally frustrate4 ,unfulfilled aspiration may always trouble him4 ,but he will not be tormented in the same way as the man who1 desiring to reach ,mecca1 and harried by the desire to reach ,mecca1 never leaves ,brixton4 ,it is something to have left ,brixton4 ,most of us have not left ,brixton4 ,we have not even taken a cab to ,ludgate ,circus and inquired from ,cook's the price of a conducted tour4 ,and our excuse to ourselves is that there are only twenty-four hours in the day4 ,if we further analyse our vague1 uneasy aspiration1 we shall1 ,i think1 see that it springs from a fixed idea that we ought to do something in addition to those things which we are loyally and morally obliged to do4 ,we are obliged1 by various codes written and unwritten1 to maintain ourselves and our families 7if any7 in health and comfort1 to pay our debts1 to save1 to increase our prosperity by increasing our efficiency4 ,a task sufficiently difficult6 ,a task which very few of us achieve6 ,a task often beyond our skill6 ,yet1 if we succeed in it1 as we sometimes do1 we are not satisfied2 the skeleton is still with us4 ,and even when we realise that the task is beyond our skill1 that our powers cannot cope with it1 we feel that we should be less discontented if we gave to our powers1 already overtaxed1 something still further to do4 ,and such is1 indeed1 the fact4 ,the wish to accomplish something outside their formal programme is common to all men who in the course of evolution have risen past a certain level4 ,until an effort is made to satisfy that wish1 the sense of uneasy waiting for something to start which has not started will remain to disturb the peace of the soul4 ,that wish has been called by many names4 ,it is one form of the universal desire for knowledge4 ,and it is so strong that men whose whole lives have been given to the systematic acquirement of knowledge have been driven by it to overstep the limits of their programme in search of still more knowledge4 ,even ,herbert ,spencer1 in my opinion the greatest mind that ever lived1 was often forced by it into agreeable little backwaters of inquiry4 ,i imagine that in the majority of people who are conscious of the wish to live--that is to say1 people who have intellectual curiosity--the aspiration to exceed formal programmes takes a literary shape4 ,they would like to embark on a course of reading4 ,decidedly the ,british people are becoming more and more literary4 ,but ,i would point out that literature by no means comprises the whole field of knowledge1 and that the disturbing thirst to improve one's self--to increase one's knowledge--may well be slaked quite apart from literature4 ,with the various ways of slaking ,i shall deal later4 ,here ,i merely point out to those who have no natural sympathy with literature that literature is not the only well4 ,,iii ,,precautions ,,before ,,beginning ,now that ,i have succeeded 7if succeeded ,i have7 in persuading you to admit to yourself that you are constantly haunted by a suppressed dissatisfaction with your own arrangement of your daily life2 and that the primal cause of that inconvenient dissatisfaction is the feeling that you are every day leaving undone something which you would like to do1 and which1 indeed1 you are always hoping to do when you have more time2 and now that ,i have drawn your attention to the glaring1 dazzling truth that you never will have more time1 since you already have all the time there is--you expect me to let you into some wonderful secret by which you may at any rate approach the ideal of a perfect arrangement of the day1 and by which1 therefore1 that haunting1 unpleasant1 daily disappointment of things left undone will be got rid of6 ,i have found no such wonderful secret4 ,nor do ,i expect to find it1 nor do ,i expect that anyone else will ever find it4 ,it is undiscovered4 ,when you first began to gather my drift1 perhaps there was a resurrection of hope in your breast4 ,perhaps you said to yourself1 ,this man will show me an easy1 unfatiguing way of doing what ,i have so long in vain wished to do4 ,alas1 no6 ,the fact is that there is no easy way1 no royal road4 ,the path to ,mecca is extremely hard and stony1 and the worst of it is that you never quite get there after all4 ,the most important preliminary to the task of arranging one's life so that one may live fully and comfortably within one's daily budget of twenty-four hours is the calm realisation of the extreme difficulty of the task1 of the sacrifices and the endless effort which it demands4 ,i cannot too strongly insist on this4 ,if you imagine that you will be able to achieve your ideal by ingeniously planning out a time-table with a pen on a piece of paper1 you had better give up hope at once4 ,if you are not prepared for discouragements and disillusions2 if you will not be content with a small result for a big effort1 then do not begin4 ,lie down again and resume the uneasy doze which you call your existence4 ,it is very sad1 is it not1 very depressing and sombre8 ,and yet ,i think it is rather fine1 too1 this necessity for the tense bracing of the will before anything worth doing can be done4 ,i rather like it myself4 ,i feel it to be the chief thing that differentiates me from the cat by the fire4 ,well1 you say1 assume that ,i am braced for the battle4 ,assume that ,i have carefully weighed and comprehended your ponderous remarks2 how do ,i begin8 ,dear sir1 you simply begin4 ,there is no magic method of beginning4 ,if a man standing on the edge of a swimming-bath and wanting to jump into the cold water should ask you1 ,how do ,i begin to jump8 you would merely reply1 ,just jump4 ,take hold of your nerves1 and jump4 ,as ,i have previously said1 the chief beauty about the constant supply of time is that you cannot waste it in advance4 ,the next year1 the next day1 the next hour are lying ready for you1 as perfect1 as unspoilt1 as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your career4 ,which fact is very gratifying and reassuring4 ,you can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose4 ,therefore no object is served in waiting till next week1 or even until to-morrow4 ,you may fancy that the water will be warmer next week4 ,it won't4 ,it will be colder4 ,but before you begin1 let me murmur a few words of warning in your private ear4 ,let me principally warn you against your own ardour4 ,ardour in well-doing is a misleading and a treacherous thing4 ,it cries out loudly for employment2 you can't satisfy it at first2 it wants more and more2 it is eager to move mountains and divert the course of rivers4 ,it isn't content till it perspires4 ,and then1 too often1 when it feels the perspiration on its brow1 it wearies all of a sudden and dies1 without even putting itself to the trouble of saying1 ,i've had enough of this4 ,beware of undertaking too much at the start4 ,be content with quite a little4 ,allow for accidents4 ,allow for human nature1 especially your own4 ,a failure or so1 in itself1 would not matter1 if it did not incur a loss of self-esteem and of self-confidence4 ,but just as nothing succeeds like success1 so nothing fails like failure4 ,most people who are ruined are ruined by attempting too much4 ,therefore1 in setting out on the immense enterprise of living fully and comfortably within the narrow limits of twenty-four hours a day1 let us avoid at any cost the risk of an early failure4 ,i will not agree that1 in this business at any rate1 a glorious failure is better than a petty success4 ,i am all for the petty success4 ,a glorious failure leads to nothing2 a petty success may lead to a success that is not petty4 ,so let us begin to examine the budget of the day's time4 ,you say your day is already full to overflowing4 ,how8 ,you actually spend in earning your livelihood--how much8 ,seven hours1 on the average8 ,and in actual sleep1 seven8 ,i will add two hours1 and be generous4 ,and ,i will defy you to account to me on the spur of the moment for the other eight hours4 ,,iv ,,the ,,cause ,,of ,,the ,,troubles ,in order to come to grips at once with the question of time-expenditure in all its actuality1 ,i must choose an individual case for examination4 ,i can only deal with one case1 and that case cannot be the average case1 because there is no such case as the average case1 just as there is no such man as the average man4 ,every man and every man's case is special4 ,but if ,i take the case of a ,londoner who works in an office1 whose office hours are from ten to six1 and who spends fifty minutes morning and night in travelling between his house door and his office door1 ,i shall have got as near to the average as facts permit4 ,there are men who have to work longer for a living1 but there are others who do not have to work so long4 ,fortunately the financial side of existence does not interest us here2 for our present purpose the clerk at a pound a week is exactly as well off as the millionaire in ,carlton ,house-terrace4 ,now the great and profound mistake which my typical man makes in regard to his day is a mistake of general attitude1 a mistake which vitiates and weakens two-thirds of his energies and interests4 ,in the majority of instances he does not precisely feel a passion for his business2 at best he does not dislike it4 ,he begins his business functions with reluctance1 as late as he can1 and he ends them with joy1 as early as he can4 ,and his engines while he is engaged in his business are seldom at their full h4p4 7,i know that ,i shall be accused by angry readers of traducing the city worker2 but ,i am pretty thoroughly acquainted with the ,city1 and ,i stick to what ,i say47 ,yet in spite of all this he persists in looking upon those hours from ten to six as the day1 to which the ten hours preceding them and the six hours following them are nothing but a prologue and epilogue4 ,such an attitude1 unconscious though it be1 of course kills his interest in the odd sixteen hours1 with the result that1 even if he does not waste them1 he does not count them2 he regards them simply as margin4 ,this general attitude is utterly illogical and unhealthy1 since it formally gives the central prominence to a patch of time and a bunch of activities which the man's one idea is to get through and have done with4 ,if a man makes two-thirds of his existence subservient to one-third1 for which admittedly he has no absolutely feverish zest1 how can he hope to live fully and completely8 ,he cannot4 ,if my typical man wishes to live fully and completely he must1 in his mind1 arrange a day within a day4 ,and this inner day1 a ,chinese box in a larger ,chinese box1 must begin at #f p4m4 and end at #aj a4m4 ,it is a day of sixteen hours2 and during all these sixteen hours he has nothing whatever to do but cultivate his body and his soul and his fellow men4 ,during those sixteen hours he is free2 he is not a wage-earner2 he is not preoccupied with monetary cares2 he is just as good as a man with a private income4 ,this must be his attitude4 ,and his attitude is all important4 ,his success in life 7much more important than the amount of estate upon what his executors will have to pay estate duty7 depends on it4 ,what8 ,you say that full energy given to those sixteen hours will lessen the value of the business eight8 ,not so4 ,on the contrary1 it will assuredly increase the value of the business eight4 ,one of the chief things which my typical man has to learn is that the mental faculties are capable of a continuous hard activity2 they do not tire like an arm or a leg4 ,all they want is change--not rest1 except in sleep4 ,i shall now examine the typical man's current method of employing the sixteen hours that are entirely his1 beginning with his uprising4 ,i will merely indicate things which he does and which ,i think he ought not to do1 postponing my suggestions for planting the times which ,i shall have cleared--as a settler clears spaces in a forest4 ,in justice to him ,i must say that he wastes very little time before he leaves the house in the morning at #i4aj4 ,in too many houses he gets up at nine1 breakfasts between #i4g and #i4i #a_/b1 and then bolts4 ,but immediately he bangs the front door his mental faculties1 which are tireless1 become idle4 ,he walks to the station in a condition of mental coma4 ,arrived there1 he usually has to wait for the train4 ,on hundreds of suburban stations every morning you see men calmly strolling up and down platforms while railway companies unblushingly rob them of time1 which is more than money4 ,hundreds of thousands of hours are thus lost every day simply because my typical man thinks so little of time that it has never occurred to him to take quite easy precautions against the risk of its loss4 ,he has a solid coin of time to spend every day--call it a sovereign4 ,he must get change for it1 and in getting change he is content to lose heavily4 ,supposing that in selling him a ticket the company said1 ,we will change you a sovereign1 but we shall charge you three halfpence for doing so1 what would my typical man exclaim8 ,yet that is the equivalent of what the company does when it robs him of five minutes twice a day4 ,you say ,i am dealing with minutiae4 ,i am4 ,and later on ,i will justify myself4 ,now will you kindly buy your paper and step into the train8 ,v ,,tennis ,,and ,,the ,,immortal ,,soul ,you get into the morning train with your newspaper1 and you calmly and majestically give yourself up to your newspaper4 ,you do not hurry4 ,you know you have at least half an hour of security in front of you4 ,as your glance lingers idly at the advertisements of shipping and of songs on the outer pages1 your air is the air of a leisured man1 wealthy in time1 of a man from some planet where there are a hundred and twenty-four hours a day instead of twenty-four4 ,i am an impassioned reader of newspapers4 ,i read five ,english and two ,french dailies1 and the news-agents alone know how many weeklies1 regularly4 ,i am obliged to mention this personal fact lest ,i should be accused of a prejudice against newspapers when ,i say that ,i object to the reading of newspapers in the morning train4 ,newspapers are produced with rapidity1 to be read with rapidity4 ,there is no place in my daily programme for newspapers4 ,i read them as ,i may in odd moments4 ,but ,i do read them4 ,the idea of devoting to them thirty or forty consecutive minutes of wonderful solitude 7for nowhere can one more perfectly immerse one's self in one's self than in a compartment full of silent1 withdrawn1 smoking males7 is to me repugnant4 ,i cannot possibly allow you to scatter priceless pearls of time with such ,oriental lavishness4 ,you are not the ,shah of time4 ,let me respectfully remind you that you have no more time than ,i have4 ,no newspaper reading in trains6 ,i have already put by about three-quarters of an hour for use4 ,now you reach your office4 ,and ,i abandon you there till six o'clock4 ,i am aware that you have nominally an hour 7often in reality an hour and a half7 in the midst of the day1 less than half of which time is given to eating4 ,but ,i will leave you all that to spend as you choose4 ,you may read your newspapers then4 ,i meet you again as you emerge from your office4 ,you are pale and tired4 ,at any rate1 your wife says you are pale1 and you give her to understand that you are tired4 ,during the journey home you have been gradually working up the tired feeling4 ,the tired feeling hangs heavy over the mighty suburbs of ,london like a virtuous and melancholy cloud1 particularly in winter4 ,you don't eat immediately on your arrival home4 ,but in about an hour or so you feel as if you could sit up and take a little nourishment4 ,and you do4 ,then you smoke1 seriously2 you see friends2 you potter2 you play cards2 you flirt with a book2 you note that old age is creeping on2 you take a stroll2 you caress the piano4444 ,by ,jove6 a quarter past eleven4 ,you then devote quite forty minutes to thinking about going to bed2 and it is conceivable that you are acquainted with a genuinely good whisky4 ,at last you go to bed1 exhausted by the day's work4 ,six hours1 probably more1 have gone since you left the office--gone like a dream1 gone like magic1 unaccountably gone6 ,that is a fair sample case4 ,but you say3 ,it's all very well for you to talk4 ,a man is tired4 ,a man must see his friends4 ,he can't always be on the stretch4 ,just so4 ,but when you arrange to go to the theatre 7especially with a pretty woman7 what happens8 ,you rush to the suburbs2 you spare no toil to make yourself glorious in fine raiment2 you rush back to town in another train2 you keep yourself on the stretch for four hours1 if not five2 you take her home2 you take yourself home4 ,you don't spend three-quarters of an hour in thinking about going to bed4 ,you go4 ,friends and fatigue have equally been forgotten1 and the evening has seemed so exquisitely long 7or perhaps too short76 ,and do you remember that time when you were persuaded to sing in the chorus of the amateur operatic society1 and slaved two hours every other night for three months8 ,can you deny that when you have something definite to look forward to at eventide1 something that is to employ all your energy--the thought of that something gives a glow and a more intense vitality to the whole day8 ,what ,i suggest is that at six o'clock you look facts in the face and admit that you are not tired 7because you are not1 you know71 and that you arrange your evening so that it is not cut in the middle by a meal4 ,by so doing you will have a clear expanse of at least three hours4 ,i do not suggest that you should employ three hours every night of your life in using up your mental energy4 ,but ,i do suggest that you might1 for a commencement1 employ an hour and a half every other evening in some important and consecutive cultivation of the mind4 ,you will still be left with three evenings for friends1 bridge1 tennis1 domestic scenes1 odd reading1 pipes1 gardening1 pottering1 and prize competitions4 ,you will still have the terrific wealth of forty-five hours between #b p4m4 ,saturday and #aj a4m4 ,monday4 ,if you persevere you will soon want to pass four evenings1 and perhaps five1 in some sustained endeavour to be genuinely alive4 ,and you will fall out of that habit of muttering to yourself at #aa4ae p4m41 ,time to be thinking about going to bed4 ,the man who begins to go to bed forty minutes before he opens his bedroom door is bored2 that is to say1 he is not living4 ,but remember1 at the start1 those ninety nocturnal minutes thrice a week must be the most important minutes in the ten thousand and eighty4 ,they must be sacred1 quite as sacred as a dramatic rehearsal or a tennis match4 ,instead of saying1 ,sorry ,i can't see you1 old chap1 but ,i have to run off to the tennis club1 you must say1 444but ,i have to work4 ,this1 ,i admit1 is intensely difficult to say4 ,tennis is so much more urgent than the immortal soul4 ,,vi ,,remember ,,human ,,nature ,i have incidentally mentioned the vast expanse of forty-four hours between leaving business at #b p4m4 on ,saturday and returning to business at #aj a4m4 on ,monday4 ,and here ,i must touch on the point whether the week should consist of six days or of seven4 ,for many years--in fact1 until ,i was approaching forty--my own week consisted of seven days4 ,i was constantly being informed by older and wiser people that more work1 more genuine living1 could be got out of six days than out of seven4 ,and it is certainly true that now1 with one day in seven in which ,i follow no programme and make no effort save what the caprice of the moment dictates1 ,i appreciate intensely the moral value of a weekly rest4 ,nevertheless1 had ,i my life to arrange over again1 ,i would do again as ,i have done4 ,only those who have lived at the full stretch seven days a week for a long time can appreciate the full beauty of a regular recurring idleness4 ,moreover1 ,i am ageing4 ,and it is a question of age4 ,in cases of abounding youth and exceptional energy and desire for effort ,i should say unhesitatingly3 ,keep going1 day in1 day out4 ,but in the average case ,i should say3 ,confine your formal programme 7super-programme1 ,i mean7 to six days a week4 ,if you find yourself wishing to extend it1 extend it1 but only in proportion to your wish2 and count the time extra as a windfall1 not as regular income1 so that you can return to a six-day programme without the sensation of being poorer1 of being a backslider4 ,let us now see where we stand4 ,so far we have marked for saving out of the waste of days1 half an hour at least on six mornings a week1 and one hour and a half on three evenings a week4 ,total1 seven hours and a half a week4 ,i propose to be content with that seven hours and a half for the present4 ,what8 you cry4 ,you pretend to show us how to live1 and you only deal with seven hours and a half out of a hundred and sixty-eight6 ,are you going to perform a miracle with your seven hours and a half8 ,well1 not to mince the matter1 ,i am--if you will kindly let me6 ,that is to say1 ,i am going to ask you to attempt an experience which1 while perfectly natural and explicable1 has all the air of a miracle4 ,my contention is that the full use of those seven-and-a-half hours will quicken the whole life of the week1 add zest to it1 and increase the interest which you feel in even the most banal occupations4 ,you practise physical exercises for a mere ten minutes morning and evening1 and yet you are not astonished when your physical health and strength are beneficially affected every hour of the day1 and your whole physical outlook changed4 ,why should you be astonished that an average of over an hour a day given to the mind should permanently and completely enliven the whole activity of the mind8 ,more time might assuredly be given to the cultivation of one's self4 ,and in proportion as the time was longer the results would be greater4 ,but ,i prefer to begin with what looks like a trifling effort4 ,it is not really a trifling effort1 as those will discover who have yet to essay it4 ,to clear even seven hours and a half from the jungle is passably difficult4 ,for some sacrifice has to be made4 ,one may have spent one's time badly1 but one did spend it2 one did do something with it1 however ill-advised that something may have been4 ,to do something else means a change of habits4 ,and habits are the very dickens to change6 ,further1 any change1 even a change for the better1 is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts4 ,if you imagine that you will be able to devote seven hours and a half a week to serious1 continuous effort1 and still live your old life1 you are mistaken4 ,i repeat that some sacrifice1 and an immense deal of volition1 will be necessary4 ,and it is because ,i know the difficulty1 it is because ,i know the almost disastrous effect of failure in such an enterprise1 that ,i earnestly advise a very humble beginning4 ,you must safeguard your self-respect4 ,self-respect is at the root of all purposefulness1 and a failure in an enterprise deliberately planned deals a desperate wound at one's self-respect4 ,hence ,i iterate and reiterate3 ,start quietly1 unostentatiously4 ,when you have conscientiously given seven hours and a half a week to the cultivation of your vitality for three months--then you may begin to sing louder and tell yourself what wondrous things you are capable of doing4 ,before coming to the method of using the indicated hours1 ,i have one final suggestion to make4 ,that is1 as regards the evenings1 to allow much more than an hour and a half in which to do the work of an hour and a half4 ,remember the chance of accidents4 ,remember human nature4 ,and give yourself1 say1 from #i to #aa4cj for your task of ninety minutes4 ,,vii ,,controlling ,,the ,,mind ,people say3 ,one can't help one's thoughts4 ,but one can4 ,the control of the thinking machine is perfectly possible4 ,and since nothing whatever happens to us outside our own brain2 since nothing hurts us or gives us pleasure except within the brain1 the supreme importance of being able to control what goes on in that mysterious brain is patent4 ,this idea is one of the oldest platitudes1 but it is a platitude whose profound truth and urgency most people live and die without realising4 ,people complain of the lack of power to concentrate1 not witting that they may acquire the power1 if they choose4 ,and without the power to concentrate--that is to say1 without the power to dictate to the brain its task and to ensure obedience--true life is impossible4 ,mind control is the first element of a full existence4 ,hence1 it seems to me1 the first business of the day should be to put the mind through its paces4 ,you look after your body1 inside and out2 you run grave danger in hacking hairs off your skin2 you employ a whole army of individuals1 from the milkman to the pig-killer1 to enable you to bribe your stomach into decent behaviour4 ,why not devote a little attention to the far more delicate machinery of the mind1 especially as you will require no extraneous aid8 ,it is for this portion of the art and craft of living that ,i have reserved the time from the moment of quitting your door to the moment of arriving at your office4 ,what8 ,i am to cultivate my mind in the street1 on the platform1 in the train1 and in the crowded street again8 ,precisely4 ,nothing simpler6 ,no tools required6 ,not even a book4 ,nevertheless1 the affair is not easy4 ,when you leave your house1 concentrate your mind on a subject 7no matter what1 to begin with74 ,you will not have gone ten yards before your mind has skipped away under your very eyes and is larking round the corner with another subject4 ,bring it back by the scruff of the neck4 ,ere you have reached the station you will have brought it back about forty times4 ,do not despair4 ,continue4 ,keep it up4 ,you will succeed4 ,you cannot by any chance fail if you persevere4 ,it is idle to pretend that your mind is incapable of concentration4 ,do you not remember that morning when you received a disquieting letter which demanded a very carefully-worded answer8 ,how you kept your mind steadily on the subject of the answer1 without a second's intermission1 until you reached your office2 whereupon you instantly sat down and wrote the answer8 ,that was a case in which you were roused by circumstances to such a degree of vitality that you were able to dominate your mind like a tyrant4 ,you would have no trifling4 ,you insisted that its work should be done1 and its work was done4 ,by the regular practice of concentration 7as to which there is no secret--save the secret of perseverance7 you can tyrannise over your mind 7which is not the highest part of you7 every hour of the day1 and in no matter what place4 ,the exercise is a very convenient one4 ,if you got into your morning train with a pair of dumb-bells for your muscles or an encyclopaedia in ten volumes for your learning1 you would probably excite remark4 ,but as you walk in the street1 or sit in the corner of the compartment behind a pipe1 or strap-hang on the ,subterranean1 who is to know that you are engaged in the most important of daily acts8 ,what asinine boor can laugh at you8 ,i do not care what you concentrate on1 so long as you concentrate4 ,it is the mere disciplining of the thinking machine that counts4 ,but still1 you may as well kill two birds with one stone1 and concentrate on something useful4 ,i suggest--it is only a suggestion--a little chapter of ,marcus ,aurelius or ,epictetus4 ,do not1 ,i beg1 shy at their names4 ,for myself1 ,i know nothing more actual1 more bursting with plain common-sense1 applicable to the daily life of plain persons like you and me 7who hate airs1 pose1 and nonsense7 than ,marcus ,aurelius or ,epictetus4 ,read a chapter--and so short they are1 the chapters6--in the evening and concentrate on it the next morning4 ,you will see4 ,yes1 my friend1 it is useless for you to try to disguise the fact4 ,i can hear your brain like a telephone at my ear4 ,you are saying to yourself3 ,this fellow was doing pretty well up to his seventh chapter4 ,he had begun to interest me faintly4 ,but what he says about thinking in trains1 and concentration1 and so on1 is not for me4 ,it may be well enough for some folks1 but it isn't in my line4 ,it is for you1 ,i passionately repeat2 it is for you4 ,indeed1 you are the very man ,i am aiming at4 ,throw away the suggestion1 and you throw away the most precious suggestion that was ever offered to you4 ,it is not my suggestion4 ,it is the suggestion of the most sensible1 practical1 hard-headed men who have walked the earth4 ,i only give it you at second-hand4 ,try it4 ,get your mind in hand4 ,and see how the process cures half the evils of life--especially worry1 that miserable1 avoidable1 shameful disease--worry6 ,,viii ,,the ,,reflective ,,mood ,the exercise of concentrating the mind 7to which at least half an hour a day should be given7 is a mere preliminary1 like scales on the piano4 ,having acquired power over that most unruly member of one's complex organism1 one has naturally to put it to the yoke4 ,useless to possess an obedient mind unless one profits to the furthest possible degree by its obedience4 ,a prolonged primary course of study is indicated4 ,now as to what this course of study should be there cannot be any question2 there never has been any question4 ,all the sensible people of all ages are agreed upon it4 ,and it is not literature1 nor is it any other art1 nor is it history1 nor is it any science4 ,it is the study of one's self4 ,man1 know thyself4 ,these words are so hackneyed that verily ,i blush to write them4 ,yet they must be written1 for they need to be written4 7,i take back my blush1 being ashamed of it47 ,man1 know thyself4 ,i say it out loud4 ,the phrase is one of those phrases with which everyone is familiar1 of which everyone acknowledges the value1 and which only the most sagacious put into practice4 ,i don't know why4 ,i am entirely convinced that what is more than anything else lacking in the life of the average well-intentioned man of to-day is the reflective mood4 ,we do not reflect4 ,i mean that we do not reflect upon genuinely important things2 upon the problem of our happiness1 upon the main direction in which we are going1 upon what life is giving to us1 upon the share which reason has 7or has not7 in determining our actions1 and upon the relation between our principles and our conduct4 ,and yet you are in search of happiness1 are you not8 ,have you discovered it8 ,the chances are that you have not4 ,the chances are that you have already come to believe that happiness is unattainable4 ,but men have attained it4 ,and they have attained it by realising that happiness does not spring from the procuring of physical or mental pleasure1 but from the development of reason and the adjustment of conduct to principles4 ,i suppose that you will not have the audacity to deny this4 ,and if you admit it1 and still devote no part of your day to the deliberate consideration of your reason1 principles1 and conduct1 you admit also that while striving for a certain thing you are regularly leaving undone the one act which is necessary to the attainment of that thing4 ,now1 shall ,i blush1 or will you8 ,do not fear that ,i mean to thrust certain principles upon your attention4 ,i care not 7in this place7 what your principles are4 ,your principles may induce you to believe in the righteousness of burglary4 ,i don't mind4 ,all ,i urge is that a life in which conduct does not fairly well accord with principles is a silly life2 and that conduct can only be made to accord with principles by means of daily examination1 reflection1 and resolution4 ,what leads to the permanent sorrowfulness of burglars is that their principles are contrary to burglary4 ,if they genuinely believed in the moral excellence of burglary1 penal servitude would simply mean so many happy years for them2 all martyrs are happy1 because their conduct and their principles agree4 ,as for reason 7which makes conduct1 and is not unconnected with the making of principles71 it plays a far smaller part in our lives than we fancy4 ,we are supposed to be reasonable but we are much more instinctive than reasonable4 ,and the less we reflect1 the less reasonable we shall be4 ,the next time you get cross with the waiter because your steak is over-cooked1 ask reason to step into the cabinet-room of your mind1 and consult her4 ,she will probably tell you that the waiter did not cook the steak1 and had no control over the cooking of the steak2 and that even if he alone was to blame1 you accomplished nothing good by getting cross2 you merely lost your dignity1 looked a fool in the eyes of sensible men1 and soured the waiter1 while producing no effect whatever on the steak4 ,the result of this consultation with reason 7for which she makes no charge7 will be that when once more your steak is over-cooked you will treat the waiter as a fellow-creature1 remain quite calm in a kindly spirit1 and politely insist on having a fresh steak4 ,the gain will be obvious and solid4 ,in the formation or modification of principles1 and the practice of conduct1 much help can be derived from printed books 7issued at sixpence each and upwards74 ,i mentioned in my last chapter ,marcus ,aurelius and ,epictetus4 ,certain even more widely known works will occur at once to the memory4 ,i may also mention ,pascal1 ,la ,bruyere1 and ,emerson4 ,for myself1 you do not catch me travelling without my ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,yes1 books are valuable4 ,but not reading of books will take the place of a daily1 candid1 honest examination of what one has recently done1 and what one is about to do--of a steady looking at one's self in the face 7disconcerting though the sight may be74 ,when shall this important business be accomplished8 ,the solitude of the evening journey home appears to me to be suitable for it4 ,a reflective mood naturally follows the exertion of having earned the day's living4 ,of course if1 instead of attending to an elementary and profoundly important duty1 you prefer to read the paper 7which you might just as well read while waiting for your dinner7 ,i have nothing to say4 ,but attend to it at some time of the day you must4 ,i now come to the evening hours4 ,,ix ,,interest ,,in ,,the ,,arts ,many people pursue a regular and uninterrupted course of idleness in the evenings because they think that there is no alternative to idleness but the study of literature2 and they do not happen to have a taste for literature4 ,this is a great mistake4 ,of course it is impossible1 or at any rate very difficult1 properly to study anything whatever without the aid of printed books4 ,but if you desire to understand the deeper depths of bridge or of boat-sailing you would not be deterred by your lack of interest in literature from reading the best books on bridge or boat-sailing4 ,we must1 therefore1 distinguish between literature1 and books treating of subjects not literary4 ,i shall come to literature in due course4 ,let me now remark to those who have never read ,meredith1 and who are capable of being unmoved by a discussion as to whether ,mr4 ,stephen ,phillips is or is not a true poet1 that they are perfectly within their rights4 ,it is not a crime not to love literature4 ,it is not a sign of imbecility4 ,the mandarins of literature will order out to instant execution the unfortunate individual who does not comprehend1 say1 the influence of ,wordsworth on ,tennyson4 ,but that is only their impudence4 ,where would they be1 ,i wonder1 if requested to explain the influences that went to make ,tschaikowsky's ,pathetic ,symphony8 ,there are enormous fields of knowledge quite outside literature which will yield magnificent results to cultivators4 ,for example 7since ,i have just mentioned the most popular piece of high-class music in ,england to-day71 ,i am reminded that the ,promenade ,concerts begin in ,august4 ,you go to them4 ,you smoke your cigar or cigarette 7and ,i regret to say that you strike your matches during the soft bars of the ,lohengrin overture71 and you enjoy the music4 ,but you say you cannot play the piano or the fiddle1 or even the banjo2 that you know nothing of music4 ,what does that matter8 ,that you have a genuine taste for music is proved by the fact that1 in order to fill his hall with you and your peers1 the conductor is obliged to provide programmes from which bad music is almost entirely excluded 7a change from the old ,covent ,garden days674 ,now surely your inability to perform ,the ,maiden's ,prayer on a piano need not prevent you from making yourself familiar with the construction of the orchestra to which you listen a couple of nights a week during a couple of months6 ,as things are1 you probably think of the orchestra as a heterogeneous mass of instruments producing a confused agreeable mass of sound4 ,you do not listen for details because you have never trained your ears to listen to details4 ,if you were asked to name the instruments which play the great theme at the beginning of the ,c minor symphony you could not name them for your life's sake4 ,yet you admire the ,c minor symphony4 ,it has thrilled you4 ,it will thrill you again4 ,you have even talked about it1 in an expansive mood1 to that lady--you know whom ,i mean4 ,and all you can positively state about the ,c minor symphony is that ,beethoven composed it and that it is a jolly fine thing4 ,now1 if you have read1 say1 ,mr4 ,krehbiel's ,how to ,listen to ,music 7which can be got at any bookseller's for less than the price of a stall at the ,alhambra1 and which contains photographs of all the orchestral instruments and plans of the arrangement of orchestras7 you would next go to a promenade concert with an astonishing intensification of interest in it4 ,instead of a confused mass1 the orchestra would appear to you as what it is--a marvellously balanced organism whose various groups of members each have a different and an indispensable function4 ,you would spy out the instruments1 and listen for their respective sounds4 ,you would know the gulf that separates a ,french horn from an ,english horn1 and you would perceive why a player of the hautboy gets higher wages than a fiddler1 though the fiddle is the more difficult instrument4 ,you would live at a promenade concert1 whereas previously you had merely existed there in a state of beatific coma1 like a baby gazing at a bright object4 ,the foundations of a genuine1 systematic knowledge of music might be laid4 ,you might specialise your inquiries either on a particular form of music 7such as the symphony71 or on the works of a particular composer4 ,at the end of a year of forty-eight weeks of three brief evenings each1 combined with a study of programmes and attendances at concerts chosen out of your increasing knowledge1 you would really know something about music1 even though you were as far off as ever from jangling ,the ,maiden's ,prayer on the piano4 ,but ,i hate music6 you say4 ,my dear sir1 ,i respect you4 ,what applies to music applies to the other arts4 ,i might mention ,mr4 ,clermont ,witt's ,how to ,look at ,pictures1 or ,mr4 ,russell ,sturgis's ,how to ,judge ,architecture1 as beginnings 7merely beginnings7 of systematic vitalising knowledge in other arts1 the materials for whose study abound in ,london4 ,i hate all the arts6 you say4 ,my dear sir1 ,i respect you more and more4 ,i will deal with your case next1 before coming to literature4 ,x ,,nothing ,,in ,,life ,,is ,,humdrum ,art is a great thing4 ,but it is not the greatest4 ,the most important of all perceptions is the continual perception of cause and effect--in other words1 the perception of the continuous development of the universe--in still other words1 the perception of the course of evolution4 ,when one has thoroughly got imbued into one's head the leading truth that nothing happens without a cause1 one grows not only large-minded1 but large-hearted4 ,it is hard to have one's watch stolen1 but one reflects that the thief of the watch became a thief from causes of heredity and environment which are as interesting as they are scientifically comprehensible2 and one buys another watch1 if not with joy1 at any rate with a philosophy that makes bitterness impossible4 ,one loses1 in the study of cause and effect1 that absurd air which so many people have of being always shocked and pained by the curiousness of life4 ,such people live amid human nature as if human nature were a foreign country full of awful foreign customs4 ,but1 having reached maturity1 one ought surely to be ashamed of being a stranger in a strange land6 ,the study of cause and effect1 while it lessens the painfulness of life1 adds to life's picturesqueness4 ,the man to whom evolution is but a name looks at the sea as a grandiose1 monotonous spectacle1 which he can witness in ,august for three shillings third-class return4 ,the man who is imbued with the idea of development1 of continuous cause and effect1 perceives in the sea an element which in the day-before-yesterday of geology was vapour1 which yesterday was boiling1 and which to-morrow will inevitably be ice4 ,he perceives that a liquid is merely something on its way to be solid1 and he is penetrated by a sense of the tremendous1 changeful picturesqueness of life4 ,nothing will afford a more durable satisfaction than the constantly cultivated appreciation of this4 ,it is the end of all science4 ,cause and effect are to be found everywhere4 ,rents went up in ,shepherd's ,bush4 ,it was painful and shocking that rents should go up in ,shepherd's ,bush4 ,but to a certain point we are all scientific students of cause and effect1 and there was not a clerk lunching at a ,lyons ,restaurant who did not scientifically put two and two together and see in the 7once7 ,two-penny ,tube the cause of an excessive demand for wigwams in ,shepherd's ,bush1 and in the excessive demand for wigwams the cause of the increase in the price of wigwams4 ,simple6 you say1 disdainfully4 ,everything--the whole complex movement of the universe--is as simple as that--when you can sufficiently put two and two together4 ,and1 my dear sir1 perhaps you happen to be an estate agent's clerk1 and you hate the arts1 and you want to foster your immortal soul1 and you can't be interested in your business because it's so humdrum4 ,nothing is humdrum4 ,the tremendous1 changeful picturesqueness of life is marvellously shown in an estate agent's office4 ,what6 ,there was a block of traffic in ,oxford ,street2 to avoid the block people actually began to travel under the cellars and drains1 and the result was a rise of rents in ,shepherd's ,bush6 ,and you say that isn't picturesque6 ,suppose you were to study1 in this spirit1 the property question in ,london for an hour and a half every other evening4 ,would it not give zest to your business1 and transform your whole life8 ,you would arrive at more difficult problems4 ,and you would be able to tell us why1 as the natural result of cause and effect1 the longest straight street in ,london is about a yard and a half in length1 while the longest absolutely straight street in ,paris extends for miles4 ,i think you will admit that in an estate agent's clerk ,i have not chosen an example that specially favours my theories4 ,you are a bank clerk1 and you have not read that breathless romance 7disguised as a scientific study71 ,walter ,bagehot's ,lombard ,street8 ,ah1 my dear sir1 if you had begun with that1 and followed it up for ninety minutes every other evening1 how enthralling your business would be to you1 and how much more clearly you would understand human nature4 ,you are penned in town1 but you love excursions to the country and the observation of wild life--certainly a heart-enlarging diversion4 ,why don't you walk out of your house door1 in your slippers1 to the nearest gas lamp of a night with a butterfly net1 and observe the wild life of common and rare moths that is beating about it1 and co-ordinate the knowledge thus obtained and build a superstructure on it1 and at last get to know something about something8 ,you need not be devoted to the arts1 not to literature1 in order to live fully4 ,the whole field of daily habit and scene is waiting to satisfy that curiosity which means life1 and the satisfaction of which means an understanding heart4 ,i promised to deal with your case1 ,o man who hates art and literature1 and ,i have dealt with it4 ,i now come to the case of the person1 happily very common1 who does like reading4 ,,xi ,,serious ,,reading ,novels are excluded from serious reading1 so that the man who1 bent on self-improvement1 has been deciding to devote ninety minutes three times a week to a complete study of the works of ,charles ,dickens will be well advised to alter his plans4 ,the reason is not that novels are not serious--some of the great literature of the world is in the form of prose fiction--the reason is that bad novels ought not to be read1 and that good novels never demand any appreciable mental application on the part of the reader4 ,it is only the bad parts of ,meredith's novels that are difficult4 ,a good novel rushes you forward like a skiff down a stream1 and you arrive at the end1 perhaps breathless1 but unexhausted4 ,the best novels involve the least strain4 ,now in the cultivation of the mind one of the most important factors is precisely the feeling of strain1 of difficulty1 of a task which one part of you is anxious to achieve and another part of you is anxious to shirk2 and that feeling cannot be got in facing a novel4 ,you do not set your teeth in order to read ,anna ,karenina4 ,therefore1 though you should read novels1 you should not read them in those ninety minutes4 ,imaginative poetry produces a far greater mental strain than novels4 ,it produces probably the severest strain of any form of literature4 ,it is the highest form of literature4 ,it yields the highest form of pleasure1 and teaches the highest form of wisdom4 ,in a word1 there is nothing to compare with it4 ,i say this with sad consciousness of the fact that the majority of people do not read poetry4 ,i am persuaded that many excellent persons1 if they were confronted with the alternatives of reading ,paradise ,lost and going round ,trafalgar ,square at noonday on their knees in sack-cloth1 would choose the ordeal of public ridicule4 ,still1 ,i will never cease advising my friends and enemies to read poetry before anything4 ,if poetry is what is called a sealed book to you1 begin by reading ,hazlitt's famous essay on the nature of poetry in general4 ,it is the best thing of its kind in ,english1 and no one who has read it can possibly be under the misapprehension that poetry is a mediaeval torture1 or a mad elephant1 or a gun that will go off by itself and kill at forty paces4 ,indeed1 it is difficult to imagine the mental state of the man who1 after reading ,hazlitt's essay1 is not urgently desirous of reading some poetry before his next meal4 ,if the essay so inspires you ,i would suggest that you make a commencement with purely narrative poetry4 ,there is an infinitely finer ,english novel1 written by a woman1 than anything by ,george ,eliot or the ,brontes1 or even ,jane ,austen1 which perhaps you have not read4 ,its title is ,aurora ,leigh1 and its author ,e4,b4 ,browning4 ,it happens to be written in verse1 and to contain a considerable amount of genuinely fine poetry4 ,decide to read that book through1 even if you die for it4 ,forget that it is fine poetry4 ,read it simply for the story and the social ideas4 ,and when you have done1 ask yourself honestly whether you still dislike poetry4 ,i have known more than one person to whom ,aurora ,leigh has been the means of proving that in assuming they hated poetry they were entirely mistaken4 ,of course1 if1 after ,hazlitt1 and such an experiment made in the light of ,hazlitt1 you are finally assured that there is something in you which is antagonistic to poetry1 you must be content with history or philosophy4 ,i shall regret it1 yet not inconsolably4 ,the ,decline and ,fall is not to be named in the same day with ,paradise ,lost1 but it is a vastly pretty thing2 and ,herbert ,spencer's ,first ,principles simply laughs at the claims of poetry and refuses to be accepted as aught but the most majestic product of any human mind4 ,i do not suggest that either of these works is suitable for a tyro in mental strains4 ,but ,i see no reason why any man of average intelligence should not1 after a year of continuous reading1 be fit to assault the supreme masterpieces of history or philosophy4 ,the great convenience of masterpieces is that they are so astonishingly lucid4 ,i suggest no particular work as a start4 ,the attempt would be futile in the space of my command4 ,but ,i have two general suggestions of a certain importance4 ,the first is to define the direction and scope of your efforts4 ,choose a limited period1 or a limited subject1 or a single author4 ,say to yourself3 ,i will know something about the ,french ,revolution1 or the rise of railways1 or the works of ,john ,keats4 ,and during a given period1 to be settled beforehand1 confine yourself to your choice4 ,there is much pleasure to be derived from being a specialist4 ,the second suggestion is to think as well as to read4 ,i know people who read and read1 and for all the good it does them they might just as well cut bread-and-butter4 ,they take to reading as better men take to drink4 ,they fly through the shires of literature on a motor-car1 their sole object being motion4 ,they will tell you how many books they have read in a year4 ,unless you give at least forty-five minutes to careful1 fatiguing reflection 7it is an awful bore at first7 upon what you are reading1 your ninety minutes of a night are chiefly wasted4 ,this means that your pace will be slow4 ,never mind4 ,forget the goal2 think only of the surrounding country2 and after a period1 perhaps when you least expect it1 you will suddenly find yourself in a lovely town on a hill4 ,,xii ,,dangers ,,to ,,avoid ,i cannot terminate these hints1 often1 ,i fear1 too didactic and abrupt1 upon the full use of one's time to the great end of living 7as distinguished from vegetating7 without briefly referring to certain dangers which lie in wait for the sincere aspirant towards life4 ,the first is the terrible danger of becoming that most odious and least supportable of persons--a prig4 ,now a prig is a pert fellow who gives himself airs of superior wisdom4 ,a prig is a pompous fool who has gone out for a ceremonial walk1 and without knowing it has lost an important part of his attire1 namely1 his sense of humour4 ,a prig is a tedious individual who1 having made a discovery1 is so impressed by his discovery that he is capable of being gravely displeased because the entire world is not also impressed by it4 ,unconsciously to become a prig is an easy and a fatal thing4 ,hence1 when one sets forth on the enterprise of using all one's time1 it is just as well to remember that one's own time1 and not other people's time1 is the material with which one has to deal2 that the earth rolled on pretty comfortably before one began to balance a budget of the hours1 and that it will continue to roll on pretty comfortably whether or not one succeeds in one's new role of chancellor of the exchequer of time4 ,it is as well not to chatter too much about what one is doing1 and not to betray a too-pained sadness at the spectacle of a whole world deliberately wasting so many hours out of every day1 and therefore never really living4 ,it will be found1 ultimately1 that in taking care of one's self one has quite all one can do4 ,another danger is the danger of being tied to a programme like a slave to a chariot4 ,one's programme must not be allowed to run away with one4 ,it must be respected1 but it must not be worshipped as a fetish4 ,a programme of daily employ is not a religion4 ,this seems obvious4 ,yet ,i know men whose lives are a burden to themselves and a distressing burden to their relatives and friends simply because they have failed to appreciate the obvious4 ,oh1 no1 ,i have heard the martyred wife exclaim1 ,arthur always takes the dog out for exercise at eight o'clock and he always begins to read at a quarter to nine4 ,so it's quite out of the question that we should444 etc41 etc4 ,and the note of absolute finality in that plaintive voice reveals the unsuspected and ridiculous tragedy of a career4 ,on the other hand1 a programme is a programme4 ,and unless it is treated with deference it ceases to be anything but a poor joke4 ,to treat one's programme with exactly the right amount of deference1 to live with not too much and not too little elasticity1 is scarcely the simple affair it may appear to the inexperienced4 ,and still another danger is the danger of developing a policy of rush1 of being gradually more and more obsessed by what one has to do next4 ,in this way one may come to exist as in a prison1 and one's life may cease to be one's own4 ,one may take the dog out for a walk at eight o'clock1 and meditate the whole time on the fact that one must begin to read at a quarter to nine1 and that one must not be late4 ,and the occasional deliberate breaking of one's programme will not help to mend matters4 ,the evil springs not from persisting without elasticity in what one has attempted1 but from originally attempting too much1 from filling one's programme till it runs over4 ,the only cure is to reconstitute the programme1 and to attempt less4 ,but the appetite for knowledge grows by what it feeds on1 and there are men who come to like a constant breathless hurry of endeavour4 ,of them it may be said that a constant breathless hurry is better than an eternal doze4 ,in any case1 if the programme exhibits a tendency to be oppressive1 and yet one wishes not to modify it1 an excellent palliative is to pass with exaggerated deliberation from one portion of it to another2 for example1 to spend five minutes in perfect mental quiescence between chaining up the ,st4 ,bernard and opening the book2 in other words1 to waste five minutes with the entire consciousness of wasting them4 ,the last1 and chiefest danger which ,i would indicate1 is one to which ,i have already referred--the risk of a failure at the commencement of the enterprise4 ,i must insist on it4 ,a failure at the commencement may easily kill outright the newborn impulse towards a complete vitality1 and therefore every precaution should be observed to avoid it4 ,the impulse must not be over-taxed4 ,let the pace of the first lap be even absurdly slow1 but let it be as regular as possible4 ,and1 having once decided to achieve a certain task1 achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste4 ,the gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense4 ,finally1 in choosing the first occupations of those evening hours1 be guided by nothing whatever but your taste and natural inclination4 ,it is a fine thing to be a walking encyclopaedia of philosophy1 but if you happen to have no liking for philosophy1 and to have a like for the natural history of street-cries1 much better leave philosophy alone1 and take to street-cries4