Nor can we help observing with a smile that all persons who have good reasons to see us themselves make the necessary journey after they discover that we remain fixed.
Again, people about us are continually doing this service and that for some other people--running errands, mending fences, bearing messages, building, and tearing down; and they all demand equal service in return.

Thus a large part of mankind keeps itself in constant motion like bubbles of water racing around a pool at the foot of a water-fall--or like rabbits hurrying into their warrens and immediately hurrying out again.

Whereas, while these antics amuse and sadden us, we for the most part remain where we are.
Hence our wants are few; they are generally most courteously supplied without our asking; or, if we happen to be momentarily forgotten, we can quickly secure anything in the neighbourhood by a little judicious squalling.

Why, then, should we whirl as bubbles or scurry as rabbits?
Our conquering self-possession gives a masterful charm to life that the victims of perpetual locomotion never seem to attain.
You have discovered, and my experience confirms yours, that a perpetual self-consciousness brings most of the misery of the world.

Men see others who are richer than they; or more famous, or more fortunate--so they think; and they become envious.