- In a book written on Voltaire I learn of his beloved mistress Madame de Chatelet. Clearly she was a vivid, delicious woman. She wrote an essay not for the public but for her friends which became famous, Reflections sur le Bonheur. I wonder if she is right about happiness.
“Unfortunately we only see how to achieve happiness when age and the fetters we have forged for ourselves are beginning to make it difficult. In order to be happy we must be virtuous, get rid of prejudices, enjoy good health, have strong tastes and passions and keep our illusions.
Most pleasure comes from illusions, and he who has lost them is seldom happy. Those moralists who think that we should rid ourselves of passions and desires know nothing about happiness which chiefly comes from their satisfaction. Le Notre was quite right when he
