“The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.”
I love this quote by sixteenth-century writer and philosopher Michel de Montaigne.
I couldn’t agree more.
While it’s impossible for some people to achieve cheerfulness for reasons beyond their control — chemical imbalances, trauma, unthinkable living conditions, New York Jets fans — I think many people in the developed world could take steps toward a more positive, cheerful attitude by adopting a broader historical perspective, embracing gratitude, recognizing their propensity toward being aggrieved, and passing on needless drama.
All of these things can make you a happier (or more cheerful) person, but all of them require the wisdom to do so.
If you can’t see why — despite the enormous challenges facing our country and the world today — you’d still rather be alive in 2025 than during the Civil War, the Great Depression, or World War II, you’re lacking historical context and denying yourself an opportunity to feel thankful for when you are alive.
If you can’t see how it’s better to be alive today than to be a black sharecropper in the Jim Crow South or an American soldier drafted to fight in Vietnam in 1968 or a Japanese American forced into an internment camp in 1943, you’re denying yourself cheerfulness.
If you can’t find at least a small amount of gratitude for simple things that we take for granted today that were unavailable to human beings not so long ago — abundant food, indoor plumbing, free libraries, life saving medications and vaccines, free public schooling, low cost air travel, clean air and water, freedom from enslavement, the right to vote, GPS navigation, the democratization of content via the internet, free long distance phone calls, refrigeration, anesthesia, baseball, streaming services, air conditioning, and fee-free stock trading, — you’re denying yourself cheerfulness.
If you are someone who is constantly aggrieved — always upset or angry over real or perceived slights and injustices by others, rather than letting go of those trivial and meaningless things — you are denying yourself cheerfulness.
If you’re a person drawn to drama—gossip, overreactions, needless feuds, whisper campaigns, performative emotion, catastrophizing, and self-centeredness — you’re denying yourself cheerfulness.
I think what Michel de Montaigne recognized many years ago was that even though cheerfulness (or happiness) is not always possible given life’s circumstances, people often sabotage their chances for happiness when they lack the wisdom to adopt a reasonable, productive, and sensible mindset about themselves and the world around them.
Wise people give themselves the best chance at happiness by avoiding the nonsense that consumes so many and finding perspective and gratitude for the life and times they are living in.
Also, I’ll bet Michel de Montaigne could’ve been even more cheerful had he not worn that ridiculous poofery around his neck.
