BRAINS AND HAPPINESS
I have observed that happiness and brains seldom go together. The pinheaded woman who regards her thin-witted husband as the greatest man in the world is happy, and much good may it do her. In such cases ignorance is a positive blessing, for good sense would cause the woman to realize her distressed condition. A man who can think he is as “good as anybody” is happy. The fact may be notorious that the man is not so “good as anybody” until he is as industrious, as educated, and as refined as anybody, but he has not brains enough to know this, and, content with conceit, is happy. A man with a brain large enough to understand mankind is always wretched and ashamed of himself. The Story of a Country Town, E. W. Howe, pg. 254
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