Skip to main content

Ben Franklin on the Pursuit of Happiness

 
Ben Franklin explains that our Constitution describes our right, as citizens, to pursue happiness and property. However, it can not grant us that happiness. We must earn it for ourselves. 

A free society should strive for equality of opportunity, where all men ("persons") are equal in the eyes of the law. We cannot, and should not, promote or promise a utopian vision of equal outcomes for all. 

We are all individuals of differing abilities and makeup. Every one of us has a unique drive, personality, and outlook on life. Can we therefore expect everyone to outperform and achieve a certain prescribed level of happiness, wealth, and personal fulfillment? 

In our recent interview with "Trader Vic" Sperandeo, Victor pointed out that some of his friends were happy driving a bus while others were driven to work 70-80 hours a week on Wall Street in an effort to get rich. In real life, people are driven by different desires and passions. While some would label their difference in situation an "inequality", our society acknowledges their right to pursue happiness and a living in the manner of their choice. 

As for the end result, as old Ben says, we have to catch it for ourselves. 

Related posts: 

1. Lessons from Benjamin Franklin.

2. Marc Faber's advice to young people and the meaning of success.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Seth Klarman: Margin of Safety (pdf)

Welcome, readers! Signup for free email updates at the Finance Trends Newsletter . Update: PDF links removed due to DMCA notice. Please see our extensive Klarman book notes below. New visitors, please check the Finance Trends home page for all new posts. Here's something for anyone who has been trying to get a look at Seth Klarman's now famous, and out of print, 1991 investment book, Margin of Safety .  My knowledge of value investing is pretty much limited to what I've read in Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor (the book which originally popularized the investment concept of a "Margin of Safety"), so check out the wisdom from Seth Klarman and other investing greats in our related posts below. You can also go straight to Ronald Redfield's Margin of Safety book notes .    Related posts: 1. Seth Klarman interviews and Margin of Safety notes     2. Seth Klarman: Lessons from 2008 3. Investing Lessons from Sir John Templeton 4.
Read more

Slate profiles Victor Niederhoffer

Slate's recent profile of writer/speculator, Vic Niederhoffer has been getting some attention from traders and finance types in recent days. I thought we'd take a look at it here too, to offer up some possible educational value from Vic's experiences with trading and loss. Here's an excerpt from Slate's profile of Victor Niederhoffer : " I've enjoyed getting your e-mails. It sounds like you've thought a lot about being wrong. Well, the reason you contacted me, to call a spade a spade, is that I'm sort of infamous for having made a big, notorious, terrible error not once but twice in my market career. Let's talk about those errors. The first was your investment in the Thai baht, which pretty much wiped you out when the Thai stock market crashed in 1997. I made so many errors there it's pathetic. I made one of my favorite errors: "The mouse with one hole is quickly cornered." That is key. There are certain decisions you make in li
Read more

William O'Neil Interview: How to Buy Winning Stocks

Investor's B usiness Daily founder and veteran stock trader, William O'Neil share d his trading methods and insights on buying winning stocks in an in-depth IBD radio interview. Here are some highlights from William O'Neil's interview with IBD: William O'Neil's interest in the stock market began when he started working as a young adult.  "I say many times that I didn't get that much out of college. I didn't have much interest in the stock market until I graduated from college. When I got married, I had to look out into the future and get more serious. The investment world had some appeal and that's when I started studying it. I became a stock broker after I got out of the Air Force."    He moved to Los Angeles and started work in a stock broker's office with twenty other guys. When their phone leads from ads didn't pan out, O'Neil would take the leads and drive down to visit the prospective customers in person.
Read more