The world is neither good nor evil; every man manufactures a world for himself. It is either soft or hard, cold or hot, never bright or dark, even colourless. We are a mass of happiness or misery; our view of things is subjective. The pessimist sees nothing good in life, and the optimist finds nothing bad. As a rule, the young are optimistic and the old pessimistic; the young are at the threshold of life, the old complaint their day is gone, and hundreds of desires which they cannot fulfill create storms in their hearts. For both life is good or bad according to their state of mind in which they look at it. It is neither, like fire which is neither good nor evil in itself. When it keeps us warm, we say how beautiful the fire is! but when it burns our fingers, we curse it. So also is this world. We may think of it as perfect or as a bundle of imperfections. But our thinking makes no difference to it. It is perfectly fitted to meet its end. We may all be perfectly sure that it will go on beautifully well without us.
