The Character of a Happy Life

Sir Henry Wotton (1568–1639)

HOW happy is he born and taught

That serveth not another’s will;

Whose armor is his honest thought,

And simple truth his utmost skill!

Whose passions not his masters are;

Whose soul is still prepared for death,

Not tied unto the world with care

Of public fame or private breath;

Who envies none that chance doth raise,

Or vice; who never understood

How deepest wounds are given by praise,

Nor rules of state, but rules of good;

Who hath his life from rumors freed;

Whose conscience is his strong retreat;

Whose state can neither flatterers feed,

Nor ruin make accusers great;

Who God doth late and early pray

More of his grace than gifts to lend,

And entertains the harmless day

With a well-chosen book or friend,—

This man is freed from servile bands

Of hope to rise, or fear to fall;

Lord of himself, though not of lands;

And, having nothing, yet hath all.