On Happiness

By: Alain (Émile Chartier)

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Introduction

Published in 1928, On Happiness gathers a selection of Propos—brief philosophical essays originally written by Émile Chartier, known as Alain, for the newspaper La Dépêche de Rouen. These meditations, born from everyday life and addressed to ordinary people, form one of the most luminous and accessible works of modern French thought.

A direct heir of Montaigne and a disciple of Descartes, Alain sought in clarity of reason and in the discipline of will the foundation of an art of living. Against pessimism and morbid abstractions, he proposes a philosophy of attention and of the body, where happiness does not depend on circumstances but on the way one governs oneself before them.

These meditations are at once exercises in lucidity and serenity. Through simple examples—a restless horse, a fit of coughing, an attack of fear, a gesture of politeness—Alain teaches that self-mastery begins with gesture, and that wisdom consists less in understanding than in acting well.

The reader will find here an ethics of discreet and steadfast joy, opposed to resignation and complaint. Happiness, says Alain, is a duty—and to fulfill it is to affirm the power of existence.

This edition presents, in updated Portuguese, the complete text of the Propos sur le bonheur, accompanied by Alain’s original preface and dedication, restoring the living rhythm of this practical philosophy—at once rigorous and benevolent.