“I have observed that not the man who hopes, when others despair, but the man who despairs when others hope, is admired by a large class of persons as a sage.”

—John Stuart Mill

I found the above in a book I like a lot. But isn’t it true? Advertisements are happy, of course, but we all know the motivation there. If they can’t scare you into a purchase, they have to jolly you along. Earnest messages are often dark and rich with despair. Happy people don’t report the news either, do they? Of course I don’t know who’s happy and who’s not. What do I know? If happy people are reporting the news, they’re careful to keep their good cheer out of the product.