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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: him back weary and disgusted. Their mirth was without images,
their laughter without motive; their pleasures were gross and
sensual, in which the mind had no part; their conduct was at once
wild and mean - they laughed at order and at law, but the frown of
power dejected and the eye of wisdom abashed them.
The Prince soon concluded that he should never be happy in a course
of life of which he was ashamed. He thought it unsuitable to a
reasonable being to act without a plan, and to be sad or cheerful
only by chance. "Happiness," said he, "must be something solid and
permanent, without fear and without uncertainty."
But his young companions had gained so much of his regard by their
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