"Then it dies," says the gnat, who is acting the part of
interpreter. "But that must happen very often?" said Alice. "It
ALWAYS happens!" says the gnat with sombre emphasis.
Simplicity is, in fact, a difficult thing to lay down rules for,
because the essence of it is that it is free from rules; and those
who talk and think most about it, are often the most uneasy and
complicated natures. But it is certain that if one finds oneself
growing more and more fastidious and particular, more and more
easily disconcerted and put out and hampered by any variation from
the exact scheme of life that one prefers, even if that scheme is
an apparently simple one, it is certain that simplicity is at an
end. The real simplicity is a sense of being at home and at ease in
any company and mode of living, and a quiet equanimity of spirit
which cannot be content to waste time over the arrangements of
life. Sufficient food and exercise and sleep may be postulated; but
these are all to be in the background, and the real occupations of
life are to be work and interests and talk and ideas and natural
relations with others.
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