Health the Greatest Gain, Contentment the Greatest Wealth

📝Reflection

This verse re-ranks the priorities of happiness. It briefly halts the things we chase all our lives — more money, wider connections, greater achievement — and asks what is truly greatest. Health, contentment, a trustworthy person, peace of mind. They share something: all are "things one can already have," and "not better the more you get, but enough once they suffice." The line "contentment the greatest wealth" is especially striking. However much you have, without contentment you are poor; with little but content, you are rich. Wealth is not a bank balance but a state of mind. Forever chasing what we lack, we fail to see the greatest things already in hand. Turn your head, and happiness is usually already beside you.