Happiness plays an important and necessary role in the lives of people around the world. In America, happiness has been ingrained in our national consciousness since Thomas Jefferson wrote these famous words in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain rights inalienable, which among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson). Since then, Americans have engaged in that act: pursuing happiness. The problem though, as Ray Bradbury demonstrates in his novel Fahrenheit 451, is that those things that initially make us happy could ultimately lead to our downfall. By examining Guy Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, and the world he lives in, we can gain valuable information to guide us in our pursuit of happiness. From Montag and other characters we will learn how physical, emotional and spiritual happiness can drastically affect our lives. We must ask ourselves how much our lives, our words and our actions are worth. We should hope that our words are not meaningless, “like the wind in the dry grass” (Eliot). History Before we get into the details, we will look at the history and development of “happiness” as a philosophy. Of course, the emotion of happiness has always existed, but it began to be seriously contemplated about 2,500 years ago by philosophers such as Confucius, Buddha, Socrates and Aristotle. Shortly after Buddha taught his followers his Noble Eightfold Path (more on this later), Aristotle taught that happiness “depends on the individual” (Aristotle). Probably more than any of the early philosophers, Aristotle promoted happiness as a central component of human life. The Greeks used a term, eudaimonia, which is often used as the Greek word for happiness. However, most scholars translate it as “human flourishing” or “well-being of the spirit.” Along with eudaimonia, terms such as arete, “virtue,” and phronesis, “practical or moral wisdom,” are at the heart of Greek philosophy. So if I could have asked Aristotle “What components or values ​​must a person have to live a fulfilling life?” He probably would have answered, “Virtue, wisdom, and spiritual well-being.” Would Aristotle have been satisfied with the futuristic world of Fahrenheit 451? Probably not. Certainly, the lack of virtue, learning, and false sense of happiness would have astonished any of the early philosophers. Physical happiness