"In words that are cherished by all civilized men, but especially by Americans, it has been laid down that one of the rights of man is a right to the ‘pursuit of happiness’. And now we get to the real point.
What did the writers of that august declaration mean?
It is quite certain what they did not mean. They did not mean that man was entitled to pursue happiness by any and every means — including, say, murder, rape, robbery, treason and fraud. No society could be built on such a basis.
They meant ‘to pursue happiness by all lawful means”; that is, by all means which the Law of Nature [meaning the Moral Law] eternally sanctions and which the laws of the nation shall sanction."
What did the writers of that august declaration mean?
It is quite certain what they did not mean. They did not mean that man was entitled to pursue happiness by any and every means — including, say, murder, rape, robbery, treason and fraud. No society could be built on such a basis.
They meant ‘to pursue happiness by all lawful means”; that is, by all means which the Law of Nature [meaning the Moral Law] eternally sanctions and which the laws of the nation shall sanction."
— C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock, “We Have No ‘Right to Happiness’”
