People
There is the difference between happiness and wisdom, that he that thinks himself the happiest man really is so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.
— Charles Caleb Colton
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
Feeling happy is treated as enough to make happiness real. Feeling wise gets a much sharper response: confidence in your own wisdom may reveal foolishness. The contrast separates an experience you can recognise in yourself from a judgment that becomes suspect when you award it to yourself.
Context reviewed