I believe that in all men’s lives at certain periods， and in many men’s lives at all periods between infancy and extreme old age， one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside. This desire， in one of its forms， has indeed had ample 18)justice done to it in literature. I mean， in the form of snobbery. Victorian fiction is full of characters who are 19)hagridden by the desire to get inside that particular Ring which is， or was， called 20)Society. But it must be clearly understood that “Society，” in that sense of the word， is merely one of a hundred Rings， and snobbery therefore only one form of the longing to be inside.
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If you want to be made free of a certain circle for some 21)wholesome reason—if， 22)say you want to join a musical society because you really like music—then there is a possibility of satisfaction. You may find yourself playing in a quartet and you may enjoy it. But if all you want is to be 23)in the know， your pleasure will be short lived. The circle cannot have from within the charm it had from outside. By the very act of admitting you it has lost its magic. Once the first novelty is worn off， the members of this circle will be no more interesting than your old friends. Why should they be？ You were not looking for virtue or kindness or loyalty or humor or learning or wit or any of the things that can really be enjoyed. You merely wanted to be “in.” And that is a pleasure that cannot last. As soon as your new 24)associates have been 25)staled to you by custom， you will be looking for another Ring. The rainbow’s end will still be ahead of you. The old ring will now be only the 26)drab background for your endeavor to enter the new one.
And you will always find them hard to enter， for a reason you very well know. You yourself， once you are in， want to make it hard for the next 27)entrant， just as those who are already in made it hard for you. Naturally. In any wholesome group of people which holds together for a good purpose， the exclusions are in a sense accidental. Three or four people who are together for the sake of some piece of work exclude others because there is work only for so many or because the others can’t in fact do it. Your little musical group limits its numbers because the rooms they meet in are only so big. But your genuine Inner Ring exists for exclusion. There’d be no fun if there were no outsiders. The invisible line would have no meaning unless most people were on the wrong side of it. Exclusion is no accident； it is the essence.
The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it， a surprising result will follow. If in your working hours you make the work your end， you will presently find yourself all 28)unawares inside the only circle in your profession that really matters. You will be one of the 29)sound 30)craftsmen， and other sound craftsmen will know it. This group of craftsmen will by no means coincide with the Inner Ring or the Important People or the People in the Know. It will not shape that professional policy or work up that professional influence which fights for the profession as a whole against the public： nor will it lead to those periodic scandals and crises which the Inner Ring produces. But it will do those things which that profession exists to do and will in the long run be responsible for all the respect which that profession in fact enjoys and which the speeches and advertisements cannot maintain. And if in your spare time you 31)consort simply with the people you like， you will again find that you have come unawares to a real inside： that you are indeed32)snug and safe at the center of something which， seen from without， would look exactly like an Inner Ring. But the difference is that the secrecy is accidental， and its exclusiveness a byproduct， and no one was led 33)thither by the lure of the34)esoteric： for it is only four or five people who like one another meeting to do things that they like. This is friendship. 35)Aristotle placed it among the virtues. It causes perhaps half of all the happiness in the world， and no Inner Ring can ever have it.