A good man and a wise man may at times be angry with the world, at times grieved for it; but be sure no man was ever discontented with the world who did his duty in it.

Discontent with the world at large is often discontent at having no part in it. Anger and grief about how things are can be perfectly sound, and a person doing their actual share tends to carry those feelings without the sourness that comes from watching. Doing something small and real changes the flavour of the complaint, even when it changes nothing else.

This is not a claim that hard circumstances are anyone’s own doing. It is narrower: if the world has been irritating you lately in a general way, find one specific piece of it you can affect, and put a few hours into it this week.