Carl Hilty

Who was Carl Hilty?

Carl Hilty was a Swiss philosopher, writer and lawyer. He famously said "Peace is only a hair's breadth away from war." Although a Christian he was no pacifist but expected the coming world war and was also a high officer in Swiss Army. He was married to German wife Johanna Gaertner. Hilty was a spokesman for women's rights to vote and to be elected, many decades before the subject became mainstream.

Carl Hilty was born in Ort Werdenberg, Switzerland, and studied at the Universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg. To improve languages and see the world, he also spent some time in London and Paris. After that he began his work as a lawyer in Chur where he lived for almost 20 years. In 1874, he became a professor of constitutional law at the University of Bern. From 1886, he edited Politisches Jahrbuch der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. In 1890, he became a member of the Nationalrat, the Swiss parliament.

He became famous from his writings about happiness, three volumes - first printed in 1891, 95 and 99 - combined ancient stoic thought with Christian belief, following the words Jesus.