How to Become a Bon Vivant

Key points

Pleasure boosts well-being—treat it as essential, not indulgent.

Savor experiences to stretch joy and heighten life satisfaction.

Small, frequent luxuries bring more happiness than rare extravagance.

Curiosity and shared delight enrich taste, vitality, and connection.

Some people move through the world as if it were a buffet of delights—reveling in a glass of wine, lingering in front of a painting, closing their eyes while tasting crème brûlée, admiring a slow-burn sunset, disappearing into a perfect conversation, losing track of time over a beautifully prepared meal, or nuzzling into a cashmere sweater.

These people have a name: bon vivants. Translated from French to “good living” or “one who lives well,” bon vivants are connoisseurs of enjoyment—individuals who turn ordi