But, on the other hand, this ability to find like-minded people has also led to a decrease in our willingness to tolerate others’ pursuits and opinions. If nothing is done to control and limit envy, Russel believes, envy might affect the whole of society and bring it into a downward spiral where, in the end, everyone is equally miserable. If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.

The Conquest of Happiness - Wikiquote The Conquest of Happiness - Wikiquote

The tragedy of one successful politician after another is the gradual substitution of narcissism for an interest in the community and the measures for which he stands. All this makes zest more difficult to retain, for the continual restraint tends to produce weariness and boredom. Fatigue, which for Russell means mental exhaustion, not only one of the body, is the next factor that causes unhappiness in our lives.These are matters which lie within the power of the individual, and I propose to suggest the changes by which his happiness, given average good fortune, may be achieved. Love of power, like vanity, is a strong element in normal human nature, and as such is to be accepted; it becomes deplorable only when it is excessive or associated with an insufficient sense of reality. No satisfaction based upon self-deception is solid, and, however unpleasant the truth may be, it is better to face it once for all, to get used to it, and to proceed to build your life in accordance with it. He becomes an introvert, melancholy at first, but seeking ultimately the unreal consolations of some system of philosophy or theology. The businessman's religion and glory demand that he should make much money; therefore, like the Hindu widow, he suffers the torment gladly.

The Conquest of Happiness (Routledge Classics) by Bertrand The Conquest of Happiness (Routledge Classics) by Bertrand

But pains of these kinds do not destroy the essential quality of life, as do those that spring from disgust with self. But what the typical modern man desires to get with it is more money, with a view to ostentation, splendour, and the outshining of those who have hitherto been his equals. It is one of the defects of modern higher education that it has become too much a training in the acquisition of certain kinds of skill, and too little an enlargement of the mind and heart by an impartial survey of the world.

Even though things are not as we would like, we can still be content, knowing we are trying our best and will continue to do so. If he can persuade himself that the universe is equally tidy, he can feel almost equally safe when he has to venture forth into the streets. So when we have a salary that is sufficient for us, we should not look to compare it with the salary of others. People who are not in harmony with the conventions of their own set tend therefore to be prickly and uncomfortable and lacking in expansive good humor.

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While it is desirable that the old should treat with respect the wishes of the young, it is not desirable that the young should treat with respect the wishes of the old. These illustrations suggest four general maxims, which will prove an adequate preventive of persecution mania if their truth is sufficiently realized. Having looked this possible misfortune in the face, give yourself sound reasons for thinking that after all it would be no such very terrible disaster. You cannot, therefore, get away from envy by means of success alone, for there will always be in history or legend some person even more successful than you are.If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give. Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?