The conquest of happiness by Bertrand Russell
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"The conquest of happiness" by Bertrand Russell is a practical philosophy guide written in the early 20th century. It examines why modern people are unhappy and proposes clear, commonsense habits to restore zest, affection, and meaningful interests. Blending psychology with social observation, it targets everyday malaise rather than extreme misfortune and offers actionable, nontechnical advice. The opening of the book sets out a modest aim: to share experience-tested “recipes” for ordinary happiness
and to show that well-directed effort can cure much day-to-day unhappiness. It begins by observing modern faces of misery—from anxious workers to bored pleasure-seekers—then defines the scope to individuals with basic health and means, emphasizing that mistaken beliefs and self-absorption destroy natural zest. A brief autobiography marks the pivot from morbid self-focus to outward interests, followed by a typology of unhappy egoism: the “sinner” trapped by childhood prohibitions, the narcissist craving admiration, and the megalomaniac driven by power—each set against the remedy of objective interests and realistic limits. The text challenges fashionable pessimism (from Ecclesiastes to Byronic gloom), arguing that despair is often mood, not reason; it defends love as a renewing, cooperative joy and urges writers to re-root feeling in real life. Subsequent chapters criticize the cult of competition that hollows work and leisure, explain boredom as a craving for excitement that should be balanced by the ability to endure fruitful monotony and reconnection with the life of the earth, and analyze nervous fatigue born of worry, noise, and hurry—prescribing mental discipline, facing worst cases, and courage as antidotes. The section on envy shows it as a pervasive, self-punishing passion best diminished by cultivating admiration and abandoning constant comparison, breaking off mid-argument as this case is being made. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Russell, Bertrand, 1872-1970 |
|---|---|
| Title | The conquest of happiness |
| Original Publication | London: George Allen & Unwin, 1930. |
| Contents | Causes of unhappiness: What makes people unhappy? Byronic unhappiness. Competition. Boredom and excitement. Fatigue. Envy. The sense of sin. Persecution mania. Fear of public opinion -- Causes of happiness: Is happiness still possible? Zest. Affection. The family. Work. Impersonal interests. Effort and resignation. The happy man. |
| Credits | Sean/IB@DP, Karin Spence and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | BJ: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Ethics, Social usages, Etiquette, Religion |
| Subject | Happiness |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77894 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-77894-5 |
| Release Date | Feb 9, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 3206 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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