Quotes from book
The Conquest of Happiness

The Conquest of Happiness

Bertrand Russell

The Conquest of Happiness is a book by Bertrand Russell.

“Having made the decision, do not revise it unless some new fact comes to your knowledge. Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: The Conquest of Happiness

“The man who pursues happiness wisely will aim at the possession of a number of subsidiary interests in addition to those central ones upon which his life is built.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: The Conquest of Happiness

“The wise man will be as happy as circumstances permit, and if he finds the contemplation of the universe painful beyond a point, he will contemplate something else instead.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: The Conquest of Happiness

“Altogether it will be found that a quiet life is characteristic of great men, and that their pleasures have not been of the sort that would look exciting to the outward eye.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: The Conquest of Happiness

“Boredom is therefore a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: The Conquest of Happiness

“The wise man thinks about his troubles only when there is some purpose in doing so; at other times he thinks about other things, or, if it is night, about nothing at all.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: The Conquest of Happiness

“Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: The Conquest of Happiness

“A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: The Conquest of Happiness

“Dogmatism is the greatest of mental obstacles to human happiness.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: The Conquest of Happiness

“The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Variant: The secret of happiness is very simply this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile
Source: 1930s, The Conquest of Happiness (1930)

“Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: 1930s, The Conquest of Happiness (1930)

“One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important, and that to take a holiday would bring all kinds of disaster. If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: 1930s, The Conquest of Happiness (1930)

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