Russell, Bertrand -- Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 12 “Affection” (1930)

Dave — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 15:35:47 +0000

The world is a higgledy-piggledy place, containing things pleasant and things unpleasant in haphazard sequence. And the desire to make an intelligible system or pattern out of it is at bottom an outcome of fear, in fact a kind of agoraphobia or dread of open spaces. Within the four walls of his library the timid student feels safe. 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.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 12 “Affection” (1930)
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Russell, Bertrand -- Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 12 “Affection” (1930)