Quote #115

A man may feel so completely thwarted that he seeks no form of satisfaction, but only distraction and oblivion. He then becomes a devotee of 'pleasure.' That is to say, he seeks to make life bearable by becoming less alive. Drunkenness, for example, is temporary suicide.

More from Bertrand Russell

  1. Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.
  2. To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.
  3. The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather …
  4. The habit of looking to the future and thinking that the whole meaning of the present lies in what it will bring forth is a pernicious one.…
  5. In adolescence, I hated life and was continually on the verge of suicide, from which, however, I was restrained by the desire to know more …
  6. Boredom is therefore a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.
  7. So long as there is death there will be sorrow, and so long as there is sorrow it can be no part of the duty of human beings to increase it…
  8. Young men and young women meet each other with much less difficulty than was formerly the case, and every housemaid expects at least once a…

All Bertrand Russell quotes