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Bertrand Russell

“To be happy, one must first not be unhappy”

Tim Delaney finds joy in Bertrand Russell’s The Conquest of Happiness.

In 1930, Bertrand Russell published The Conquest of Happiness, a book that predates the contemporary fascination with self-help publications by decades. It was described by Russell in the Preface as “not addressed to highbrows, or to those who regard a practical problem merely as something to be talked about” (p.ix). Russell’s use of the word ‘conquest’ in the title emphasizes his primary contention that, except in rare cases, happiness does not simply present itself to people, but rather must be achieved. He argues that the multitudes of men and women who suffer from unhappiness could achieve happiness if they heed the advice he offers in the book.

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