The-Conquest-of-Happiness-by-Bertrand-Russell

immoral. If he desires any career, however
respectable, which has not been common in the
circle to which he belongs, he is told that he is
setting himself up, and that what was good enough
for his father ought to be good enough for him. If he
shows any tendency to criticise his parents’
religious tenets or political affiliations, he is likely
to find himself in serious trouble. For all these
reasons, to most young men and young women of
exceptional merit adolescence is a time of great
unhappiness. To their more ordinary companions it
may be a time of gaiety and enjoyment, but for
themselves they want something more serious,
which they can find neither among their elders nor
among their contemporaries in the particular social
setting in which chance has caused them to be
born.
When such young people go to a university they
probably discover congenial souls and enjoy a few
years of great happiness. If they are fortunate, they
may succeed, on leaving the university, in
obtaining some kind of work that gives them still