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

the possibility of choosing congenial companions;
an intelligent man who lives in a city as large as
London or New York can generally find some
congenial set in which it is not necessary to
practise any constraint or hypocrisy. But if his
work obliges him to live in some smaller place,
and more particularly if it necessitates retention of
the respect of ordinary people, as is the case, for
example, with a doctor or a lawyer, he may find
himself throughout his whole life practically
compelled to conceal his real tastes and
convictions from most of the people that he meets
in the course of his day. This is especially true in
America because of the vastness of the country. In
the most unlikely places, north, south, east, and
west, one finds lonely individuals who know from
books that there are places where they would not
be lonely, but who have no chance to live in such
places, and only the rarest opportunity of congenial
conversation. Real happiness in such
circumstances is impossible to those who are built
on a less magnificent scale than Blake and Emily
Bronte. If it is to become possible, some way must