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

conventionality, such as failure to dress correctly
or to belong to some Church or to abstain from
reading intelligent books. Such lapses, if they are
done with gaiety and insouciance, not defiantly but
spontaneously, will come to be tolerated even in
the most conventional society. Gradually it may
become possible to acquire the position of
licensed lunatic, to whom things are permitted
which in another man would be thought
unforgivable. This is largely a matter of a certain
kind of good nature and friendliness. Conventional
people are roused to fury by departures from
convention, largely because they regard such
departures as a criticism of themselves. They will
pardon much unconventionality in a man who has
enough jollity and friendliness to make it clear,
even to the stupidest, that he is not engaged in
criticising them. This method of escaping censure
is, however, impossible to many of those whose
tastes or opinions cause them to be out of sympathy
with the herd. Their lack of sympathy makes them
uncomfortable and causes them to have a
pugnacious attitude, even if outwardly they