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

without a very considerable degree of restraint
upon spontaneous impulse, since spontaneous
impulse will only produce the simplest forms of
social cooperation, not those highly complex forms
which modern economic organisation demands. In
order to rise above these obstacles to zest a man
needs health and superabundant energy, or else, if
he has that good fortune, work that he finds
interesting on its own account. Health, so far as
statistics can show, has been steadily improving in
all civilised countries during the last hundred
years, but energy is more difficult to measure, and I
am doubtful whether physical vigour in moments of
health is as great as it was formerly. The problem
here is to a great extent a social problem, and as
such I do not propose to discuss it in the present
volume. The problem has, however, a personal and
psychological aspect which we have already
discussed in connection with fatigue. Some men
retain their zest in spite of the handicaps of
civilised life, and many men could do so if they
were free from the inner psychological conflicts
upon which a great part of their energy is