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

by fear of a cold outer world, and by the feeling
that they will not bump into it if they walk along
the same paths that they have walked along on
previous days.
Those who face life with a feeling of security are
much happier than those who face it with a feeling
of insecurity, at any rate so long as their sense of
security does not lead them to disaster. And in a
very great many cases, though not in all, a sense of
security will itself help a man to escape dangers to
which another would succumb. If you are walking
over a chasm on a narrow plank, you are much
more likely to fall if you feel fear than if you do
not. And the same thing applies to the conduct of
life. The fearless man may, of course, meet with
sudden disaster, but it is likely that he will pass
unscathed through many difficult situations in
which a timid man would come to grief. This
useful kind of self-confidence has, of course,
innumerable forms. One man is confident on
mountains, another on the sea, and yet another in
the air. But general self-confidence towards life