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

prestige. In some countries there is an aristocracy;
in all there are the learned professions, and in all
but a few of the smaller countries the army and the
navy enjoy great respect. Now while it is true that
there is a competitive element in success no matter
what a man’s profession may be, yet at the same
time the kind of thing that is respected is not just
success, but that excellence, whatever that may be,
to which success has been due. A man of science
may or may not make money; he is certainly not
more respected if he does than if he does not. No
one is surprised to find an eminent general or
admiral poor; indeed, poverty in such
circumstances is, in a sense, itself an honour. For
these reasons, in Europe, the purely monetary
competitive struggle is confined to certain circles,
and those perhaps not the most influential or the
most respected.
In America the matter is otherwise. The Services
play too small a part in the national life for their
standards to have any influence. As for the learned
professions, no outsider can tell whether a doctor