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

As we rise in the social scale the pursuit of
excitement becomes more and more intense. Those
who can afford it are perpetually moving from
place to place, carrying with them as they go
gaiety, dancing and drinking, but for some reason
always expecting to enjoy these more in a new
place. Those who have to earn a living get their
share of boredom, of necessity, in working hours,
but those who have enough money to be freed from
the need of work have as their ideal a life
completely freed from boredom. It is a noble ideal,
and far be it from me to decry it, but I am afraid
that like other ideals it is more difficult to
achievement than the idealists suppose. After all,
the mornings are boring in proportion as the
previous evenings were amusing. There will be
middle age, possibly even old age. At twenty men
think that life will be over at thirty.
I, at the age of fifty-eight, can no longer take that
view. Perhaps it is as unwise to spend one’s vital
capital as one’s financial capital. Perhaps some
element of boredom is a necessary ingredient in