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

moments more frequent than prohibitionists
suppose. But the craving for drugs is certainly
something which cannot be left to the unfettered
operation of natural impulse. And the kind of
boredom which the person accustomed to drugs
experiences when deprived of them is something
for which I can suggest no remedy except time.
Now what applies to drugs applies also, within
limits, to every kind of excitement. A life too full
of excitement is an exhausting life, in which
continually stronger stimuli are needed to give the
thrill that has come to be thought an essential part
of pleasure. A person accustomed to too much
excitement is like a person with a morbid craving
for pepper, who comes last to be unable even to
taste a quantity of pepper which would cause
anyone else to choke. There is an element of
boredom which is inseparable from the avoidance
of too much excitement, and too much excitement
not only undermines the health, but dulls the palate
for every kind of pleasure, substituting titillations
for profound organic satisfactions, cleverness for