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

hours of freedom. The trouble is that the pleasures
which are easiest to obtain and most superficially
attractive are mostly of a sort to wear out the
nerves. Desire for excitement, when it goes beyond
a point, is a sign either of a twisted disposition or
of some instinctive dissatisfaction. In the early
days of a happy marriage most men feel no need of
excitement, but in the modern world marriage often
has to be postponed for such a long time that when
at last it becomes financially possible excitement
has become a habit which can only be kept at bay
for a short time. If public opinion allowed men to
marry at twenty-one without incurring the financial
burdens at present involved in matrimony, many
men would never get into the way of demanding
pleasures as fatiguing as their work. To suggest
that this should be made possible is, however,
immoral, as may be seen from the fate of Judge
Lindsey, who has suffered obloquy, in spite of a
long and honourable career, for the sole crime of
wishing to save young people from the misfortunes
that they incur as a result of their elders’ bigotry. I
shau not, however, pursue this topic any further at