Certified lunatics are shut up because of their proneness to violence when their pretensions are questioned; the uncertified variety are given the control of powerful armies, and can inflict death and disaster upon all sane men within their reach. The success of insanity, in literature, in philosophy, and in politics, is one of the peculiarities of our age, and the successful form of insanity proceeds almost entirely from impulses towards power.
Source: Bertrand Russell: Power, a new social analysis, 19386
More info.: https://russell-j.com/beginner/POWER16_070.HTM
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Russell points out that in every field, there are not a few people who are more captivated by the pursuit of power and wealth than inspired by a sincere passion for truth or the improvement of society.
This tendency is by no means confined to the realm of politics. Even in the domains of scholarship, literature, and art, the desire for recognition or dominance over others can at times overwhelm genuine curiosity and moral conscience.
Many may immediately think of the names of authoritarian leaders, yet Russell's words are, in fact, directed also at our own societies. Even in the Western nations, including Japan, there are quite a few people who, while appearing rational and respectable on the surface, are in reality driven by an obsessive impulse toward power and wealth.
They are often celebrated as successful figures and even admired by others; but in Russell's eyes, it is precisely such "success" that symbolizes the precariousness of modern civilization.
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