The War of 1914-18 changed everything for me. I ceased to be academic and took to writing a new kind of books. I changed my whole conception of human nature. I became for the first time deeply convinced that Puritanism does not make for human happiness. Source:The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, v.2 chap. 1:The First War, 1968 More info.: http://russell-j.com/beginner/AB21-330.HTM