 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
If he marries and is a reputable citizen, he forgoes many pleasures for the sake of his children, which again is due to forethought as to their future. Unless he is somewhat exceptional, he guards his tongue, expressing those opinions which will further his advancement, and concealing any which might be thought unorthodox. If he has the ordinary share of ambition, he hopes for success in his work, and is dominated by forethought as to how success is to be achieved. In the end, prudence itself becomes an impulse, and the rest of his instinctive life is atrophied. This is not a fancy picture. It is the actual biography of nine average citizens out of ten in every civilized country.
Source: Bertrand Russell: Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 1954, part II: The Conflict of Passions, chapter 3: Forethought and Skill, n.7
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If you don't have to worry about what people think of you, you don't have to live the kind of life Russell describes here. However, this is not the case unless you are an ‘exceptional person’ (powerful, outstandingly talented or outstanding in some other way) and you have to lead the kind of life Russell describes. I'm still not entirely sure why President Trump is so popular with Americans. I imagine that the majority of people who are forced to lead the kind of life Russell describes have a desire to ‘live vicariously through Trump’? Nevertheless, as comfortable as it may be for Trump's supporters, for those who don't like him, ‘Trump is a curse’.
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