I believe the lack of zest and of fruitful purpose itself has physiological causes.... Any man who contemplates writing a book or engaging in any forms of preaching or propaganda should be obliged to do an hour's digging or other outdoor manual work before breakfast. By that time breakfast would be such a delight that throughout the rest of the day he would be incapable of thinking that all is vanity.
Source: "Why are we discontented?" [From: Mortals and Others: Bertrand Russell's American Essays, 1931-1935, v.1 (1975)]
More info.: https://russell-j.com/YOKKYU.HTM
* a brief comment:
When I previously quoted this passage (i.e., "Today's Words from Russell"), I attached three images: an illustration of President Trump digging a hole, a photo of Schopenhauer looking as if he had just swallowed a bitter bug, and a picture of a cat dozing off with its chin resting on a computer keyboard, looking thoroughly bored.
This time, I wanted to replace two of the three images, so I asked ChatGPT to create "a satirical drawing of a philosopher (Bertrand Russell) dressed like a monk, seriously digging with a spade." It responded with the image on the left.
Then, I asked it to "replace the cat with a dog," and it provided the image on the right. I think both are quite well done--what do you think?
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