—from The Conquest of Happiness (Part II)
Bertrand Russell
[1]Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as doubtful question.There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome, and an excess of work is always very painful.I think, however, that provided work is not excessive in amount, even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness.There are in work all grades, from mere relief of tedium up to the profoundest delights , according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker.Most of the work that most people have to do is not initselfinteresting, but even such work has certain great advantages.To begin with, it fills a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one shall do.Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing.To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.Moreover the exercise of choice is in itself tiresome .Except topeople with unusual initiative it is positively agreeable to be told what to do at each hour of the day, provided the orders are not too unpleasant.Most of the idle rich suffer unspeakable boredom as the price of their freedom from drudgery .At times they may find relief by hunting big game inAfrica, or by flying round the world, but the number of such sensations is limited, especially after youth is past.Accordingly the more intelligent rich men work nearly as hard as if they were poor, while rich women for the most part keep themselves busyinnumerable trifles of whose earth-shaking importance they are firmly persuaded.
[2]Work therefore is desirable, first and foremost ,as a preventive of boredom,for the boredom that a man feels when he is doing necessary though uninteresting work is as nothing in comparison with the boredom that he feels when he has nothing to do with his days.With this advantage of work another is associated, namely that it makes holiday much more delicious when they come.Provided a man does not have to worksohardas to impair his vigor, heis likely tofind far more zest in his free time than an idle man could possibly find.