Bertrand Russell

Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. There is certainly much work which is exceedingly troublesome, 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 painfulthan idleness.There are in work all grades, from mere relief of tediousness up to the profoundest delights, according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker.Most ofthe work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even such work hascertain 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 own choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. And whatever they decide on, they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been pleasanter.To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. Moreoverthe exercise of choice is in itself tiresome. Except to people with unusual initiative it ispositively 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 in Africa, 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 werepoor,while rich women for the most part keep themselves busy with innumerable trifles of whose earth-shaking importance they are firmly persuaded.