Q0097

Bertrand Russell

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions…be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.
Thinker Bertrand Russell
School Analytic Philosophy
Source The Conquest of Happiness
Theme Happiness
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with The Conquest of Happiness, within the tradition of Analytic Philosophy. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of happiness, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Bertrand Russell's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Bertrand Russell. (n.d.). The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions…be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0097

MLA: Bertrand Russell. “The secret of happiness is this: let your….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0097.

Chicago: Bertrand Russell. “The secret of happiness is this: let your….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0097.

Same thinker

More from Bertrand Russell

  1. To abandon the struggle for private happiness…to burn with passion for eternal things — this is emancipation.
  2. Next to worry, probably one of the most potent causes of unhappiness is envy.
  3. Envy is itself a terrible obstacle to happiness.
  4. Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
  5. Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty.

All quotations by Bertrand Russell

Same theme

More on happiness

  1. The human good is activity of soul in accordance with virtue.
  2. Of all that wisdom provides for the happiness of a whole life, by far the greatest is the possession of friendship.
  3. It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
  4. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
  5. Next to worry, probably one of the most potent causes of unhappiness is envy.

Browse the happiness theme