more from Bertrand Russell

Single Idea 20177

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 4. Boredom]

Full Idea

It is one of the essentials of boredom that one's faculties must not be fully occupied.

Gist of Idea

Boredom always involves not being fully occupied

Source

Bertrand Russell (The Conquest of Happiness [1930], 4)

Book Reference

Russell,Bertrand: 'The Conquest of Happiness' [Unwin 1961], p.37


A Reaction

He gives running for your life as an example of non-boredom. I suspect that this is only the sort of boredom that troubled Russell, and not the sort of profound boredom that led the actor George Sanders to suicide (according to his last note).