The Conquest of Happiness

Leo Tolstoy once claimed that all unhappy families are unhappy in different ways, while all happy families are happy in the same way. This idea can be extended to people in general and even to society, and examples of happy people give hope that happiness is quite achievable under a number of conditions. Bertrand Russell took the liberty of breaking down the abstract concept of happiness into its components and proving that, first and foremost, happiness depends on an individual's personal efforts and only then – on external circumstances.