Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease and security, not of a life of arduous struggle. Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish forever.
Bertrand Russell, 'In Praise of Idleness'
Today marks the anniversary of the death of Bertrand Russell, Welsh philosopher, mathematician, logician, pacifist and advocate of social reform. He also won the Nobel Prize for Literature - no mean feat for one who praised the idle life. BBC Wales' Arts section is running a profile of Bertrand Russell's life and work, which you can read by clicking here.
