Bertrand Russell on Happiness

 If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.     --Bertrand Russell 
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I suppose this is true, as a truism, because the only way for people to actually achieve their own happiness (which they would presumably begin to discover were that their primary wish), is to have at least equal concern for the happiness of others.  See the Shantideva quote below. Which proves that when it comes to wisdom, as opposed to know-how, there has been no progress in the world for many, many centuries.

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All the happiness there is in the world
Arises from the wish for others to have happiness.
All the suffering there is in the world
Arises from the wish for our own happiness.

                              --Shantideva (c. 685-763),

Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life                                

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