BR TO GILBERT MURRAY, 6 SEPT. 1940
BRACERS 52402. ALS. Murray papers, Bodleian
Edited by W. Bruneau. Proofread by A.G. Bone

[As from] Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass, U. S. A.
Sp. 6, 1940.

Dear Gilbert

Thank you very much for your letter of July 29. My personal problems have been solved by a rich patron (in the eighteenth-century style) who has given me a teaching post with little work and sufficient salary. I cannot return to England, not only on account of my children, but also because I could not earn a living there. Exile at such a time however is infinitely painful. Meanwhile, we have spent the summer in a place of exquisite beauty, like the best of the Tyrol, and I have finished a big book An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth — Hume plus modern logic. Sometimes I think the best thing one can do is to salvage as much as possible of civilization before the onset of the dark ages. I feel as if we were living in the fifth century.

I quite agree with what you say about the war of ideologies. The issue became clear when Russia turned against us. Last time the alliance with the Czar confused the issue.

Sympathy in this country is growing more and more emphatic on our side. My belief is that, if we pull through this month, we shall win. But I am not optimistic as to the sort of world that the war will leave.

Yours ever
Bertrand Russell.