Rev, I'm not at all sure that I see what:

"1. the longing for love,
2. the search for knowledge, and
3. unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.... "

have to do with getting something for nothing, but I bet there's a link there somewhere.

"This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me."
Bertrand Russell.

Did he write that before depression struck?

There never was nothing.