Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 12

• The Ten Commandments should be headed like an examination paper: No more than six to be attempted.

  Bertrand Russell

  Paper, Examination, Six

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• We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices. The opposite view involves some effort of thought, and most people would die sooner than think in fact they do so.

  Bertrand Russell

  Thinking, Views, Opposites

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Mortals and Others”, p.6, Routledge

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• A world full of happiness is not beyond human power to create; the obstacles imposed by inanimate nature are not insuperable. The real obstacles lie in the heart of man, and the cure for these is a firm hope, informed and fortified by thought.

  Bertrand Russell

  Happiness, Lying, Real

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “Proposed Roads to Freedom”, p.87, Simon and Schuster

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• There can't be a practical reason for believing something that is not true.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Religion, Reason

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• From India to Spain, the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished. What was lost to christendom at this time was not lost to civilization, but quite the contrary.

  Bertrand Russell

  Islamic, Civilization, India

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “History of Western Philosophy: Collectors Edition”, p.325, Routledge

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• Machines deprive us of two things which are certainly important ingredients of human happiness, namely, spontaneity and variety.

  Bertrand Russell

  Two, Important, Machines

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.67, Psychology Press

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• The life of man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long.

  Bertrand Russell

  Life, Pain, Night

  Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.115, Simon and Schuster

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• The most savage controversies are about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.

  Bertrand Russell

  Anger, Math, Religion

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.67, Routledge

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• Who ever heard a theologian preface his creed, or a politician conclude his speech with an estimate of the probable error of his opinion?

  Bertrand Russell

  Errors, Speech, Opinion

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• It may seem to your conceited to suppose that you can do anything important toward improving the lot of mankind. But this is a fallacy. You must believe that you can help bring about a better world. A good society is produced only by good individuals, just as truly as a majority in a presidential election is produced by the votes of single electors. Everybody can do something toward creating in his own environment kindly feelings rather than anger, reasonableness rather than hysteria, happiness rather than misery.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Conceited, Hysteria

  Bertrand Russell, John Greer Slater, Peter Köllner (1996). “A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42”, p.642, Psychology Press

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• Those who have never known the deep intimacy and the intense companionship of happy mutual love have missed the best thing that life has to give.

  Bertrand Russell

  Love, Life, Giving

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Marriage and Morals”, p.80, Routledge

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• There is darkness without and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, nor vastness anywhere; only triviality for a moment and then nothing.

  Bertrand Russell

  Darkness Within, Vastness, Splendor

  Bertrand Russell (1998). “Autobiography”, p.393, Psychology Press

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• What else is there to make life tolerable? We stand on the shore of an ocean, crying to the night and to emptiness. Sometimes a voice of one drowning, and in a moment the silence returns. The world seems to me quite dreadful, the unhappiness of many people is very great, and I often wonder how they all endure it. It is usually the central thing around which their lives are built, and I suppose if they did not live most of their lives in the things of the moment, they would not be able to go on.

  Bertrand Russell

  Life, Ocean, Night

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• Are you never afraid of God's judgement in denying him? Most certainly not. I also deny Zeus and Jupiter and Odin and Brahma, but this causes me no qualms. I observe that a very large portion of the human race does not believe in God and suffers no visible punishment in consequence. And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Thinking, Odin

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• Writing can be either readable or precise, but not at the same time.

  Bertrand Russell

  Writing, Precise

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• Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless.

  Bertrand Russell

  Religion, Atheism, Purpose

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• A man who has once perceived, however temporarily and however briefly, what makes greatness of soul, can no longer be happy if he allows himself to be petty, self-seeking, troubled by trivial misfortunes, dreading what fate may have in store for him. The man capable of greatness of soul will open wide the windows of his mind, letting the winds blow freely upon it from every portion of the universe.

  Bertrand Russell

  Fate, Blow, Greatness

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.132, Lulu Press, Inc

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• ...the nonexistence of God makes more difference to some of us than to others. To me, it means that there is no absolute morality, that moralities are sets of social conventions devised by humans to satisfy their needs.

  Bertrand Russell

  Mean, Differences, Needs

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• The modern man thinks that everything ought to be done for the sake of something else, and never for its own sake.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Thinking, Done

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays”, p.11, Psychology Press

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• I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Ego, I Believe

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.348, Routledge

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• Official morality has always been oppressive and negative: it has said "thou shalt not," and has not troubled to investigate the effect of activities not forbidden by the code.

  Bertrand Russell

  Negative, Morality, Said

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.99, Psychology Press

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• Fundamental happiness depends more than anything else upon what may be called a friendly interest in persons and things.

  Bertrand Russell

  Happiness, Friendly, Fundamentals

  Bertrand Russell (2012). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.107, Routledge

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• It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.

  Bertrand Russell

  Philosophical, Men, Animal

  "Unpopular Essays". Book by Bertrand Russell, 1950.

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• A democrat need not believe that the majority will always reach a wise decision. He should however believe in the necessity of accepting the decision of the majority, be it wise or unwise, until such a time that the majority reaches another decision.

  Bertrand Russell

  Wise, Freedom, Believe

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• The objections to religion are of two sorts - intellectual and moral. The intellectual objection is that there is no reason to suppose any religion true; the moral objection is that religious precepts date from a time when men were more cruel than they are and therefore tend to perpetuate inhumanities which the moral conscience of the age would otherwise outgrow.

  Bertrand Russell

  Death, Religious, Men

  Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.30, Simon and Schuster

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