Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 12

• Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.

  Bertrand Russell

  Fear, Believe, Animal

  Unpopular Essays (1950) "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish"

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• The human race may well become extinct before the end of the century. Speaking as a mathematician, I should say the odds are about three to one against survival.

  Bertrand Russell

  Race, Odds, Survival

  Interview in "Playboy", 10, No. 3, 42, (March 1963) in "One Nation Underground: The Fallout Shelter in American Culture" by Kenneth Rose, (p. 39), 2004.

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• But courage in fighting is by no means the only form, nor perhaps even the most important. There is courage in facing poverty, courage in facing derision, courage in facing the hostility of one's own herd. In these, the bravest soldiers are often lamentably deficient. And above all there is the courage to think calmly and rationally in the face of danger, and to control the impulse of panic fear or panic rage.

  Bertrand Russell

  Courage, Mean, Fighting

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.364, Routledge

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• I don't like the spirit of socialism - I think freedom is the basis of everything.

  Bertrand Russell

  Thinking, Spirit, Socialism

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Autobiography”, p.286, Routledge

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• Truth is for the gods; from our human point of view, it is an ideal, towards which we can approximate, but which we cannot hope to reach.

  Bertrand Russell

  Views, Truth Is, Point Of View

  Bertrand Russell (1993). “The Quotable Bertrand Russell”

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• We must be sceptical even of our scepticism.

  Bertrand Russell

  Scepticism

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.120, Psychology Press

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• Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.

  Bertrand Russell

  Art, Responsibility, Sacrifice

  Bertrand Russell (2016). “Mysticism and Logic”, p.164, Bertrand Russell

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• I've always thought respectable people scoundrels, and I look anxiously at my face every morning for signs of my becoming a scoundrel.

  Bertrand Russell

  Good Morning, People, Looks

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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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• In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying.

  Bertrand Russell

  Suffering, Wicked, Injustice

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.814, Routledge

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• 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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• 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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• The skill of the politician consists in guessing what people can be brought to think advantageous to themselves; the skill of the expert consists in calculating what really is advantageous, provided people can be brought to think so.

  Bertrand Russell

  Thinking, Skills, People

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.109, Psychology Press

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• Always remember that true happiness is not in getting what you want, but wanting what you already have. He who dies with the most toys is still dead. What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Opposites, Getting What You Want

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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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• 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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• There is no reason to suppose that the world had a beginning at all. The idea that things must have a beginning is really due to the poverty of our thoughts.

  Bertrand Russell

  Ideas, World, Poverty

  Bertrand Russell (1971). “Ladislas Reymont: Romain Rolland ; Bertrand Russell”

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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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• 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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• Both in thought and in feeling, even though time be real, to realise the unimportance of time is the gate of wisdom.

  Bertrand Russell

  Wisdom, Time, Real

  Bertrand Russell (2016). “Mysticism and Logic”, p.35, Bertrand Russell

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

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Religion, Reason

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