Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 13

• 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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• 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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• The immense majority of intellectually eminent men disbelieve in the Christian religion, but they conceal the fact in public, because they are afraid of losing their incomes.

  Bertrand Russell

  Christian, Men, Religion

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.169, Psychology Press

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• What the world needs is not dogma but an attitude of scientific inquiry combined with a belief that the torture of millions is not desirable, whether inflicted by Stalin or by a Deity imagined in the likeness of the believer

  Bertrand Russell

  Attitude, Needs, Inquiry

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.35, Routledge

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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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• 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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• 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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• There is a possibility in human minds of something mysterious as the night-wind, deep as the sea, calm as the stars, and strong as Death, a mystic contemplation, the “intellectual love of God.” Those who have known it cannot believe in wars any longer, or in any kind of hot struggle. If I could give to others what has come to me in this way, I could make them too feel the futility of fighting. But I do not know how to communicate it: when I speak, they stare, applaud, or smile, but do not understand.

  Bertrand Russell

  Strong, Stars, War

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell”, p.319, Routledge

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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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• One is often told that it is a very wrong thing to attack religion, because religion makes men virtuous. So I am told; I have not noticed it.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Religion, Atheism

  "Why I Am Not a Christian" (1927)

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• People will tell us that without the consolations of religion they would be intolerably unhappy. So far as this is true, it is a coward's argument. Nobody but a coward would consciously choose to live in a fool's paradise. When a man suspects his wife of infidelity, he is not thought the better of for shutting his eyes to the evidence. And I cannot see why ignoring evidence should be contemptible in one case and admirable in the other.

  Bertrand Russell

  Eye, Men, People

  Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.546, Psychology Press

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• I feel as if one would only discover on one's death-bed what one ought to have lived for, and realise too late that one's life has been wasted. Any passionate and courageous life seems good in itself, yet one feels that some element of delusion is involved in giving so much passion to any humanly attainable object. And so irony creeps into the very springs of one's being.

  Bertrand Russell

  Spring, Passion, Giving

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell”, p.232, Routledge

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• More and more people are becoming unable to accept traditional [religious] beliefs. If they think that, apart from these beliefs, there is no reason for kindly behaviour, the results may be needlessly unfortunate. That is why it is important to show that no supernatural reasons are needed to make [people] kind and to prove that only through kindness can the human race achieve happiness.

  Bertrand Russell

  Religious, Kindness, Philosophical

  Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.88, Psychology Press

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• I had supposed until that time that it was quite common for parents to love their children, but the war persuaded me that it is a rare exception. I had supposed that most people liked money better than almost anything else, but I discovered that they liked destruction even better. I had supposed that intellectuals frequently loved truth, but I found here again that not ten per cent of them prefer truth to popularity.

  Bertrand Russell

  Love, Children, War

  Bertrand Russell (1998). “Autobiography”, p.240, Psychology Press

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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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• When the state intervenes to insure the indoctrination of some doctrine, it does so because there is no conclusive evidence in favor of that doctrine.

  Bertrand Russell

  Government, Doe, Doctrine

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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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• When the intensity of emotional conviction subsides, a man who is in the habit of reasoning will search for logical grounds in favour of the belief which he finds in himself.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Emotional, Favour

  Bertrand Russell (2016). “Mysticism and Logic”, p.31, Bertrand Russell

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• I am myself a dissenter from all known religions, and I hope that every kind of religious belief will die out.

  Bertrand Russell

  Religious, Atheist, Religion

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.125, Psychology Press

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• William James used to preach the "will-to-believe." For my part, I should wish to preach the "will-to-doubt." None of our beliefs are quite true; all at least have a penumbra of vagueness and error. What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Errors, Opposites

  "Sceptical Essays". Book by Bertrand Russell, Ch. 12: Free Thought and Official Propaganda, 1928.

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• The essence of life is doing things for their own sakes.

  Bertrand Russell

  Wisdom, Essence, Sake

  Bertrand Russell (2002). “The Selected Letters of Bertrand Russell: The Public Years, 1914-1970”, p.160, Psychology Press

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• Man is a rational animal – so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life, I have looked diligently for evidence in favour of this statement, but so far I have not had the good fortune to come across it, though I have searched in many countries spread over three continents.

  Bertrand Russell

  Animal, Men, Long

  "Unpopular Essays".

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• Happiness, as is evident, depends partly upon external circumstances and partly upon oneself.

  Bertrand Russell

  Circumstances, Oneself, Depends

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.89, W. W. Norton & Company

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