Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 2

• Organized people are just too lazy to look for things

  Bertrand Russell

  People, Lazy, Looks

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• I once saw a photograph of a large herd of wild elephants in Central Africa Seeing an airplane for the first time, and all in a state of wild collective terror... As, however, there were no journalists among them, the terror died down when the airplane was out of sight.

  Bertrand Russell

  Funny, Airplane, Elephants

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• Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken.

  Bertrand Russell

  Inspirational, Government, Intelligence

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.2, Psychology Press

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• Love is wise; hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don't like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.

  Bertrand Russell

  Wise, Love Is, People

  "Bertrand Russell’s Message to People Living in the Year 2959: 'Love is Wise, Hatred is Foolish'". www.openculture.com. February 11, 2015.

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• Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who'll get the blame.

  Bertrand Russell

  Freedom, Humorous, Men

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• War doesn't determine who's right, it determines who's left

  Bertrand Russell

  War, Determine, Left

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• Be isolated, be ignored, be attacked, be in doubt, be frightened, but do not be silenced.

  Bertrand Russell

  Doubt, Ignored, Frightened

  Bertrand Russell, Barry Feinberg, Ronald Kasrils (1969). “Dear Bertrand Russell ... a selection of his correspondence with the general public, 1950-1968”, Allen & Unwin

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• If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.

  Bertrand Russell

  Happiness, Happy, Hippie

  Attributed to Bertrand Russell, Think, Vol. 27 (p. 32), 1961.

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• Most of the greatest evils that man has inflicted upon man have come through people feeling quite certain about something which, in fact, was false.

  Bertrand Russell

  Humility, Men, People

  Bertrand Russell (1996). “Unpopular Essays”, p.176, Psychology Press

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• We may define "faith" as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of "faith." We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence. The substitution of emotion for evidence is apt to lead to strife, since different groups, substitute different emotions.

  Bertrand Russell

  Two, Religion, Wish

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

  93 Copy quote

• Human nature is so constructed that it gives affection most readily to those who seem least to demand it.

  Bertrand Russell

  Emotional, Giving, Feelings

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.101, Lulu Press, Inc

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• When considering marriage one should ask oneself this question; 'will I be able to talk with this person into old age?' Everything else is transitory, the most time is spent in conversation.

  Bertrand Russell

  Age, Able, Should

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• The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

  Bertrand Russell

  Inspirational, Success, Confidence

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• I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: "The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that's fair." In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.

  Bertrand Russell

  Baby, Bullying, Anger

  "Education and the Social Order". Book by Bertrand Russell, p. 31, 1932.

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• The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible.

  Bertrand Russell

  Happiness, Secret, World

  Bertrand Russell (1987). “Bertrand Russell on ethics, sex, and marriage”

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• Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.

  Bertrand Russell

  Xenophobia, Fear, Racism

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.70, Routledge

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• If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. [...] The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.

  Bertrand Russell

  Thinking, Differences, Finding Yourself

  "Unpopular Essays". Book by Bertrand Russell, p. 116, 1950.

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• To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.

  Bertrand Russell

  Inspirational, Motivational, Happiness

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.15, Lulu Press, Inc

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• We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought.

  Bertrand Russell

  Education, Art, Philosophy

  Bertrand Russell, Richard A. Rempel, Beryl Haslam (2000). “Uncertain Paths to Freedom: Russia and China, 1919-22”, p.356, Psychology Press

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• An Honest politician will not be tolerated by a democracy unless he is very stupid ... because only a very stupid man can honestly share the prejudices of more than half the nation.

  Bertrand Russell

  Stupid, Men, Cynical

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

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  The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play the largest part and the possessive impulses the smallest.

  Bertrand Russell

  Play, Creative, Life Is

  Bertrand Russell, Richard A. Rempel (1995). “Pacifism and Revolution, 1916-18”, p.228, Psychology Press

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• The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.

  Bertrand Russell

  Challenges, Way, Problem

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• A smile happens in a flash, but its memory can last a lifetime.

  Bertrand Russell

  Smile, Memories, Lasts

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• We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: one which we preach, but do not practice, and another which we practice, but seldom preach.

  Bertrand Russell

  Practice, Two, Ethics And Morals

  Bertrand Russell (1987). “Bertrand Russell on ethics, sex, and marriage”

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• Science does not aim at establishing immutable truths and eternal dogmas; its aim is to approach the truth by successive approximations, without claiming that at any stage final and complete accuracy has been achieved.

  Bertrand Russell

  Doe, Finals, Dogma

  Bertrand Russell (1985). “The ABC of relativity”, Signet

  150 Copy quote

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