Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 29

• In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Equality, America

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.154, Routledge

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• When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others.

  Bertrand Russell

  Thinking, Belief, Certain

  Bertrand Russell (2016). “Why I Am Not a Christian”, p.22, Lulu Press, Inc

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• If you had the power to destroy the world, would you do so?

  Bertrand Russell

  World, Ifs

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell”, p.62, Routledge

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• The happy life is to an extraordinary extent the same as the good life.

  Bertrand Russell

  Good Life, Happy Life, Life Is

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.144, Lulu Press, Inc

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• I do so hate to leave this world.

  Bertrand Russell

  Death, Hate, World

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• When two great powers disagree about anything - it doesn't matter what - they must find a way to settle it somehow by arbitration or by negotiation, not by war or threat of war.

  Bertrand Russell

  War, Two, Arbitration

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• Love as a relation between men and women was ruined by the desire to make sure of the legitimacy of children.

  Bertrand Russell

  Life, Children, Men

  Marriage and Morals

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• I believe myself that romantic love is the source of the most intense delights that life has to offer. In the relation of a man and woman who love each other with passion and imagination and tenderness, there is something of inestimable value, to be ignorant of which is a great misfortune to any human being.

  Bertrand Russell

  Life, Believe, Passion

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Marriage and Morals”, p.46, Routledge

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• The first step in wisdom, as well as in morality, is to open the windows of the ego as wide as possible.

  Bertrand Russell

  Wisdom, Ego, Firsts

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.666, Routledge

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• Every isolated passion, is, in isolation, insane; sanity may be defined as synthesis of insanities. Every dominant passion generates a dominant fear, the fear of its non-fulfillment. Every dominant fear generates a nightmare, sometimes in form of explicit and conscious fanaticism, sometimes in paralyzing timidity, sometimes in an unconscious or subconscious terror which finds expression only in dreams. The man who wishes to preserve sanity in a dangerous world should summon in his own mind a parliament of fears, in which each in turn is voted absurd by all the others.

  Bertrand Russell

  Dream, Passion, Men

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• To be able to concentrate for a considerable time is essential to difficult achievement.

  Bertrand Russell

  Achievement, Essentials, Able

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “On Education”, p.160, Routledge

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• There is no need to worry about mere size. We do not necessarily respect a fat man more than a thin man. Sir Isaac Newton was very much smaller than a hippopotamus, but we do not on that account value him less.

  Bertrand Russell

  Funny, Men, Weight Loss

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.370, Routledge

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• Real life is, to most men, a long second best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible.

  Bertrand Russell

  Life, Real, Men

  Bertrand Russell (2016). “Mysticism and Logic”, p.94, Bertrand Russell

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• In considering irregular appearances, there are certain very natural mistakes which must be avoided.

  Bertrand Russell

  Mistake, Appearance, Natural

  Bertrand Russell (2016). “The Analysis of Mind”, p.187, Bertrand Russell

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• The man who has fed the chicken every day throughout its life at last wrings its neck instead, showing that more refined views as to the uniformity of nature would have been useful to the chicken.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Views, Lasts

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.123, Routledge

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• Human nature being what it is, people will insist upon getting some pleasure out of life.

  Bertrand Russell

  People, Human Nature, Pleasure

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.106, Psychology Press

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• William James describes a man who got the experience from laughing-gas; whenever he was under its influence, he knew the secret of the universe, but when he came to, he had forgotten it. At last, with immense effort, he wrote down the secret before the vision had faded. When completely recovered, he rushed to see what he had written. It was 'A smell of petroleum prevails throughout'.

  Bertrand Russell

  Laughter, Men, Smell

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “History of Western Philosophy: Collectors Edition”, p.109, Routledge

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• The slave is doomed to worship time and fate and death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour.

  Bertrand Russell

  Death, Time, Fate

  Bertrand Russell (2016). “Mysticism and Logic”, p.85, Bertrand Russell

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• Against the vast majority of my countrymen, even at this moment, in the name of humanity and civilization, I protest against our share in the destruction of Germany. A month ago Europe was a peaceful comity of nations; if an Englishman killed a German, he was hanged. Now, if an Englishman kills a German, or if a German kills an Englishman, he is a patriot, who has deserved well of his country.

  Bertrand Russell

  Country, War, Europe

  Bertrand Russell (1994). “Prophecy and Dissent, 1914-16”, p.7, Psychology Press

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• I do not believe that I am now dreaming, but I cannot prove that I am not. I am, however, quite certain that I am having certain experiences, whether they be those of a dream or those of waking life.

  Bertrand Russell

  Dream, Believe, Waking Life

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Value”, p.186, Routledge

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• Americans need rest, but do not know it. I believe this to be a large part of the explanation of the crime wave in the United States.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, United States, Needs

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.146, Psychology Press

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• Animal rights, taken to their logical conclusion, mean votes for oysters.

  Bertrand Russell

  Taken, Mean, Animal

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• No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor, but honest.

  Bertrand Russell

  Dog, Animal, Parent

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• But as the work proceeded I was continually reminded of the fable about the elephant and the tortoise. Having constructed an elephant upon which the mathematical world could rest, I found the elephant tottering, and proceeded to construct a tortoise to keep the elephant from falling. But the tortoise was not more secure than the elephant, and after some twenty years of very arduous toil, I came to the conclusion that there was nothing more that I could do in the way of making mathematical knowledge indubitable.

  Bertrand Russell

  Fall, Years, Elephants

  Bertrand Russell (1998). “Autobiography”, p.725, Psychology Press

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• Dread of disaster makes everybody act in the very way that increases the disaster. Psychologically the situation is analogous to that of people trampled to death when there is a panic in a theatre caused by a cry of `Fire!'.

  Bertrand Russell

  Fire, People, Theatre

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.64, Routledge

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