Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 39

• It would have been very much better for the world if Britain had remained neutral and the Germans had won a quick victory. We should not have had either the Nazis or the Communists if that had happened.

  Bertrand Russell

  War, Victory, World

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• It seems to be the fate of idealists to obtain what they have struggled for in a form which destroys their ideals.

  Bertrand Russell

  Fate, Form, Idealism

  Marriage and Morals ch. 7 (1929)

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• The coward wretch whose hand and heart Can bear to torture aught below, Is ever first to quail and start From the slightest pain or equal foe.

  Bertrand Russell

  Honesty, Pain, Integrity

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• Admiration of the proletariat, like that of dams, power stations, and aeroplanes, is part of the ideology of the machine age.

  Bertrand Russell

  Birthday, Age, Dams

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.62, Routledge

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• A good social system is not to be secured by making people unselfish, but, by making their own vital impulses fit in with other peoples. This is feasible. Those who have produced stoic philosophies have all had enough to eat and drink. I feel I shall find the truth on my deathbed and be surrounded by people too stupid to understand—fussing about medicines instead of searching for wisdom. I hate being all tidy like a book in a library where nobody reads – prison is horribly like that.

  Bertrand Russell

  Hate, Philosophy, Stupid

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• Respectability, regularity, and routine - the whole cast-iron discipline of a modern industrial society - have atrophied the artistic impulse, and imprisoned love so that it can no longer be generous and free and creative, but must be either stuffy or furtive.

  Bertrand Russell

  Iron, Discipline, Creative

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.12, Psychology Press

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• Machines have altered our way of life, but not our instincts. Consequently, there is maladjustment.

  Bertrand Russell

  Machines, Way, Instinct

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.69, Psychology Press

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• Understanding human nature must be the basis of any real improvement in human life. Science has done wonders in mastering the laws of the physical world, but our own nature is much less understood, as yet, than the nature of stars and electrons. When science learns to understand human nature, it will be able to bring a happiness into our lives which machines and the physical sciences have failed to create.

  Bertrand Russell

  Stars, Real, Law

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.70, Psychology Press

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• There is an element of the busybody in our conception of virtue: unless a man makes himself a nuisance to a great many people, we do not think he can be an exceptionally good man.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Thinking, People

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.540, Routledge

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• To speak seriously: the standards of "goodness" which are generally recognized by public opinion are not those which are calculated to make the world a happier place. This is due to a variety of causes, of which the chief is tradition, and the next most powerful is the unjust power of dominant classes.

  Bertrand Russell

  Powerful, Class, World

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.97, Psychology Press

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• Science can teach us, and I think our hearts can teach us, no longer to look around for imaginary supporters, no longer to invent allies in the sky, but rather to look to our own efforts here below to make the world a fit place to live.

  Bertrand Russell

  Heart, Thinking, Sky

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• The white tails of rabbits, according to some theologians, have a purpose, namely to make it easier for sportsmen to shoot them.

  Bertrand Russell

  White, Rabbits, Tails

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.53, Routledge

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• Those who advocate common usage in philosophy sometimes speak in a manner that suggests the mystique of the 'common man.'

  Bertrand Russell

  Philosophy, Men, Common

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.66, Routledge

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• Thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit.

  Bertrand Russell

  Privilege, Habit, Institutions

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “Why Men Fight: A Method of Abolishing the International Duel”, p.96, Lulu Press, Inc

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• Tobacco . . . is not prohibited in the Scriptures, though, as Samuel Butler points out, St. Paul would no doubt have denounced it if he had known of it.

  Bertrand Russell

  Doubt, Scripture, Butlers

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.50, Routledge

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• Vanity is a motive of immense potency.

  Bertrand Russell

  Vanity, Potency, Motive

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.448, Routledge

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• It is a natural propensity to attribute misfortune to someone's malignity.

  Bertrand Russell

  Natural, Attributes, Propensity

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.113, Psychology Press

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• We do not like to be robbed of an enemy; we want someone to hate when we suffer. It is so depressing to think that we suffer because we are fools; yet, taking mankind in the mass, that is the truth.

  Bertrand Russell

  Depressing, Hate, Thinking

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

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• The first effect of emancipation from the Church was not to make men think rationally, but to open their minds to every sort of antique nonsense

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Thinking, Mind

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

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• Thee will find out in time that I have a great love of professing vile sentiments, I don't know why, unless it springs from long efforts to avoid priggery.

  Bertrand Russell

  Spring, Long, Great Love

  Bertrand Russell, Nicholas Griffin (2002). “The Selected Letters of Bertrand Russell: The Private Years, 1884-1914”, p.46, Psychology Press

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• I believe that Communism is necessary to the world, and I believe that the heroism of Russia has fired men's hopes in a way which was essential to the realization of Communism in the future. Regarded as a splendid attempt, without which ultimate success would have been very improbable, Bolshevism deserves the gratitude and admiration of all the progressive part of mankind.

  Bertrand Russell

  Gratitude, Believe, Men

  Bertrand Russell (1972). “Bolshevism: practice and theory”, Ayer Co Pub

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• So far I have been speaking of theoretical science, which is an attempt to understand the world. Practical science, which is an attempt to change the world, has been important from the first, and has continually increased in importance, until it has almost ousted theoretical science from men's thoughts.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Important, World

  Bertrand Russell (2008). “History of Western Philosophy”, p.492, Simon and Schuster

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• There are still many people in America who regard depressions as acts of God. I think Keynes proved that the responsibility for these occurrences does not rest with Providence.

  Bertrand Russell

  Responsibility, Thinking, America

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell”, p.69, Routledge

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• When white men first effect contact with some unspoilt race of savages, they offer them all kinds of benefits, from the light of the gospel to pumpkin pie. These, however, much as we may regret it, most savages receive with indifference. What they really value among the gifts that we bring to them is intoxicating liquor which enables them, for the first time in their lives, to have the illusion for a few brief moments that it is better to be alive than dead.

  Bertrand Russell

  Regret, Men, Light

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Human Society in Ethics and Politics”, p.165, Routledge

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• By self-interest, Man has become gregarious, but in instinct he has remained to a great extent solitary; hence the need of religion and morality to reinforce self-interest.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Self, Needs

  Bertrand Russell (2008). “History of Western Philosophy”, p.681, Simon and Schuster

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