Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 6

• The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history.

  Bertrand Russell

  Love, Powerful, Men

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.10, Lulu Press, Inc

  27 Copy quote

• Gradually, by selective breeding, the congenital differences between rulers
  and ruled will increase until they become almost different species. A revolt
  of the plebs would become as unthinkable as an organized insurrection of
  sheep against the practice of eating mutton.

  Bertrand Russell

  Sheep, Practice, Differences

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Impact of Science On Society”, p.44, Lulu Press, Inc

  69 Copy quote

• Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

  Bertrand Russell

  Country, Hippie, Patriotic

  Bertrand Russell (1962). “Has Man a Future?”

  24 Copy quote

• The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics.

  Bertrand Russell

  Science, Power, Energy

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Power: A New Social Analysis”, p.4, Psychology Press

  42 Copy quote

• None of our beliefs are quite true; all have at least a penumbra of vagueness and error.

  Bertrand Russell

  Errors, Vagueness, Belief

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.129, Psychology Press

  5 Copy quote

• Prison is a severe and terrible punishment; but for me, thanks to Arthur Balfour, this was not so. I was much cheered on my arrival by the warder at the gate, who had to take particulars about me. He asked my religion, and I replied 'agnostic.' He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh: 'Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God.' This remark kept me cheerful for about a week.

  Bertrand Russell

  God, Punishment, Religion

  Bertrand Russell (1998). “Autobiography”, p.257, Psychology Press

  140 Copy quote

• We must be skeptical even of our skepticism.

  Bertrand Russell

  Skepticism, Skeptical

  44 Copy quote

• Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.

  Bertrand Russell

  Fear, Science, Infancy Is

  45 Copy quote

• Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.

  Bertrand Russell

  Exercise, Liberty, Principles

  Bertrand Russell (1960). “Sceptical Essays”

  61 Copy quote

• Faith: a firm belief for which there is no evidence.

  Bertrand Russell

  Belief, Firm Beliefs, Evidence

  23 Copy quote

• To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

  Bertrand Russell

  Inspirational, Success, Wisdom

  Unpopular Essays (1950) "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish"

  51 Copy quote

• Democracy has at least one merit, namely that a Member of Parliament cannot be stupider than his constituents, for the more stupid he is, the more stupid they were to elect him.

  Bertrand Russell

  Stupid, Democracies Have, Democracy

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Autobiography”, p.66, Routledge

  8 Copy quote

• Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them.

  Bertrand Russell

  Clever, Stupid, Men

  "New Hopes for a Changing World". Part III: Man and Himself, Ch. 16: Ideas Which Have Become Obsolete, p. 158. Book by Bertrand Russell, 1951.

  20 Copy quote

• Marriage is for women the commonest mode of livelihood, and the total amount of undesired sex endured by women is probably greater in marriage than in prostitution.

  Bertrand Russell

  Marriage, Sex, Feminist

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Marriage and Morals”, p.94, Routledge

  13 Copy quote

• It is essential to happiness that our way of living should spring from our own deep impulses and not from the accidental tastes and desires of those who happen to be our neighbors, or even our relations.

  Bertrand Russell

  Spring, Desire, Essentials

  Bertrand Russell (1975). “The conquest of happiness”

  26 Copy quote

• To be happy in this world, especially when youth is past, it is necessary to feel oneself not merely an isolated individual whose day will soon be over, but part of the stream of life flowing on from the first germ to the remote and unknown future.

  Bertrand Russell

  Funny, Happiness, Laughter

  "The Conquest of Happiness" by Bertrand Russell, (Ch. 13), 1930.

  9 Copy quote

• Extreme hopes are born of extreme misery, and in such a world hopes could only be irrational.

  Bertrand Russell

  Hope, Misery, Born

  "Unpopular Essays". Book by Bertrand Russell, Chapter 3: The Future of Mankind (p. 36), 1950.

  32 Copy quote

• Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.

  Bertrand Russell

  Power, Hatred, Idealism And Realism

  Bertrand Russell (1992). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959”, p.478, Psychology Press

  37 Copy quote

• No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.

  Bertrand Russell

  Respect, Keeping Secrets, People

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “On Education”, p.50, Routledge

  13 Copy quote

• It is a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won't go.

  Bertrand Russell

  Anger, Men, Justice

  Bertrand Russell (1990). “The Art of Philosophizing: and Other Essays”, p.25, Rowman & Littlefield

  36 Copy quote

• Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation; but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind is also rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good.

  Bertrand Russell

  Philosophy, Greatness, Imagination

  Bertrand Russell (1997). “The Problems of Philosophy”, p.161, Oxford University Press, USA

  16 Copy quote

• Admit at least one painful truth to yourself every day. Teach yourself to feel that life would still be worth living even if you were not immeasurably superior to all your friends. Exercises of this sort, prolonged through several years, will at last enable you to admit facts without flinching, and will, in so doing, free you from the empire of fear over a very large field.

  Bertrand Russell

  Exercise, Years, Empires

  Bertrand Russell (2012). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.173, Routledge

  8 Copy quote

• It is the things for which there is no evidence that are believed with passion.

  Bertrand Russell

  Passion, Religion, Evidence

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Fact and Fiction”, p.63, Routledge

  11 Copy quote

• Dread of disaster makes everybody act in the very way that increases the disaster.

  Bertrand Russell

  Way, Disaster, Increase

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.54, Routledge

  13 Copy quote

• Facts have to be discovered by observation, not by reasoning

  Bertrand Russell

  Facts, Observation, Reasoning

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “History of Western Philosophy: Collectors Edition”, p.465, Routledge

  6 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Gottlob Frege

Alfred North Whitehead

David Hume

Russell Crowe

G. H. Hardy

Immanuel Kant

Jean-Paul Sartre