Quotes by Bertrand Russell - AI Generated Quotes

Bertrand Russell

To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can do for those who study it.

-Bertrand Russell

age

It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion.

-Bertrand Russell

age

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

-Bertrand Russell

age

Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.

-Bertrand Russell

art

Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change.

-Bertrand Russell

change

Many a man will have the courage to die gallantly, but will not have the courage to say, or even to think, that the cause for which he is asked to die is an unworthy one.

-Bertrand Russell

courage

The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.

-Bertrand Russell

dad

The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them.

-Bertrand Russell

dad

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

Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.

-Bertrand Russell

education

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

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

equality

In the revolt against idealism, the ambiguities of the word experience have been perceived, with the result that realists have more and more avoided the word.

-Bertrand Russell

experience

The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.

-Bertrand Russell

family

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

-Bertrand Russell

fear

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

-Bertrand Russell

fear

Boredom is... a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.

-Bertrand Russell

fear

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

-Bertrand Russell

fear

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

-Bertrand Russell

fear

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

-Bertrand Russell

fear

Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.

-Bertrand Russell

fear

None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.

-Bertrand Russell

fear

I believe in using words, not fists. I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.

-Bertrand Russell

food

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

-Bertrand Russell

freedom

Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires.

-Bertrand Russell

freedom

Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.

-Bertrand Russell

freedom

Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.

-Bertrand Russell

freedom

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.

-Bertrand Russell

funny

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

-Bertrand Russell

funny

I like mathematics because it is not human and has nothing particular to do with this planet or with the whole accidental universe - because, like Spinoza's God, it won't love us in return.

-Bertrand Russell

god

I believe in using words, not fists. I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.

-Bertrand Russell

good

The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.

-Bertrand Russell

good

Anything you're good at contributes to happiness.

-Bertrand Russell

good

Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.

-Bertrand Russell

good

The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.

-Bertrand Russell

good

Bertrand Russell

To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can do for those who study it.

It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion.

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

Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.

Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change.

Many a man will have the courage to die gallantly, but will not have the courage to say, or even to think, that the cause for which he is asked to die is an unworthy one.

The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.

The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them.

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.

Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.

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

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.

In the revolt against idealism, the ambiguities of the word experience have been perceived, with the result that realists have more and more avoided the word.

The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Boredom is... a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

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

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.

None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.

I believe in using words, not fists. I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.

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

Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires.

Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.

Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

I like mathematics because it is not human and has nothing particular to do with this planet or with the whole accidental universe - because, like Spinoza's God, it won't love us in return.

I believe in using words, not fists. I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.

The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.

Anything you're good at contributes to happiness.

Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.

The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.

Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.

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