Bertrand Russell Quotes About Mankind

• The knowledge exists by which universal happiness can be secured; the chief obstacle to its utilization for that purpose is the teaching of religion. Religion prevents our children from having a rational education; religion prevents us from removing the fundamental causes of war; religion prevents us from teaching the ethic of scientific cooperation in place of the old fierce doctrines of sin and punishment. 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

  Children, War, Teaching

  "Why I Am Not a Christian".

• The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.

  Bertrand Russell

  Change, Teamwork, Collaboration

  Bertrand Russell, Andrew G. Bone (2003). “Man's Peril, 1954-55”, p.12, Psychology Press

• Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.

  Bertrand Russell

  Life, Strong, Fear

  Autobiography prologue (1967)

• It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.

  Bertrand Russell

  Philosophical, Men, Animal

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

• 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

  Birthday, Doors, Dragons

  Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.47, Simon and Schuster

• I conclude that, while it is true that science cannot decide questions of value, that is because they cannot be intellectually decided at all, and lie outside the realm of truth and falsehood. Whatever knowledge is attainable, must be attained by scientific methods; and what science cannot discover, mankind cannot know.

  Bertrand Russell

  Lying, Knowledge, Science

  Bertrand Russell (1997). “Religion and Science”, p.243, Oxford University Press, USA

• The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

  Bertrand Russell

  Learning, Knowledge, Parenting

  Marriage and Morals ch. 5 (1929)

• The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so, this purpose has any similarity to ours.

  Bertrand Russell

  Science, Doubt, Atheism

  Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.92, Simon and Schuster

• To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind are prone, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep you, not from all error, but from silly error.

  Bertrand Russell

  Silly, Simple, Errors

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.66, Routledge

• The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation ... it is common to wish well to oneself, but in our technically unified world, wishing well to oneself is sure to be futile unless it is combined with wishing well to others.

  Bertrand Russell

  Wish, World, Cooperation

  Bertrand Russell, Andrew G. Bone (2003). “Man's Peril, 1954-55”, p.12, Psychology Press

• It may seem to your conceited to suppose that you can do anything important toward improving the lot of mankind. But this is a fallacy. You must believe that you can help bring about a better world. A good society is produced only by good individuals, just as truly as a majority in a presidential election is produced by the votes of single electors. Everybody can do something toward creating in his own environment kindly feelings rather than anger, reasonableness rather than hysteria, happiness rather than misery.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Conceited, Hysteria

  Bertrand Russell, John Greer Slater, Peter Köllner (1996). “A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42”, p.642, Psychology Press

• With the introduction of agriculture mankind entered upon a long period of meanness, misery, and madness, from which they are only now being freed by the beneficent operation of the machine.

  Bertrand Russell

  Agriculture, Long, Machines

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.57, W. W. Norton & Company

• Mankind is divided into two classes: those who, being artificial, praise nature, and those who, being natural, praise art.

  Bertrand Russell

  Art, Class, Two

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Mortals and Others, Volume I: American Essays 1931-1935”, p.24, Routledge

• Much of the most important evils that mankind have to consider are those which they inflict upon each other through stupidity or malevolence or both.

  Bertrand Russell

  Evil, Stupidity, Important

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.143, Routledge

• Mankind has become so much one family that we cannot insure our own prosperity except by insuring that of everyone else.

  Bertrand Russell

  Prosperity, Mankind, Humankind

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.97, Routledge

• What science cannot discover, mankind cannot know.

  Bertrand Russell

  Mankind, Humankind, Knows

  "Religion and Science". Book by Bertrand Russell, Ch. IX: Science of Ethics, 1935.

• Even in civilized mankind faint traces of monogamous instinct can be perceived.

  Bertrand Russell

  Marriage, Instinct, Mankind

• It appeared to me obvious that the happiness of mankind should be the aim of all action, and I discovered to my surprise that there were those who thought otherwise.

  Bertrand Russell

  Happiness, Action, Surprise

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell”, p.39, Routledge

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

  Bertrand Russell

  Fear, Boredom, Half

  Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 4

• There are certain things that our age needs, and certain things that it should avoid. It needs compassion and a wish that mankind should be happy; it needs the desire for knowledge and the determination to eschew pleasant myths; it needs, above all, courageous hope and the impulse to creativeness.

  Bertrand Russell

  Faith, Determination, Compassion

  Bertrand Russell (1998). “Autobiography”, p.520, Psychology Press

• [Regarding] the convention that clergymen are more virtuous than other men. Any average selection of mankind, set apart and told that it excels the rest in virtue, must tend to sink below the average.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Average, Atheism

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “Why Men Fight: A Method of Abolishing the International Duel”, p.117, Lulu Press, Inc

• I consider the official Catholic attitude on divorce, birth control, and censorship exceedingly dangerous to mankind.

  Bertrand Russell

  Attitude, Divorce, Catholic

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.34, Routledge

• 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”

• Perhaps the best hope for the future of mankind is that ways will be found of increasing the scope and intensity of sympathy.

  Bertrand Russell

  Way, Found, Intensity

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.455, Routledge

• Our individual life is brief, and perhaps the whole life of mankind will be brief if measured in astronomical scale

  Bertrand Russell

  Individuality, Life Is, Scales

  Bertrand Russell (1944). “Pamphlets: The value of free thought; Ideas that have harmed mankind; Ideas that have helped mankind; The faith of a rationalist”

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