Bertrand Russell Quotes About Politicians

• An Honest politician will not be tolerated by a democracy unless he is very stupid ... because only a very stupid man can honestly share the prejudices of more than half the nation.

  Bertrand Russell

  Stupid, Men, Cynical

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

• 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.

• Most political leaders acquire their position by causing large numbers of people to believe that these leaders are actuated by altruistic desires

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Numbers, People

  Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.425, Psychology Press

• Modern American politicians have the same cowardice about denying an equally bloodthirsty even sillier god, Jehovah.
  None of us would seriously consider the possibility that all the gods of Homer really exist... I think that all of us would say in regard to those gods that we were atheists. In regard to the Christian God, I should, I think, take exactly the same line.

  Bertrand Russell

  Christian, Atheist, Thinking

• The skill of the politician consists in guessing what people can be brought to think advantageous to themselves; the skill of the expert consists in calculating what really is advantageous, provided people can be brought to think so.

  Bertrand Russell

  Thinking, Skills, People

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.109, Psychology Press

• Who ever heard a theologian preface his creed, or a politician conclude his speech with an estimate of the probable error of his opinion?

  Bertrand Russell

  Errors, Speech, Opinion

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