Bertrand Russell Quotes About Politics

• Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves, or, more generally, in the acquisition of power.

  Bertrand Russell

  Political, Next, Acquisition

  'Sceptical Essays' (1928) 'Recrudescence of Puritanism'

• Power is sweet; it is a drug, the desire for which increases with a habit.

  Bertrand Russell

  Sweet, War, Political

• Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who'll get the blame.

  Bertrand Russell

  Freedom, Humorous, Men

• 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.

• If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation do you prefer the grain to the vote?

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Democracy, Bags

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.82, Routledge

• What the world needs is not dogma but an attitude of scientific inquiry combined with a belief that the torture of millions is not desirable, whether inflicted by Stalin or by a Deity imagined in the likeness of the believer

  Bertrand Russell

  Attitude, Needs, Inquiry

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.35, Routledge

• 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.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Presidential, Society

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

• Education ought to foster the wish for truth, not the conviction that some particular creed is the truth.

  Bertrand Russell

  Truth, Wish, Politics

  Bertrand Russell (1992). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959”, p.406, Psychology Press

• Modern technique has made it possible for leisure, within limits, to be not the prerogative of small privileged classes, but a right evenly distributed throughout the community. The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery.

  Bertrand Russell

  Wisdom, Class, Community

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “In Praise of Idleness”, p.7, Lulu Press, Inc

• The wise use of leisure, it must be conceded, is a product of civilization and education.

  Bertrand Russell

  Wise, Wisdom, Civilization

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “In Praise of Idleness”, p.10, Lulu Press, Inc

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