Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 4

• When considering marriage one should ask oneself this question; 'will I be able to talk with this person into old age?' Everything else is transitory, the most time is spent in conversation.

  Bertrand Russell

  Age, Able, Should

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• Change is one thing, progress is another.

  Bertrand Russell

  Progress, One Thing

  Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.396, Psychology Press

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• Most human beings, though in varying degrees, desire to control, not only their own lives but also the lives of others

  Bertrand Russell

  Desire, Degrees, Lives Of Others

  Bertrand Russell, John Greer Slater, Peter Köllner (1996). “A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42”, p.445, Psychology Press

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• War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

  Bertrand Russell

  Peace, Military, War

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• It seems to me a fundamental dishonesty, and a fundamental treachery to intellectual integrity to hold a belief because you think it's useful and not because you think it's true.

  Bertrand Russell

  Integrity, Thinking, Intellectual

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• Be isolated, be ignored, be attacked, be in doubt, be frightened, but do not be silenced.

  Bertrand Russell

  Doubt, Ignored, Frightened

  Bertrand Russell, Barry Feinberg, Ronald Kasrils (1969). “Dear Bertrand Russell ... a selection of his correspondence with the general public, 1950-1968”, Allen & Unwin

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• I do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no God. I equally cannot prove that Satan is a fiction. The Christian god may exist; so may the gods of Olympus, or of ancient Egypt, or of Babylon. But no one of these hypotheses is more probable than any other: they lie outside the region of even probable knowledge, and therefore there is no reason to consider any of them.

  Bertrand Russell

  Christian, Atheist, Fear

  Bertrand Russell (1993). “The Quotable Bertrand Russell”

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• 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

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• You must believe that you can help bring about a better world.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, World, Helping

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• Anything you're good at contributes to happiness.

  Bertrand Russell

  Happiness, Happy, Mind

  Bertrand Russell (1993). “The Quotable Bertrand Russell”

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• God and Satan alike are essentially human figures, the one a projection of ourselves, the other of our enemies.

  Bertrand Russell

  Enemy, Satan, Figures

  Bertrand Russell (1986). “Bertrand Russell on God and Religion”

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• One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.

  Bertrand Russell

  Success, Work, Stress

  Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 5

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• To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

  Bertrand Russell

  Inspirational, Success, Wisdom

  Unpopular Essays (1950) "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish"

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• Beware the man of the single book

  Bertrand Russell

  Book, Men, He Man

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• No rules, however wise, are a substitute for affection and tact.

  Bertrand Russell

  Wise, Affection, Substitutes

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays”, p.147, Psychology Press

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• Bolshevism is to be reckoned with Mohammedanism rather than with Christianity and Buddhism. Christianity and Buddhism are primarily personal religions, with mystical doctrines and a love of contemplation. Mohammedanism and Bolshevism are practical, social, unspiritual, concerned to win the empire of the world.

  Bertrand Russell

  Buddhism, Winning, Islam

  Bertrand Russell (2007). “The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism”, p.74, Cosimo, Inc.

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• The tragedy of the people of Palestine is that their country was “given” by a foreign power to another people for the creation of a new state. The result was that many hundreds of thousands of innocent people were made permanently homeless. With every new conflict their numbers increased. How much longer is the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty?

  Bertrand Russell

  Country, Numbers, People

  Bertrand Russell, Ray Perkins (Jr.) (2002). “Yours Faithfully, Bertrand Russell: A Lifelong Fight for Peace, Justice, and Truth in Letters to the Editor”, p.411, Open Court Publishing

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• We are told that Sin consists in acting contrary to God's commands, but we are also told that God is omnipotent. If He is, nothing contrary to His will can occur; therefore when the sinner disobeys His commands, He must have intended this to happen.

  Bertrand Russell

  Funny, God, Humorous

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.51, Routledge

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• 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.

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• Love should be a tree whose roots are deep in the earth, but whose branches extend into heaven.

  Bertrand Russell

  Love, Roots, Tree

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Marriage and Morals”, p.175, Routledge

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• 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

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• No people anywhere in the world would accept being expelled en masse from their own country; how can anyone require the people of Palestine to accept a punishment which nobody else would tolerate?

  Bertrand Russell

  Country, Punishment, People

  Bertrand Russell, Ray Perkins (Jr.) (2002). “Yours Faithfully, Bertrand Russell: A Lifelong Fight for Peace, Justice, and Truth in Letters to the Editor”, p.411, Open Court Publishing

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• 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”

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