Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 47

• In any closet, you can find it, if it is too small, or out of style, or there is just one of it where there should be two

  Bertrand Russell

  Fashion, Two, Style

  5 Copy quote

• I am paid by the word, so I always write the shortest words possible.

  Bertrand Russell

  Writing, Paid

  5 Copy quote

• At first it seems obvious, but the more you think about it the stranger the deductions from this axiom seem to become; in the end you cease to understand what is meant by it.

  Bertrand Russell

  Math, Thinking, Understanding

  4 Copy quote

• A priori Logical propositions are such as can be known a priori without study of the actual world.

  Bertrand Russell

  World, Study, Logical

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.155, Routledge

  8 Copy quote

• The pure mathematician, like the musician, is a free creator of his world of ordered beauty.

  Bertrand Russell

  Science, Musician, World

  Bertrand Russell (2008). “History of Western Philosophy”, p.33, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

• It is in the nature of imperialism that citizens of the imperial power are always among the last to know-or care-about circumstances in the colonies.

  Bertrand Russell

  Tyrants, Citizens, Care

  5 Copy quote

• Boys and young men acquire readily the moral sentiments of their social milieu, whatever these sentiments may be.

  Bertrand Russell

  Boys, Men, May

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Human Society in Ethics and Politics”, p.76, Routledge

  6 Copy quote

• The solution of the difficulties which formerly surrounded the mathematical infinite is probably the greatest achievement of which our age has to boast.

  Bertrand Russell

  Discovery, Achievement, Age

  Bertrand Russell, Kenneth Blackwell (1985). “The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell: Contemplation and action, 1902-14”, Allen & Unwin Australia

  4 Copy quote

• Religion and Science are two aspects of social life, of which the former has been important as far back as we know anything of man

  Bertrand Russell

  Science, Men, Two

  Bertrand Russell (1997). “Religion and Science”, p.7, Oxford University Press, USA

  4 Copy quote

• With civilized men..., it is, I think, chiefly love of excitement which makes the populace applaud when war breaks out; the emotion is exactly the same as at a football match, although the results are sometimes somewhat more serious.

  Bertrand Russell

  Football, War, Men

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.451, Routledge

  4 Copy quote

• The human animal, like others, is adapted to a certain amount of struggle for life [and] the mere absence of effort from his life removes an essential ingredient of happiness. [. . .] He forgets that to be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.

  Bertrand Russell

  Struggle, Animal, Effort

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.14, W. W. Norton & Company

  4 Copy quote

• So long as there is death there will be sorrow, and so long as there is sorrow it can be no part of the duty of human beings to increase its amount, in spite of the fact that a few rare spirits know how to transmute it.

  Bertrand Russell

  Long, Sorrow, Facts

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.333, Routledge

  4 Copy quote

• As a lover of truth, the national propaganda of all the belligerent nations sickened me. As a lover of civilization, the return to barbarism appalled me.

  Bertrand Russell

  Civilization, Return, Lovers

  Bertrand Russell, Ray Perkins (Jr.) (2002). “Yours Faithfully, Bertrand Russell: A Lifelong Fight for Peace, Justice, and Truth in Letters to the Editor”, p.33, Open Court Publishing

  4 Copy quote

• It has become a commonplace that aggressiveness also often has its roots in fear. I am inclined to think that this theory has been pushed too far. [...] The type of aggressiveness that is the outcome of timidity is not, I think, that which inspires great leaders; the great leaders, I should say, have an exceptional self-confidence which is not only on the surface, but penetrates deep into the subconscious.

  Bertrand Russell

  Self Confidence, Thinking, Roots

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Power: A New Social Analysis”, p.32, Routledge

  4 Copy quote

• The most essential characteristic of scientific technique is that it proceeds from experiment, not from tradition.

  Bertrand Russell

  Technique, Essentials, Tradition

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Scientific Outlook”, p.125, Routledge

  4 Copy quote

• But I simply can't stand a view limited to this earth, I feel life is so small unless it has windows into other worlds...I like mathematics largely because it is not human.

  Bertrand Russell

  Views, Other Worlds, Earth

  Bertrand Russell (1992). “The Selected Letters of Bertrand Russell: The private years, 1884-1914”, Allen Lane

  4 Copy quote

• No other organization rouses anything like the loyalty aroused by the national State. And the chief activity of the State is preparation for large-scale homicide.

  Bertrand Russell

  Loyalty, Organization, Preparation

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Power: A New Social Analysis”, p.173, Psychology Press

  4 Copy quote

• Logic must no more admit a unicorn than zoology can.

  Bertrand Russell

  Unicorn, Logic, Zoology

  Bertrand Russell (2007). “Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy”, p.169, Spokesman Books

  44 Copy quote

• A life which goes excessively against natural impulse is... likely to involve effects of strain that may be quite as bad as indulgence in forbidden impulses would have been. People who live a life which is unnatural beyond a point are likely to be filled with envy, malice and uncharitableness.

  Bertrand Russell

  People, Envy, May

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Authority and the Individual”, p.8, Routledge

  4 Copy quote

• Every sane and sensible and quiet thing we do is absolutely ignored by the press.

  Bertrand Russell

  Ignored, Quiet, Sensible

  5 Copy quote

• In view of the fact that in any future world war nuclear weapons will certainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten the continued existence of mankind, we urge the governments of the world to realize, and to acknowledge publicly, that their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urge them, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them.

  Bertrand Russell

  War, Mean, Government

  The Russell-Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955.

  4 Copy quote

• One of the most painful circumstances of recent advances in science is that each one makes us know less than we thought we did

  Bertrand Russell

  Painful, Circumstances, Knows

  Bertrand Russell (1947). “What is the Soul?”, p.2, Hayes Barton Press

  4 Copy quote

• Even if it is indifferent to human desires, as it seems to be; if human life is a passing episode, hardly noticeable in the vastness of cosmic processes; if there is no superhuman purpose, and no hope of ultimate salvation, it is better to know and acknowledge this truth than to endeavor, in futile self-assertion, to order the universe to be what we find comfortable.

  Bertrand Russell

  Order, Self, Desire

  4 Copy quote

• The time has come, or is about to come, when only large-scale civil disobedience, which should be nonviolent, can save the populations from the universal death which their governments are preparing for them.

  Bertrand Russell

  Government, Population, Should

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Fact and Fiction”, p.283, Routledge

  4 Copy quote

• Punctuality is a quality the need of which is bound up with social co-operation.

  Bertrand Russell

  Quality, Needs, Punctuality

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Education and the Social Order”, p.25, Routledge

  28 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Gottlob Frege

Alfred North Whitehead

David Hume

Russell Crowe

G. H. Hardy

Immanuel Kant

Jean-Paul Sartre