Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 7

• Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that is happiness.

  Bertrand Russell

  Thinking, Paradise, Fool

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell”, p.554, Routledge

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• What's the difference between a bright, inquisitive five-year-old, and a dull, stupid nineteen-year-old? Fourteen years of the British educational system.

  Bertrand Russell

  Educational, Stupid, School

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• None of our beliefs are quite true; all have at least a penumbra of vagueness and error.

  Bertrand Russell

  Errors, Vagueness, Belief

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.129, Psychology Press

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• Either man will abolish war, or war will abolish man.

  Bertrand Russell

  Peace, War, Men

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Fact and Fiction”, p.276, Routledge

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• We must be skeptical even of our skepticism.

  Bertrand Russell

  Skepticism, Skeptical

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• One of the most interesting and harmful delusions to which men and nations can be subjected is that of imagining themselves special instruments of the Divine Will.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Interesting, Ego

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.146, Routledge

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• The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.

  Bertrand Russell

  Passion, Opinion, Critical Thinking

  Sceptical Essays "Introduction: On the Value of Skepticism" (1961)

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• RELIGION: A set of beliefs held as dogmas, dominating the conduct of life, going beyond or contrary to evidence, and inculcated by methods which are emotional or authoritarian, not intellectual.

  Bertrand Russell

  God, Emotional, Religion

  Bertrand Russell, Richard A. Rempel, Beryl Haslam (2000). “Uncertain Paths to Freedom: Russia and China, 1919-22”, p.197, Psychology Press

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• Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.

  Bertrand Russell

  Knowledge, Science, Imagination

  Bertrand Russell (2008). “History of Western Philosophy”, p.16, Simon and Schuster

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• Always remember that true happiness is not in getting what you want, but wanting what you already have. He who dies with the most toys is still dead. What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Opposites, Getting What You Want

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• The world that we must seek is a world in which the creative spirit is alive, in which life is an adventure full of joy and hope, based rather upon the impulse to construct than upon the desire to retain what we possess or to seize what is possessed by others.

  Bertrand Russell

  Adventure, Creative, Joy

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Roads to Freedom”, p.154, Routledge

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• Faith: a firm belief for which there is no evidence.

  Bertrand Russell

  Belief, Firm Beliefs, Evidence

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• The problem with the wise is they are so filled with doubts while the dull are so certain.

  Bertrand Russell

  Faith, Wise, Doubt

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• One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.

  Bertrand Russell

  Stupid, Ignorance, Imagination

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.676, Routledge

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• It is a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won't go.

  Bertrand Russell

  Anger, Men, Justice

  Bertrand Russell (1990). “The Art of Philosophizing: and Other Essays”, p.25, Rowman & Littlefield

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• 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

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• So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.

  Bertrand Russell

  Death, Atheist, Religion

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Education and the Social Order”, p.73, Routledge

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• The first essential character [of civilization], I should say, is forethought. This, indeed, is what mainly distinguishes men from brutes and adults from children.

  Bertrand Russell

  Children, Character, Men

  "The Quotable Bertrand Russell".

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• The philosophies that have been inspired by scientific technique are power philosophies, and tend to regard everything non-human as mere raw material. Ends are no longer considered; only the skillfulness of the process is valued. This also is a form of madness. It is, in our day, the most dangerous form, and the one against which a sane philosophy should provide an antidote

  Bertrand Russell

  Philosophy, Technique, Raw Materials

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• A widespread belief is more often likely to be foolish than sensible.

  Bertrand Russell

  Stupid, Belief, Foolish

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• Religion may in most of its forms be defined as the belief that the gods are on the side of the government.

  Bertrand Russell

  Government, May, Sides

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Marriage and Morals”, p.18, Routledge

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• Many a marriage hardly differs from prostitution, except being harder to escape from.

  Bertrand Russell

  Marriage, Prostitution, Harder

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Roads to Freedom”, p.150, Routledge

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• Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.

  Bertrand Russell

  Power, Hatred, Idealism And Realism

  Bertrand Russell (1992). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959”, p.478, Psychology Press

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• No man can be a good teacher unless he has feelings of warm affection toward his pupils and a genuine desire to impart to them what he believes to be of value.

  Bertrand Russell

  Teacher, Believe, Teaching

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.417, Routledge

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• Fervent religious believers sacrifice pleasures of the body, but instead enjoy pleasures of the mind, including the joy of knowing that those men who didn't follow their religion would be tortured for eternity.

  Bertrand Russell

  Religious, Sacrifice, Men

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