Bertrand Russell quotes

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. (Bertrand Russell)
Science is what we know, and philosophy is what we don't know.
Bertrand Russell
No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.
Bertrand Russell
Most people would rather die than think in fact, they do so.
Bertrand Russell
The degree of one's emotion varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts – the less you know the hotter you get.
Bertrand Russell
It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.
Bertrand Russell
Machines are worshipped because they are beautiful and valued because they confer power; they are hated because they are hideous and loathed because they impose slavery.
Bertrand Russell
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.
Bertrand Russell
A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something that he can understand.
Bertrand Russell
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths.
Bertrand Russell
War does not determine who is right - only who is left. (Bertrand Russell)
I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
Bertrand Russell
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.
Bertrand Russell
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
Bertrand Russell
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
Bertrand Russell
A process which led from the amœba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress - though whether the amœba would agree with this opinion is not known.
Bertrand Russell
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
Bertrand Russell
There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.
Bertrand Russell
Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.
Bertrand Russell
Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.
Bertrand Russell
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)
Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.
Bertrand Russell
Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.
Bertrand Russell
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
Bertrand Russell
Love is something far more than desire for sexual intercourse; it is the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives.
Bertrand Russell