Bertrand Russell quotes - page 9

Only in thought is man a God; in action and desire we are the slaves of circumstance. (Bertrand Russell)
Mathematics possesses not only truth, but also supreme beauty. View quote
Bertrand Russell
Among human beings, the subjection of women is much more complete at a certain level of civilization than it is among savages. And the subjection is always reinforced by morality. View quote
Bertrand Russell
Owing to the identification of religion with virtue, together with the fact that the most religious men are not the most intelligent, a religious education gives courage to the stupid to resist the authority of educated men, as has happened, for example, where the teaching of evolution has been made illegal. So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence; and in this respect ministers of religion follow gospel authority more closely than in some others. View quote
Bertrand Russell
It is entirely clear that there is only one way in which great wars can be permanently prevented, and that is the establishment of an international government with a monopoly of serious armed force. View quote
Bertrand Russell
Mysticism is, in essence, little more than a certain intensity and depth of feeling in regard to what is believed about the universe. View quote
Bertrand Russell
No nation was ever so virtuous as each believes itself, and none was ever so wicked as each believes the other. View quote
Bertrand Russell
Americans need rest, but do not know it. I believe this to be a large part of the explanation of the crime wave in the United States. View quote
Bertrand Russell
The idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich. View quote
Bertrand Russell
A logical theory may be tested by its capacity for dealing with puzzles, and it is a wholesome plan, in thinking about logic, to stock the mind with as many puzzles as possible, since these serve much the same purpose as is served by experiments in physical science. View quote
Bertrand Russell
I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue. (Bertrand Russell)
The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, and relations of friendship or affection. View quote
Bertrand Russell
No man is liberated from fear who dare not see his place in the world as it is; no man can achieve the greatness of which he is capable until he has allowed himself to see his own littleness. View quote
Bertrand Russell
I went to Salt Lake City and the Mormons tried to convert me, but when I found they forbade tea and tobacco I thought it was no religion for me. View quote
Bertrand Russell
It is amusing to hear the modern Christian telling you how mild and rationalistic Christianity really is and ignoring the fact that all its mildness and rationalism is due to the teaching of men who in their own day were persecuted by all orthodox Christians. View quote
Bertrand Russell
Politics is largely governed by sententious platitudes which are devoid of truth. View quote
Bertrand Russell
I have been merely oppressed by the weariness and tedium and vanity of things lately: nothing stirs me, nothing seems worth doing or worth having done: the only thing that I strongly feel worth while would be to murder as many people as possible so as to diminish the amount of consciousness in the world. These times have to be lived through: there is nothing to be done with them. View quote
Bertrand Russell
In obedience to the feeling of reality, we shall insist that, in the analysis of propositions, nothing "unreal" is to be admitted. But, after all, if there is nothing unreal, how, it may be asked, could we admit anything unreal? The reply is that, in dealing with propositions, we are dealing in the first instance with symbols, and if we attribute significance to groups of symbols which have no significance, we shall fall into the error of admitting unrealities, in the only sense in which this is possible, namely, as objects described. View quote
Bertrand Russell
The true function of logic ... as applied to matters of experience ... is analytic rather than constructive; taken a priori, it shows the possibility of hitherto unsuspected alternatives more often than the impossibility of alternatives which seemed prima facie possible. Thus, while it liberates imagination as to what the world may be, it refuses to legislate as to what the world is. View quote
Bertrand Russell
As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods. View quote
Bertrand Russell
The law of causality, I believe, like much that passes muster among philosophers, is a relic of a bygone age, surviving, like the monarchy, only because it is erroneously supposed to do no harm. (Bertrand Russell)
Self-respect will keep a man from being abject when he is in the power of enemies, and will enable him to feel that he may be in the right when the world is against him. View quote
Bertrand Russell
To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. View quote
Bertrand Russell
In a logically perfect language, there will be one word and no more for every simple object, and everything that is not simple will be expressed by a combination of words, by a combination derived, of course, from the words for the simple things that enter in, one word for each simple component. View quote
Bertrand Russell
Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt it? View quote
Bertrand Russell