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Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell Quotes

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Famous Bertrand Russell Quotes

“Something of the hermit's temper is an essential element in many forms of excellence, since it enables men to resist the lure of popularity, to pursue important work in spite of general indifference or hostility, and arrive at opinions which are opposed to prevalent errors.”

MenImportantFormOpinionSolitudeEssentialsElementsErrorsExcellencePursueIndifferenceSpiteTemperPopularityHostilityLureHermitsImportant Work
Book:Power: A New Social Analysis
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“Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand-in-hand. It is because fear is at the basis of those two things. In this world we can now begin a little to understand things, and a little to master them by the help of science, which has forced its way step by step against the Christian religion, against the churches, and against the opposition of all the old precepts.”

IfsWorldWayLittlesTwoHelpingHandsChristianReligionParentChurchWonderStepsGoneThis WorldMastersBasesCrueltyTwo ThingsOppositionHand In Hand
Book:Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects
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“There is exactly the same degree of possibility and likelihood of the existence of the Christian God as there is of the existence of the Homeric god. I cannot prove that either the Christian god or the Homeric gods do not exist, but I do not think that their existence is an alternative that is sufficiently probable to be worth serious consideration.”

ThinkingChristianReligionExistencePossibilitySeriousProveDegreesAlternativesConsiderationLikelihoodChristian God
Book:Why I Am Not a Christian
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“Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.”

PeopleWorldInspirationalShouldHumansHeartChildrenLongWholeEarthPainSufferingEvilHeavenPovertyLonelinessCrySonMy HeartVictimBurdenWhole WorldPityHuman LifeEchoesHelplessOld PeopleFamineMockeryOppressorsAlleviate
Book:Autobiography
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“Scientific societies are as yet in their infancy. It is to be expected that advances in physiology and psychology will give governments much more control over individual mentality than they now have even in totalitarian countries. Fitche laid it down that education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished.”

ThinkingGivingShouldCountryGovernmentSchoolIndividualLeftActingPsychologyAimExpectedTyrannyFree WillDestroyingTyrantsMentalityIncapablePupilsInfancyPhysiologyScience And Society
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“The first step in a fascist movement is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other.”

MenFirstsHandsNextNumbersLeaderStepsShareMovementEmotionalFoolIntelligentAverageTerrorismStupidityTyrannyCombinationExcitementTyrantsLeisureFirst StepsBrutalityFascistsEnergeticNext StepsMuzzle
Book:A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42
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“A man who has once perceived, however temporarily and however briefly, what makes greatness of soul, can no longer be happy if he allows himself to be petty, self-seeking, troubled by trivial misfortunes, dreading what fate may have in store for him. The man capable of greatness of soul will open wide the windows of his mind, letting the winds blow freely upon it from every portion of the universe.”

IfsMenMindMaySoulSelfJoyUniverseFateGreatnessHe ManWindCapableWindowBlowSeekingWideStoresMisfortunesPortionsPetty
Book:The Conquest of Happiness
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“From the height of their disillusionment they look down upon those whom they despise as simple souls. For my part I have no sympathy with this outlook. All disenchantment is to me a malady, which, it is true, certain circumstances may render inevitable, but which none the less, when it occurs, is to be cured as soon as possible, not to be regarded as a higher form of wisdom.”

LooksMaySoulFormCertainSimpleHigherCircumstancesInevitableHeightDespiseOutlookDisillusionmentMaladyNo SympathyDisenchantment
Author:Bertrand Russell
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