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Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell Quotes

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Famous Bertrand Russell Quotes

“The raw fruits of the earth were made for human sustenance. Even the white tails of rabbits, according to some theologians, have a purpose, namely to make it easier for sportsmen to shoot them. There are, it is true, some inconveniences: lions and tigers are too fierce, the summer is too hot, and the winter too cold. But these things only began after Adam ate the apple; I before that, all animals were vegetarians, and the season was always spring. If only Adam had been content with peaches and nectarines, grapes and pears and pineapples, these blessings would still be ours.”

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Author:Bertrand Russell
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“If the youth is content to abandon his previous associates and to throw in his lot whole-heartedly with the rulers, he may, after suitable tests, be promoted, but if he shows any regrettable solidarity with his previous associates, the rulers will reluctantly conclude that there is nothing to be done with him except to send him to the lethal chamber before his ill-disciplined intelligence has had time to spread revolt. This will be a painful duty to the rulers, but I think they will not shrink from performing it.”

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Author:Bertrand Russell
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“Protagoras did not know if the gods exist, but he held in any case they ought to be worshiped. Philosophy, according to him, had nothing edifying to teach, and for the survival of morals we must rely upon the thoughtlessness of the majority and their willingness to believe what they had been taught.”

IfsKnowsBelievePhilosophyMoralTeachCasesTaughtOughtSurvivalMajorityRelyWillingnessGod ExistsRely UponThoughtlessness
Book:The basic writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959
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“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.”

IfsKnowsHumansSelfSeemsLife IsDesirePurposeOrderUniverseProcessComfortableUltimateSalvationPassingPassingsHuman LifeAcknowledgeEndeavorCosmicEpisodesIndifferentAssertionNo HopeVastnessSuperhuman
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“The use of force stands in need of control by a public neutral authority, in the interests of liberty no less than of justice. Within a nation, this public authority will naturally be the state; in relations between nations, if the present anarchy is to cease, it will have to be some international parliament.”

IfsNeedsStatesUseForceNationsInterestJusticeLibertyAuthorityRelationInternationalCeaseAnarchyParliamentUse Of Force
Book:Political Ideals
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“...I am afraid that education is conceived more in terms of indoctrination by most school officials than in terms of enlightenment. My own belief is that education must be subversive if it is to be meaningful. By this I mean that it must challenge all the things we take for granted, examine all accepted assumptions, tamper with every sacred cow, and instill a desire to question and doubt. Without this the mere instruction to memorise data is empty. The attempt to enforce conventional mediocrity on the young is criminal.”

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Author:Bertrand Russell
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“If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.”

PeopleIfsWorldYearsTodayHappinessNumbersHappyPursuitParadiseUnhappinessBeing HappyPursuit Of HappinessHippieWorld TodayGreat HappinessLarge NumbersHappy PeoplePeace And HappinessInner HappinessJust Be HappySecret To HappinessLooking For HappinessUnhappy PeopleAttaining HappinessOthers HappinessPerfect HappinessHappy And ContentAchieving HappinessMy Own Happiness
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“A drop of water is not immortal; it can be resolved into oxygen and hydrogen. If, therefore, a drop of water were to maintain that it had a quality of aqueousness which would survive its dissolution we should be inclined to be skeptical. In like manner we know that the brain is not immortal.”

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Book:Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects
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“If throughout your life you abstain from murder, theft, fornication, perjury, blasphemy, and disrespect toward your parents, church, and your king, you are conventionally held to deserve moral admiration even if you have never done a single kind, generous or useful action. This very inadequate notion of virtue is an outcome of taboo morality, and has done untold harm.”

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Book:Human Society in Ethics and Politics
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“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.”

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Book:Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68
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“(on A History of Western Philosophy) I was sometimes accused by reviewers of writing not a true history but a biased account of the events that I arbitrarily chose to write of. But to my mind, a man without a bias cannot write interesting history - if, indeed, such man exists.”

IfsMenWritingMindSometimesPhilosophyInterestingEventsAccountsWesternBiasAccusedBiasedReviewersWestern Philosophy
Book:The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell
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“I feel as if one would only discover on one's death-bed what one ought to have lived for, and realise too late that one's life has been wasted. Any passionate and courageous life seems good in itself, yet one feels that some element of delusion is involved in giving so much passion to any humanly attainable object. And so irony creeps into the very springs of one's being.”

IfsGivingFeelsHas BeensSeemsPassionObjectsOughtInvolvedBedElementsLateSpringPassionateIronyToo LateDelusionCourageousRealisingCreepsDeath Bed
Book:The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell
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“If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.”

IfsMenWayBelieveReasonFactsHandsTruthActingAcceptingEvidenceInstinctRefuseIntuitionMythOverwhelmingFavouriteScrutinize
Book:Proposed Roads to Freedom
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“The root of the matter is a very simple and old fashioned thing... love or compassion. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a guide for action, a reason for courage, an imperative necessity for intellectual honesty.”

IfsLoveFeelsMatterReasonActionSimpleExistenceCompassionHonestyIntellectualRootsTrue LoveGuidesMotiveOld FashionedImperativesIntellectual Honesty
Book:The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell
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“If the ordinary wage-earner worked four hours a day, there would be enough for everybody, and no unemployment — assuming a certain very moderate amount of sensible organization. This idea shocks the well-to-do, because they are convinced that the poor would not know how to use so much leisure.”

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Author:Bertrand Russell
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“When you want to teach children to think, you begin by treating them seriously when they are little, giving them responsibilities, talking to them candidly, providing privacy and solitude for them, and making them readers and thinkers of significant thoughts from the beginning. That’s if you want to teach them to think.”

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Author:Bertrand Russell
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“One of the commonest things to do with savings is to lend them to some Government. In view of the fact that the bulk of the public expenditure of most civilized Governments consists in payment for past wars or preparation for future wars, the man who lends his money to a Government is in the same position as the bad men in Shakespeare who hire murderers. The net result of the man's economical habits is to increase the armed forces of the State to which he lends his savings. Obviously it would be better if he spent the money, even if he spent it in drink or gambling.”

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Book:In Praise of Idleness
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“Love is wise; hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don't like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.”

PeopleIfsWorldWayHumansKindFactsTogetherDiesLove IsWiseThis WorldPlanetsHatredCharityFoolishToleranceHuman LifeTolerateInterconnectedInterconnectednessContinuation
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“If we were all given by magic the power to read each other’s thoughts, I suppose the first effect would be almost all friendships would be dissolved; the second effect, however, might be excellent, for a world without any friends would be felt to be intolerable, and we should learn to like each other without needing a veil of illusion to conceal from ourselves that we did not think each other absolutely perfect.”

IfsThinkingWorldShouldFirstsMightWould BeGivenFeltFriendshipPerfectMagicEffectsFriendsIllusionExcellentSocialistVeilsConcealingNobody's Perfect
Book:The Conquest of Happiness
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“If you think your belief is based upon reason, you will support it by argument rather than by persecution, and will abandon it if the argument goes against you. But if your belief is based upon faith, you will realize that argument is useless, and will therefore resort to force either in the form of persecution or by stunting or distorting the minds of the young in what is called 'education.'”

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Book:Bertrand Russell's Best
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“Are you never afraid of God's judgement in denying him? Most certainly not. I also deny Zeus and Jupiter and Odin and Brahma, but this causes me no qualms. I observe that a very large portion of the human race does not believe in God and suffers no visible punishment in consequence. And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence.”

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Author:Bertrand Russell
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“The knowledge exists by which universal happiness can be secured; the chief obstacle to its utilization for that purpose is the teaching of religion. Religion prevents our children from having a rational education; religion prevents us from removing the fundamental causes of war; religion prevents us from teaching the ethic of scientific cooperation in place of the old fierce doctrines of sin and punishment. It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion.”

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Author:Bertrand Russell
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“When a man acts in ways that annoy us we wish to think him wicked, and we refuse to face the fact that his annoying behavior is the result of antecedent causes which, if you follow them long enough, will take you beyond the moment of his birth, and therefore to events for which he cannot be held responsible by any stretch of imagination... When a motorcar fails to start, we do not attribute its annoying behavior to sin, we do not say, you are a wicked motorcar, and you shall not have any more gasoline until you go.”

IfsThinkingMenWayLongEnoughMomentsFactsFacesWishCausesImaginationSinResultsFailingEventsBirthBehaviorResponsibleRefuseWickedFree WillAttributesAnnoyingGasoline
Author:Bertrand Russell
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