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Bertrand Russell

484 quotes

“The fact that a belief has a good moral effect upon a man is no evidence whatsoever in favor of its truth.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: BBC Radio Debate on the Existence of God, Russell vs. Copleston (1948)
“Either we must have war against Russia, before she has the atom bomb, or we will have to lie down and let them govern us. ... Anything is better than submission.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech quoted in The Observer (21 November 1948), quoted in Robert Skildesky, Oswald Mosley (1981), p. 542 and Martin Ceadel, Thinking about Peace and War (1987), p. 52
“I am firm, you are obstinate, he is a pig-headed fool.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Defining w:emotive conjugation on BBC radio program The Brains Trust (1948)
“Instinctively we divide mankind into friends and foes - friends, towards whom we have the morality of co-operation; foes, towards whom we have that of competition. But this division is constantly changing; at one moment a man hates his business competitor, at another, when both are threatened by Socialism or by an external enemy, he suddenly begins to view him as a brother. Always when we pass beyond the limits of the family it is the external enemy which supplies the cohesive force. In times of safety we can afford to hate our neighbour, but in times of danger we must love him.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Authority and the Individual (1949)
“A life without adventure is likely to be unsatisfying, but a life in which adventure is allowed to take whatever form it will is sure to be short.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Authority and the Individual (1949)
“Too little liberty brings stagnation, and too much brings chaos.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Authority and the Individual (1949), p. 37
“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.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Authority and the Individual (1949), p. 59
“Can a society in which thought and technique are scientific persist for a long period, as, for example, ancient Egypt persisted, or does it necessarily contain within itself forces which must bring either decay or explosion?”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Can a Scientific Community Be Stable?," Lecture, Royal Society of Medicine, London (29 November 1949)
“The prospect for the human race is sombre beyond all precedent. Mankind are faced with a clear-cut alternative: either we shall all perish, or we shall have to acquire some slight degree of common sense. A great deal of new political thinking will be necessary if utter disaster is to be averted.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is impossible to imagine a more dramatic and horrifying combination of scientific triumph with political and moral failure than has been shown to the world in the destruction of Hiroshima. From the scientific point of view, the atomic bomb embodies the results of a combination of genius and patience as remarkable as any in the history of mankind.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the welter of conflicting fanaticisms, one of the few unifying forces is scientific truthfulness, by which I mean the habit of basing our beliefs upon observations and inferences as impersonal, and as much divested of local and temperamental bias, as is possible for human beings.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The pursuit of philosophy is founded on the belief that knowledge is good, even if what is known is painful. A man imbued with the philosophic spirit, whether a professional philosopher or not, will wish his beliefs to be as true as he can make them, and will, in equal measure, love to know and hate to be in error. This principle has a wider scope than may be apparent at first sight.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 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.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others. It is much more nearly certain that we are assembled here tonight than it is that this or that political party is in the right. Certainly there are degrees of certainty, and one should be very careful to emphasize that fact, because otherwise one is landed in an utter skepticism, and complete skepticism would, of course, be totally barren and completely useless.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All who are not lunatics are agreed about certain things. That it is better to be alive than dead, better to be adequately fed than starved, better to be free than a slave. Many people desire those things only for themselves and their friends; they are quite content that their enemies should suffer. These people can only be refuted by science: Humankind has become so much one family that we cannot ensure our own prosperity except by ensuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must resign yourself to seeing others also happy.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Science to Save Us from Science," The New York Times Magazine (19 March 1950)
“I feel like that intellectual but plain-looking lady who was warmly complimented on her beauty.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In accepting his Nobel Prize, in December 1950; Russell denied that he had contributed anything in particular to literature. Quoted in LIFE, Editorials: "A great mind is still annoying and adorning our age", 26 May 1952
“We need a science to save us from science.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: NY Times Magazine, as reported in High Points in the Work of the High Schools of New York City, Vol. 34 (1952), p. 46
“It is said (I do not know with what truth) that a certain Hindu thinker believed the earth to rest upon an elephant. When asked what the elephant rested upon, he replied that it rested upon a tortoise. When asked what the tortoise rested upon, he said, "I am tired of this. Suppose we change the subject." This illustrates the unsatisfactory character of the First-Cause argument.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Is There a God?" (1952)
“People will tell us that without the consolations of religion they would be intolerably unhappy. So far as this is true, it is a coward's argument. Nobody but a coward would consciously choose to live in a fool's paradise. When a man suspects his wife of infidelity, he is not thought the better of for shutting his eyes to the evidence. And I cannot see why ignoring evidence should be contemptible in one case and admirable in the other.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Is There a God?" (1952)
“When I come to my own beliefs, I find myself quite unable to discern any purpose in the universe, and still more unable to wish to discern one.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Is There a God?" (1952)
“Many agnostics (including myself) are quite as doubtful of the body as they are of the soul, but this is a long story taking one into difficult metaphysics. Mind and matter alike, I should say, are only convenient symbol in discourse, not actually existing things.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What is an Agnostic? (1953)
“There are some simple maxims [...] which I think might be commanded to writers of expository prose. First: never use a long word if a short word will do. Second: if you want to make a statement with a great many qualifications, put some of the qualifications in separate sentences. Third: do not let the beginning of your sentence lead the reader to an expectation which is contradicted by the end.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: How I Write", The Writer, September 1954
“Obscenity is whatever happens to shock some elderly and ignorant magistrate.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Look (New York, 23 February 1954).
“Pi's face was masked, and it was understood that none could behold it and live. But piercing eyes looked out from the mask, inexorable, cold and enigmatic.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Mathematician's Nightmare", Nightmares of Eminent Persons and Other Stories (1954)
“All the time that he can spare from the adornment of his person, he devotes to the neglect of his duties.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Of Sir Richard Jebb, Some Cambridge Dons of the Nineties (1956)
“When I found myself regarded as respectable, I began to wonder what sins I had committed. I must be very wicked, I thought. I began to engage in the most uncomfortable introspection.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Irwin Ross, September 1957;thumb|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. Collected Papers of Bertrand Rus…
“Choose your parents wisely.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the recipe for longevity; Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, Vol. 29 (2012)
“The secret of happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible, horrible, horrible.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said in conversation with Mrs. Alan Wood; quoted in Alan Wood's Bertrand Russell, the Passionate Sceptic (Allen and Unwin, 1957), pp. 236-7
“If the Communists conquered the world, it would be very unpleasant for a while, but not forever. But if the human race is wiped out, that is the end.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Television interview on March 24, 1958, as quoted in The United States in World Affairs (1959), p. 12
“What is new in our time is the increased power of the authorities to enforce their prejudices.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted on Who Said That?, BBC TV (8 August 1958)
“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.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bertrand Russell's Best: Silhouettes in Satire (1958), "On Religion".
“I have always thought respectable people scoundrels, and I look anxiously at my face every morning for signs of my becoming a scoundrel.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Alan Wood Bertrand Russell: The Passionate Skeptic: A Biography, Vol. 2 (1958), p. 233
“Thank you for your letter and for the enclosure which I return herewith. I have been wondering whether there is any means of preventing the confusion between you and me, and I half-thought that we might write a joint letter to The Times in the following terms: Sir, To prevent the continuation of confusions which frequently occur, we beg to state that neither of us is the other. Do you think this would be a good plan?”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lord Russell of Liverpool, February 18, 1959
“There is no need to worry about mere size. We do not necessarily respect a fat man more than a thin man. Sir Isaac Newton was very much smaller than a hippopotamus, but we do not on that account value him less.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Expanding Mental Universe", Saturday Evening Post (July 1959)
“When I was 4 years old ... I dreamt that I'd been eaten by a wolf, and to my great surprise I was in the wolf's stomach and not in heaven.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: BBC interview on "Face to Face" (1959); The Listener, Vol. 61 (1959), p. 503
“Since Adam and Eve ate the apple, man has never refrained from any folly of which he was capable. The End.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Full text of Russell's book History of the World in Epitome (For Use in Martian Infant Schools), written in 1959 and published on his ninetieth birthday, as quoted in Slater Bertrand Russell (1994), p. 136
“Fanaticism is the danger of the world, and always has been, and has done untold harm. I might almost say that I was fanatical against fanaticism.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Future of Science (1959), p. 79; also in BBC The Listener, Vol. 61 (1959), p. 505
“Change is one thing, progress is another.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A man might say, with enough truth to justify a joke: "Science is what we know, and philosophy is what we don't know." But it should be added that philosophical speculation as to what we do not yet know has shown itself a valuable preliminary to exact scientific knowledge.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All movements go too far.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man is a rational animal – so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life, I have looked diligently for evidence in favor of this statement, but so far I have not had the good fortune to come across it, though I have searched in many countries spread over three continents.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All human activity is prompted by desire. There is a wholly fallacious theory advanced by some earnest moralists to the effect that it is possible to resist desire in the interests of duty and moral principle. I say this is fallacious, not because no man ever acts from a sense of duty, but because duty has no hold on him unless he desires to be dutiful. If you wish to know what men will do, you must know not only, or principally, their material circumstances, but rather the whole system of their desires with their relative strengths.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man differs from other animals in one very important respect, and that is that he has some desires which are, so to speak, infinite, which can never be fully gratified, and which would keep him restless even in Paradise. The boa constrictor, when he has had an adequate meal, goes to sleep, and does not wake until he needs another meal. Human beings, for the most part, are not like this.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Acquisitiveness – the wish to possess as much as possible of goods, or the title to goods – is a motive which, I suppose, has its origin in a combination of fear with the desire for necessaries.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source