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Bertrand Russell Quotes

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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

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
Education, Confidence, Wisdom

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.

Bertrand Russell
Intelligent, Men, Emotional
Bertrand Russell, John Greer Slater, Peter Köllner (1996). “A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42”, p.441, Psychology Press

If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do.

Bertrand Russell
Thinking, Deep Life, Opinion
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.99, Routledge

Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.

Bertrand Russell
Education, Stupid, School
Bertrand Russell (2013). “History of Western Philosophy: Collectors Edition”, p.578, Routledge

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

Bertrand Russell
Inspirational, Life, Happiness

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
Inspirational, Motivational, Fear
Unpopular Essays (1950) "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish"

Religion is based ... mainly upon fear ... fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.

Bertrand Russell
Atheist, Race, Views

The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real state, but friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith.

Bertrand Russell
Love, Real, Things In Life

To understand the actual world as it is, not as we should wish it to be, is the beginning of wisdom.

Bertrand Russell
Wisdom, Wish, World
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Mortals and Others”, p.318, Routledge

No people anywhere in the world would accept being expelled en masse from their own country; how can anyone require the people of Palestine to accept a punishment which nobody else would tolerate?

Bertrand Russell
Country, Punishment, People
Bertrand Russell, Ray Perkins (Jr.) (2002). “Yours Faithfully, Bertrand Russell: A Lifelong Fight for Peace, Justice, and Truth in Letters to the Editor”, p.411, Open Court Publishing

The key to happiness is accepting one unpleasant reality every day.

Bertrand Russell
Reality, Keys, Accepting

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.'

Bertrand Russell
Thinking, Support, Intelligence
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.59, Routledge

Be isolated, be ignored, be attacked, be in doubt, be frightened, but do not be silenced.

Bertrand Russell
Doubt, Ignored, Frightened
Bertrand Russell, Barry Feinberg, Ronald Kasrils (1969). “Dear Bertrand Russell ... a selection of his correspondence with the general public, 1950-1968”, Allen & Unwin

A smile happens in a flash, but its memory can last a lifetime.

Bertrand Russell
Smile, Memories, Lasts

Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken.

Bertrand Russell
Inspirational, Government, Intelligence
Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.2, Psychology Press

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

Bertrand Russell
Knowledge, Useless, Pleasure
"In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays". Book by Bertrand Russell, Ch. 2: 'Useless' Knowledge, 1935.

Most human beings, though in varying degrees, desire to control, not only their own lives but also the lives of others

Bertrand Russell
Desire, Degrees, Lives Of Others
Bertrand Russell, John Greer Slater, Peter Köllner (1996). “A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42”, p.445, Psychology Press

Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.

Bertrand Russell
Xenophobia, Fear, Racism
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.70, Routledge

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

Bertrand Russell
Confidence, Being Yourself, Fear
Bertrand Russell (2014). “The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell”, p.554, Routledge

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

Bertrand Russell
Inspirational, Success, Confidence

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.

Bertrand Russell
Education, Children, Teaching

If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. [...] The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.

Bertrand Russell
Thinking, Differences, Finding Yourself
"Unpopular Essays". Book by Bertrand Russell, p. 116, 1950.

Belief systems provide a programme which relieves the necessity of thought.

Bertrand Russell
Belief, Belief Systems, Programmes

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.

Bertrand Russell
Clever, Smart, Stupid

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

Bertrand Russell
Learning, Knowledge, Parenting
Marriage and Morals ch. 5 (1929)

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