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Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 13

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People are zealous for a cause when they are not quite positive that it is true.

People are zealous for a cause when they are not quite positive that it is true.

Bertrand Russell
Positive Thinking, People, Zealous

A world full of happiness is not beyond human power to create; the obstacles imposed by inanimate nature are not insuperable. The real obstacles lie in the heart of man, and the cure for these is a firm hope, informed and fortified by thought.

Bertrand Russell
Happiness, Lying, Real
Bertrand Russell (2014). “Proposed Roads to Freedom”, p.87, Simon and Schuster

The examination system, and the fact that instruction is treated mainly as a training for a livelihood, leads the young to regard knowledge from a purely utilitarian point of view as the road to money, not as the gateway to wisdom.

Bertrand Russell
Knowledge, Science, Views
Bertrand Russell (1992). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959”, p.409, Psychology Press

Machines deprive us of two things which are certainly important ingredients of human happiness, namely, spontaneity and variety.

Bertrand Russell
Two, Important, Machines
Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.67, Psychology Press

Truth is for the gods; from our human point of view, it is an ideal, towards which we can approximate, but which we cannot hope to reach.

Bertrand Russell
Views, Truth Is, Point Of View
Bertrand Russell (1993). “The Quotable Bertrand Russell”

I hate the world and almost all the people in it. I hate the Labour Congress and the journalists who send men to be slaughtered, and the fathers who feel a smug pride when their sons are killed, and even the pacifists who keep saying human nature is essentially good, in spite of all the daily proofs to the contrary. I hate the planet and the human race—I am ashamed to belong to such a species.

Bertrand Russell
Father, Hate, Pride
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Autobiography”, p.289, Routledge

If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give.

Bertrand Russell
Change, Happiness, Success
Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.90, Lulu Press, Inc

Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.

Bertrand Russell
Happiness, Sleep, Math
Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 1

I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young, and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting.

Bertrand Russell
Believe, Love Life, Ego
Bertrand Russell (2004). “What I Believe”, p.22, Routledge

Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relative to other matter; second, telling other people to do so.

Bertrand Russell
Drinking, Two, People

All religions are both harmful and untrue.

Bertrand Russell
Untrue
Bertrand Russell (2014). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.25, Routledge

We must be sceptical even of our scepticism.

Bertrand Russell
Scepticism
Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.120, Psychology Press

There is something feeble, and a little contemptible, about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought, and he therefore cannot carry his own reflection to any logical conclusion.

Bertrand Russell
Believe, Men, Comforting
"Human Society in Ethics and Politics".

The most savage controversies are about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.

Bertrand Russell
Anger, Math, Religion
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.67, Routledge

Men have physical needs, and they have emotions. While physical needs are unsatisfied, they take first place; but when they are satisfied, emotions unconnected with them become important in deciding whether a man is to be happy or unhappy.

Bertrand Russell
Men, Important, Unhappy
Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.65, Psychology Press

The sentiments of an adult are compounded of a kernel of instinct surrounded by a vast husk of education.

Bertrand Russell
Adults, Opinion, Instinct

If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full.

Bertrand Russell
Eugenics, Black, Population
Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Impact of Science On Society”, p.85, Lulu Press, Inc

I do not think that the real reason why people accept religion has anything to do with argumentation. They accept religion on emotional grounds.

Bertrand Russell
Real, Emotional, Thinking
Bertrand Russell, John Greer Slater, Peter Köllner (1996). “A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42”, p.191, Psychology Press

The social psychologist of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will try different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for more than one generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen.

Bertrand Russell
Children, School, Army

The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses.

Bertrand Russell
Thinking, Punishment, Belief
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.144, Routledge

The man who only loves beautiful things is dreaming, whereas the man who knows absolute beauty is wide awake.

Bertrand Russell
Beautiful, Dream, Love Is
Bertrand Russell (2013). “History of Western Philosophy: Collectors Edition”, p.107, Routledge

The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so, this purpose has any similarity to ours.

Bertrand Russell
Science, Doubt, Atheism
Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.92, Simon and Schuster

All knowledge, we feel, must be built up upon our instinctive beliefs; and if these are rejected, nothing is left.

Bertrand Russell
Belief, Rejected, Feels

Both in thought and in feeling, even though time be real, to realise the unimportance of time is the gate of wisdom.

Bertrand Russell
Wisdom, Time, Real
Bertrand Russell (2016). “Mysticism and Logic”, p.35, Bertrand Russell

The skill of the politician consists in guessing what people can be brought to think advantageous to themselves; the skill of the expert consists in calculating what really is advantageous, provided people can be brought to think so.

Bertrand Russell
Thinking, Skills, People
Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.109, Psychology Press

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