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Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 14

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A man's acts are partly determined by spontaneous impulse, partly by the conscious and unconscious effects of the various groups to which he belongs.

A man's acts are partly determined by spontaneous impulse, partly by the conscious and unconscious effects of the various groups to which he belongs.

Bertrand Russell
Men, Groups, Determined
Bertrand Russell (2015). “Icarus; or, the Future of Science”, p.10, Lulu Press, Inc

A world without delight and without affection is a world destitute of value.

Bertrand Russell
Delight, World, Affection
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Scientific Outlook”, p.202, Routledge

What has human happiness to do with morals? The object of morals is not to make people happy.

Bertrand Russell
People, Moral, Humans
Bertrand Russell, Louis I. Greenspan, Stefan Andersson (1999). “Russell on Religion: Selections from the Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.90, Psychology Press

We love our habits more than our income, often more than our life.

Bertrand Russell
Addiction, Income, Habit
Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.113, Psychology Press

The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. So long as men are not trained to withhold judgment in the absence of evidence, they will be led astray by cocksure prophets, and it is likely that their leaders will be either ignorant fanatics or dishonest charlatans. To endure uncertainty is difficult, but so are most of the other virtues.

Bertrand Russell
Men, Long, Leader

We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophical, Science, Engineering
Bertrand Russell (1985). “The ABC of relativity”, Signet

Historically, it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did we do not know anything about Him.

Bertrand Russell
Religion, Atheism, Christ
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.573, Routledge

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.

Bertrand Russell
Fate, Blow, Greatness
Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.132, Lulu Press, Inc

The . . . increase in the power of officials is a constant source of irritation to everybody else.

Bertrand Russell
Irritation, Increase, Source
Bertrand Russell (2016). “The Impact of Science on Society”, p.32, Routledge

There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.

Bertrand Russell
Inspirational, Funny, Book
Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.28, Lulu Press, Inc

Affection cannot be created; it can only be liberated.

Bertrand Russell
Best Love, Affection, Liberated
Bertrand Russell (2014). “On Education”, p.136, Routledge

Obviousness is always the enemy of correctness.

Bertrand Russell
Enemy, Obviousness, Economics
Bertrand Russell (2015). “Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays: Top Philosophy Collections”, p.48, 谷月社

Man has existed for about a million years. He has possessed writing for about 6,000 years, agriculture somewhat longer, but perhaps not much longer. Science, as a dominant factor in determining the belief of educated men, has existed for about 300 years; as a source of economic technique, for about 150 years. In this brief period it has proved itself an incredibly powerful revolutionary force. When we consider how recently it has risen to power, we find ourselves forced to believe that we are at the very beginning of its work in transforming human life.

Bertrand Russell
Powerful, Believe, Writing
Bertrand Russell (2016). “The Impact of Science on Society”, p.1, Routledge

It is clear that thought is not free if the profession of certain opinions makes it impossible to earn a living.

Bertrand Russell
Wisdom, Opinion, Impossible
Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.126, Psychology Press

I think it would be just to say the most essential characteristic of mind is memory, using this word in its broadest sense to include every influence of past experience on present reactions.

Bertrand Russell
Memories, Science, Past
Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.285, Psychology Press

I had supposed until that time that it was quite common for parents to love their children, but the war persuaded me that it is a rare exception. I had supposed that most people liked money better than almost anything else, but I discovered that they liked destruction even better. I had supposed that intellectuals frequently loved truth, but I found here again that not ten per cent of them prefer truth to popularity.

Bertrand Russell
Love, Children, War
Bertrand Russell (1998). “Autobiography”, p.240, Psychology Press

It's easy to fall in love. The hard part is finding someone to catch you.

Bertrand Russell
Famous Love, Falling In Love, New Relationship

I think people who are unhappy are always proud of being so, and therefore do not like to be told that there is nothing grand about their unhappiness. A man who is melancholy because lack of exercise has upset his liver always believes that it is the loss of God, or the menace of Bolshevism, or some such dignified cause that makes him sad. When you tell people that happiness is a simple matter, they get annoyed with you.

Bertrand Russell
Believe, Loss, Exercise
Bertrand Russell (1998). “Autobiography”, p.440, Psychology Press

I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive.

Bertrand Russell
Believe, Ego, I Believe
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.348, Routledge

I never held Negroes to be inherently inferior. The statement in Marriage and Morals refers to environmental conditioning. I have had it withdrawn from subsequent editions because it is clearly ambiguous.

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

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.

Bertrand Russell
Love, Honesty, Simple
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.626, Routledge

The man who is unhappy will, as a rule, adopt an unhappy creed, while the man who is happy will adopt a happy creed; each may attribute his happiness or unhappiness to his beliefs, while the real causation is the other way round.

Bertrand Russell
Real, Men, Unhappy
Bertrand Russell (2013). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.89, W. W. Norton & Company

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.

Bertrand Russell
Country, School, Thinking

The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Believe, Simple
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Philosophy of Logical Atomism”, p.20, Routledge

The whole of theology, in regard to hell no less than to heaven, takes it for granted that Man is what is of most importance in the Universe of created beings. Since all theologians are men, this postulate has met with little opposition.

Bertrand Russell
Men, Heaven, Littles
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.53, Routledge

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