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Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 25

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Although it is a gloomy view to suppose that life will die out, sometimes when I contemplate the things that people do with their lives I think it is almost a consolation

Although it is a gloomy view to suppose that life will die out, sometimes when I contemplate the things that people do with their lives I think it is almost a consolation

Bertrand Russell
Thinking, Views, People
Bertrand Russell, John Greer Slater, Peter Köllner (1996). “A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42”, p.185, Psychology Press

The "social contract," in the only sense in which it is not completely mythical, is a contract among conquerors, which loses its raison d'être if they are deprived of the benefits of conquest.

Bertrand Russell
Benefits, Social, Contracts
Bertrand Russell (2004). “Power: A New Social Analysis”, p.149, Psychology Press

To acquire immunity to eloquence is of the utmost importance to the citizens of a democracy.

Bertrand Russell
Democracy, Citizens, Importance
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.660, Routledge

If any philosopher had been asked for a definition of infinity, he might have produced some unintelligible rigmarole, but he would certainly not have been able to give a definition that had any meaning at all.

Bertrand Russell
Giving, Able, Infinity
Bertrand Russell (2015). “Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays”, p.77, Booklassic

It is for this reason that rationality is of supreme importance to the well-being of the human species...even more, in those less fortunate times in which it is despised and rejected as the vain dream of men who lack the virility to kill where they cannot agree.

Bertrand Russell
Dream, Men, Reason

I remain convinced that obstinate addiction to ordinary language in our private thoughts is one of the main obstacles to progress in philosophy.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Addiction, Progress
Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.28, Psychology Press

It will be said that the joy of mental adventure must be rare, that there are few who can appreciate it, and that ordinary education can take no account of so aristocratic a good. I do not believe this. The joy of mental adventure is far commoner in the young than in grown men and women. ...It is rare in later life because everything is done to kill it during education.

Bertrand Russell
Education, Believe, Adventure
Bertrand Russell (2015). “Why Men Fight: A Method of Abolishing the International Duel”, p.95, Lulu Press, Inc

Ordinary language is totally unsuited for expressing what physics really asserts, since the words of everyday life are not sufficiently abstract. Only mathematics and mathematical logic can say as little as the physicist means to say.

Bertrand Russell
Life, Mean, Math
Bertrand Russell (1992). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959”, p.626, Psychology Press

I read Zuleika Dobson with pleasure. It represents the Oxford that the two World Wars have destroyed with a charm that is not likely to be reproduced anywhere in the world for the next thousand years.

Bertrand Russell
War, Years, Oxford

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy – ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of that joy. ... I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined.

Bertrand Russell
Love, Heaven, Vision
"Bertrand Russell's Best".

I am compelled to fear that science will be used to promote the power of dominant groups rather than to make men happy.

Bertrand Russell
Science, Men, Groups
Bertrand Russell (2015). “Icarus; or, the Future of Science”, p.3, Lulu Press, Inc

Democracy has at least one merit, namely that a Member of Parliament cannot be stupider than his constituents, for the more stupid he is, the more stupid they were to elect him.

Bertrand Russell
Stupid, Democracies Have, Democracy
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Autobiography”, p.66, Routledge

All the conditions of happiness are realized in the life of the man of science.

Bertrand Russell
Life, Science, Men
Bertrand Russell (2013). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.55, W. W. Norton & Company

It is false to suggest that men must turn away from his desires in the interest of a higher duty. Men only responds to duty if he desires to do so. To understand men, you must understand their desires and the relative strength of those desires.

Bertrand Russell
Men, Desire, Duty

The first essential character [of civilization], I should say, is forethought. This, indeed, is what mainly distinguishes men from brutes and adults from children.

Bertrand Russell
Children, Character, Men
"The Quotable Bertrand Russell".

Ever since men became capable of free speculation, their actions, in innumerable important respects, have depended upon their theories as to the world and human life, as to what is good and what is evil. This is true in the present day as at any former time. To understand an age or a nation, we must understand its philosophy, and to understand its philosophy we must ourselves be in some degree philosophers. There is here a reciprocal causation: the circumstances of men s lives do much to determine their philosophy, but, conversely, their philosophy does much to determine their circumstances.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Men, Evil
"History of Western Philosophy".

I have come to realize that an early symptom of approaching mental illness is the belief that one's work is terribly important. If you consider your work very important you should take a day off.

Bertrand Russell
Success, Teaching, Important

There will still be things that machines cannot do. They will not produce great art or great literature or great philosophy; they will not be able to discover the secret springs of happiness in the human heart; they will know nothing of love and friendship.

Bertrand Russell
Love, Art, Philosophy

The human race may well become extinct before the end of the century.

Bertrand Russell
Race, May, Century
Playboy Interview, Volume 10, No. 3 (p. 42), March 1963; later quoted in Kenneth Rose "One Nation Underground: The Fallout Shelter in American Culture" (p. 39), 2004.

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom. Those who continually search for happiness will never find it. Happiness is made, not found. To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.

Bertrand Russell
Want, Would Be, Made

It is in our hearts that evil lies, and it is from our hearts that it must be plucked out.

Bertrand Russell
Lying, Heart, Evil
Bertrand Russell (1962). “Has Man a Future?”

Teachers are more than any other group the guardians of civilization.

Bertrand Russell
Teacher, Civilization, Groups

Every housemaid expects at least once a week as much excitement as would have lasted a Jane Austen heroine throughout a whole novel.

Bertrand Russell
Excitement, Week, Heroines
Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.33, Lulu Press, Inc

One's work is never so bad as it appears on bad days, nor so good as it appears on good days.

Bertrand Russell
Work, Good Day, Bad Day
Bertrand Russell (1998). “Autobiography”, p.127, Psychology Press

Every increase in knowledge requires an increase in wisdom

Bertrand Russell
Increase

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