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Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 41

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History is valuable, to begin with, because it is true; and this, though not the whole of its value, is the foundation and condition of all the rest. That all knowledge, as such, is in some degree good, would appear to

History is valuable, to begin with, because it is true; and this, though not the whole of its value, is the foundation and condition of all the rest. That all knowledge, as such, is in some degree good, would appear to be at least probable; and the knowledge of every historical fact possesses this element of goodness, even if it posses no other.

Bertrand Russell
Knowledge, Historical, Facts
Bertrand Russell (1985). “Contemplation and Action, 1902-14”, p.76, Psychology Press

When conscious activity is wholly concentrated on some one definite purpose, the ultimate result, for most people, is lack of balance accompanied by some form of nervous disorder.

Bertrand Russell
People, Focus, Balance
Bertrand Russell (2004). “In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays”, p.22, Psychology Press

The true spirit of delight, the exaltation, the sense of being more than Man, which is the touchstone of the highest excellence, is to be found in mathematics as surely as poetry.

Bertrand Russell
Men, Excellence, Exaltation
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.229, Routledge

The use of force stands in need of control by a public neutral authority, in the interests of liberty no less than of justice. Within a nation, this public authority will naturally be the state; in relations between nations, if the present anarchy is to cease, it will have to be some international parliament.

Bertrand Russell
Justice, Liberty, Needs
Bertrand Russell (2006). “Political Ideals”, p.73, Cosimo, Inc.

Remote from human passions, remote even from the pitiful facts of nature, the generations have gradually created an ordered cosmos [mathematics], where pure thought can dwell in its natural home.

Bertrand Russell
Passion, Home, Cosmos
Bertrand Russell (2016). “Mysticism and Logic”, p.94, Bertrand Russell

As I grew up I became increasingly interested in philosophy, or which [his family] profoundly disapproved. Everytime the subject came up they repeated with unfailing regularity, "What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind." After some fifty or sixty repititions, this remark ceased to amuse me.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Mind, Fifty

War...seems a mere madness, a collective insanity.

Bertrand Russell
War, Insanity, Madness

Calculus required continuity, and continuity was supposed to require the infinitely little; but nobody could discover what the infinitely little might be.

Bertrand Russell
Math, Littles, Statistics
Bertrand Russell (2015). “Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays: Top Philosophy Collections”, p.51, 谷月社

The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation ... it is common to wish well to oneself, but in our technically unified world, wishing well to oneself is sure to be futile unless it is combined with wishing well to others.

Bertrand Russell
Wish, World, Cooperation
Bertrand Russell, Andrew G. Bone (2003). “Man's Peril, 1954-55”, p.12, Psychology Press

Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty-a beauty cold and austere ... yet sublimely pure and capable of stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show.

Bertrand Russell
Art, Math, Perfection
"The Study of Mathematics" (1902)

Law in origin was merely a codification of the power of dominant groups, and did not aim at anything that to a modern man would appear to be justice

Bertrand Russell
Men, Law, Justice
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.98, Routledge

A habit of basing convictions upon evidence, and of giving to them only that degree or certainty which the evidence warrants, would, if it became general, cure most of the ills from which the world suffers.

Bertrand Russell
Math, Science, Giving

What the world needs is not dogma but an attitude of scientific inquiry.

Bertrand Russell
Attitude, Curiosity, Needs
Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.206, Simon and Schuster

The atomists , unlike Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle , sought to explain the world without introducing the notion of purpose or final cause.

Bertrand Russell
Plato, Finals, Purpose
Bertrand Russell (2013). “History of Western Philosophy: Collectors Edition”, p.64, Routledge

Education, and the life of the mind generally, is a matter in which individual initiative is the chief thing needed; the function of the state should begin and end with insistence on some kind of education, and, if possible, a kind which promotes mental individualism, not a kind which happens to conform to the prejudices of government officials.

Bertrand Russell
Government, Mind, Prejudice
Bertrand Russell, Richard A. Rempel (1995). “Pacifism and Revolution, 1916-18”, p.261, Psychology Press

In spite of Death, the mark and seal of the parental control, Man is yet free, during his brief years, to examine, to criticise, to know, and in imagination to create. To him alone, in the world with which he is acquainted, this freedom belongs; and in this lies his superiority to the resistless forces that control his outward life.

Bertrand Russell
Lying, Men, Years
Bertrand Russell (2016). “Mysticism and Logic”, p.75, Bertrand Russell

... the word "theory" ... was originally an Orphic word, which Cornford interprets as "passionate sympathetic contemplation" ... For Pythagoras, the "passionate sympathetic contemplation" was intellectual, and issued in mathematical knowledge ... To those who have reluctantly learnt a little mathematics in school this may seem strange; but to those who have experienced the intoxicating delight of sudden understanding that mathematics gives, from time to time, to those who love it, the Pythagorean view will seem completely natural.

Bertrand Russell
School, Views, Giving
Bertrand Russell (2008). “History of Western Philosophy”, p.33, Simon and Schuster

It is not by delusion, however exalted, that mankind can prosper, but only by unswerving courage in the pursuit of truth.

Bertrand Russell
Pursuit, Mankind, Delusion
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Fact and Fiction”, p.38, Routledge

Berkeley retains the merit of having shown that the existence of matter is capable of being denied without absurdity.

Bertrand Russell
Matter, Merit, Existence
Bertrand Russell (2016). “The Problems of Philosophy”, p.14, Bertrand Russell

Man is a rational animal—so at least I have been told. … Aristotle, so far as I know, was the first man to proclaim explicitly that man is a rational animal. His reason for this view was … that some people can do sums. … It is in virtue of the intellect that man is a rational animal. The intellect is shown in various ways, but most emphatically by mastery of arithmetic. The Greek system of numerals was very bad, so that the multiplication table was quite difficult, and complicated calculations could only be made by very clever people.

Bertrand Russell
Clever, Animal, Men

My doctor said to me afterwards, 'When you were ill you behaved like a true philosopher. Every time you came to yourself you made a joke.' I never had a compliment that pleased me more.

Bertrand Russell
Doctors, Philosopher, Compliment
Bertrand Russell (1967). “The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell: 1914-1944: 1914/1944”

Skilled work, of no matter what kind, is only done well by those who take a certain pleasure in it, quite apart from its utility, either to themselves in earning a living, or to the world through its outcome.

Bertrand Russell
Work, Done, World

Morally, a philosopher who uses his professional competence for anything except a disinterested search for truth is guilty of a kind of treachery.

Bertrand Russell
Use, Professional Competence, Philosopher
Bertrand Russell (2008). “History of Western Philosophy”, p.835, Simon and Schuster

European travellers find the Japanese a smiling race.

Bertrand Russell
Race, Traveller
Bertrand Russell (2014). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.88, Routledge

I am allowed to use plain English because everybody knows that I could use mathematical logic if I chose.

Bertrand Russell
Mathematical Logic, Use, Plain English
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.66, Routledge

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