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Bertrand Russell Quotes - Page 7

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One of the most interesting and harmful delusions to which men and nations can be subjected is that of imagining themselves special instruments of the Divine Will.

One of the most interesting and harmful delusions to which men and nations can be subjected is that of imagining themselves special instruments of the Divine Will.

Bertrand Russell
Men, Interesting, Ego
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.146, Routledge

Many a marriage hardly differs from prostitution, except being harder to escape from.

Bertrand Russell
Marriage, Prostitution, Harder
Bertrand Russell (2013). “Roads to Freedom”, p.150, Routledge

All human activity is prompted by desire.

Bertrand Russell
Desire, Humans, Human Activity
Bertrand Russell (2013). “Human Society in Ethics and Politics”, p.160, Routledge

I do not believe that I am now dreaming, but I cannot prove that I am not.

Bertrand Russell
Dream, Believe, Prove
Bertrand Russell (2013). “Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Value”, p.186, Routledge

Faith: a firm belief for which there is no evidence.

Bertrand Russell
Belief, Firm Beliefs, Evidence

Religion may in most of its forms be defined as the belief that the gods are on the side of the government.

Bertrand Russell
Government, May, Sides
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Marriage and Morals”, p.18, Routledge

The problem with the wise is they are so filled with doubts while the dull are so certain.

Bertrand Russell
Faith, Wise, Doubt

It is a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won't go.

Bertrand Russell
Anger, Men, Justice
Bertrand Russell (1990). “The Art of Philosophizing: and Other Essays”, p.25, Rowman & Littlefield

The experience of overcoming fear is extraordinarily delightful.

Bertrand Russell
Fear, Overcoming, Overcoming Fear
Bertrand Russell (2009). “On Education”, p.65, Routledge

Change is one thing, progress is another.

Bertrand Russell
Progress, One Thing
Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.396, Psychology Press

The world that we must seek is a world in which the creative spirit is alive, in which life is an adventure full of joy and hope, based rather upon the impulse to construct than upon the desire to retain what we possess or to seize what is possessed by others.

Bertrand Russell
Adventure, Creative, Joy
Bertrand Russell (2013). “Roads to Freedom”, p.154, Routledge

Extreme hopes are born of extreme misery, and in such a world hopes could only be irrational.

Bertrand Russell
Hope, Misery, Born
"Unpopular Essays". Book by Bertrand Russell, Chapter 3: The Future of Mankind (p. 36), 1950.

Fervent religious believers sacrifice pleasures of the body, but instead enjoy pleasures of the mind, including the joy of knowing that those men who didn't follow their religion would be tortured for eternity.

Bertrand Russell
Religious, Sacrifice, Men

I am not myself in any degree ashamed of having changed my opinions.

Bertrand Russell
Acceptance, Degrees, Opinion
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.59, Routledge

Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.

Bertrand Russell
Power, Hatred, Idealism And Realism
Bertrand Russell (1992). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959”, p.478, Psychology Press

When Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning-rod, the clergy, both in England and America, with enthusiastic support of George III, condemned it as an impious attempt to defeat the will of God.

Bertrand Russell
England And America, Support, Lightning
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.92, Routledge

Science is at no moment quite right, but it is seldom quite wrong, and has, as a rule, a better chance of being right than the theories of the unscientific. It is, therefore, rational to accept it hypothetically.

Bertrand Russell
Chance, Moments, Accepting

I am sometimes shocked by the blasphemies of those who think themselves pious.

Bertrand Russell
Thinking, Intelligence, Sometimes
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.73, Routledge

When you are studying any matter or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only: what are the facts, and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted by what you wish to believe, but look only and surely at what are the facts.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Believe, Wish
BBC interview on "Face to Face", 1959.

Gradually, by selective breeding, the congenital differences between rulers and ruled will increase until they become almost different species. A revolt of the plebs would become as unthinkable as an organized insurrection of sheep against the practice of eating mutton.

Bertrand Russell
Sheep, Practice, Differences
Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Impact of Science On Society”, p.44, Lulu Press, Inc

For love of domination we must substitute equality; for love of victory we must substitute justice; for brutality we must substitute intelligence; for competition we must substitute cooperation. We must learn to think of the human race as one family.

Bertrand Russell
Equality, Thinking, Race

HELL: A place where the police are German, the motorists French and the cooks English.

Bertrand Russell
God, Travel, Police
Bertrand Russell (1993). “The Quotable Bertrand Russell”

Human nature is so constructed that it gives affection most readily to those who seem least to demand it.

Bertrand Russell
Emotional, Giving, Feelings
Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.101, Lulu Press, Inc

No satisfaction based upon self-deception is solid, and however unpleasant the truth may be, it is better to face it once and for all, to get used to it, and to proceed to build your life in accordance with it.

Bertrand Russell
Self, Deception, May
Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.72, Lulu Press, Inc

While economics is about how people make choice, sociology is about how they don't have any choice to make.

Bertrand Russell
People, Choices, Economics

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