Authors:
  1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. B
  4. Bertrand Russell
  5. Evil

Bertrand Russell Quotes about Evil

All Bertrand Russell Quotes Acceptance Achievement Adventure Affection Age Alcohol Anger Anxiety Art Atheism Atheist Attitude Authority Belief Birth Blasphemy Boredom Change Character Charity Children Choices Christ Christianity Church Common Sense Communism Community Compassion Competition Confidence Conflict Country Courage Creativity Curiosity Death Democracy Desire Devil Devotion Discipline Diversity Divorce Dogma Doubt Drinking Duty Earth Economics Education Effort Ego Energy Environment Envy Ethics Evidence Evil quotes Excellence Exercise Failing Faith Fate Fear Feelings Fighting Finding Yourself Free Will Freedom Funny Genius Giving God Gossip Gratitude Greatness Greek Growth Happiness Happy Hate Hatred Heart Heaven Hell History Holiday Home Honesty Hope Human Nature Humanity Humility Husband Idealism Ignorance Imagination Impulse Injustice Innovation Insanity Inspiration Inspirational Integrity Intelligence Intuition Islam Joy Justice Kindness Knowledge Language Laughter Learning Liberty Life Literature Logic Loneliness Love Love Life Lying Madness Magic Mankind Marriage Math Mathematics Memories Morality Motivational Nature Observation Overcoming Pain Passion Past Peace Perfection Philosophy Plato Pleasure Politics Poverty Power Praise Prejudice Preparation Pride Progress Prosperity Psychology Punctuality Purpose Quality Reading Reality Regret Religion Respect Responsibility Satan School Science Science And Religion Security Simplicity Sin Skepticism Solitude Son Soul Spirituality Spring Struggle Study Stupidity Success Suffering Survival Teaching Terror Time Tolerance Tradition Travel Truth Understanding Victory Virtue Vision War Water Wife Wisdom Work Worry Worship Writing Youth
Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.

Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.

Bertrand Russell
Views, Evil, Achievement
Bertrand Russell (1985). “Contemplation and Action, 1902-14”, p.176, Psychology Press

As soon as it is held that any belief, no matter what, is important for some other reason than that it is true, a whole host of evils is ready to spring up.

Bertrand Russell
Spring, Evil, Important
Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.197, Simon and Schuster

One of the chief obstacles to intelligence is credulity, and credulity could be enormously diminished by instructions as to the prevalent forms of mendacity. Credulity is a greater evil in the present day than it ever was before, because, owing to the growth of education, it is much easier than it used to be to spread misinformation, and, owing to democracy, the spread of misinformation is more important than in former times to the holders of power.

Bertrand Russell
Truth, Evil, Growth
Bertrand Russell, Richard A. Rempel, Beryl Haslam (2000). “Uncertain Paths to Freedom: Russia and China, 1919-22”, p.360, Psychology Press

Of all evils of war the greatest is the purely spiritual evil: the hatred, the injustice, the repudiation of truth, the artificial conflict.

Bertrand Russell
Spiritual, War, Evil
Charles Chatfield, Bertrand Russell, Ralph Barton Perry (1972). “ETHICS OF WAR”, Dissertations-G

The difficulty is old, but none the less real. An omnipotent being who created a world containing evil not due to sin must Himself be at least partially evil.

Bertrand Russell
God, Real, Evil
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Bertrand Russell's Best”, p.33, Routledge

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".

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?”

The twin conceptions of sin and vindictive punishment seem to be at the root of much that is most vigorous, both in religion and politics.

Bertrand Russell
Punishment, Roots, Evil
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.147, Routledge

One eminently orthodox Catholic divine laid it down that a confessor may fondle a nun's breasts, provided he does it without evil intent.

Bertrand Russell
Evil, Catholic, May
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.80, Routledge

Much of the most important evils that mankind have to consider are those which they inflict upon each other through stupidity or malevolence or both.

Bertrand Russell
Evil, Stupidity, Important
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.143, Routledge

Ideas and principles that do harm are as a rule, though not always, cloaks for evil passions.

Bertrand Russell
Passion, Ideas, Evil
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.143, Routledge

It is odd that neither the Church nor modern public opinion condemns petting, provided it stops short at a certain point. At what point sin begins is a matter as to which casuists differ. One eminently orthodox Catholic divine laid it down that a confessor may fondle a nun's breasts, provided he does it without evil intent. But I doubt whether modern authorities would agree with him on this point.

Bertrand Russell
Evil, Catholic, Doubt
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.77, Routledge

You May Also Like: