Bertrand Russell Quotes about Ignorance

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One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.

One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.

Bertrand Russell

Stupid, Ignorance, Imagination

Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.676, Routledge

Science tells us what we can know but what we can know is little and if we forget how much we cannot know we become insensitive of many things of very great importance. Theology, on the other hand induces a dogmatic belief that we have knowledge where in fact we have ignorance and by doing so generates a kind of impertinent insolence towards the universe. Uncertainty in the presence of vivid hopes and fears is painful, but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales.

Bertrand Russell

Ignorance, Hands, Support

Bertrand Russell (2013). “History of Western Philosophy: Collectors Edition”, p.2, Routledge

One must care about a world one will not see.

Bertrand Russell

Peace, Future, Ignorance

While the dogmatist is harmful, the sceptic is useless ...; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or of ignorance. Knowledge is not so precise a concept as is commonly thought. Instead of saying 'I know this', we ought to say 'I more or less know something more or less like this'. ... Knowledge in practical affairs has not the certainty or the precision of arithmetic.

Bertrand Russell

Philosophy, Ignorance, Knowledge

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.

Bertrand Russell

Philosophy, Ignorance, Knowing

Bertrand Russell (1996). “Unpopular Essays”, p.38, Psychology Press