200+ Quotes & Sayings By Bertrand Russell

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. 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 this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness--that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. 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. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what--at last-- I have found. With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved. Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer. This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me. Bertrand Russell

As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods. Bertrand Russell

My desire and wish is that the things I start with should be so obvious that you wonder why I spend my time stating them. This is what I aim at because the point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it. Bertrand Russell

Anything you're good at contributes to happiness. Bertrand Russell

Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many possiblities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom. Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what the may be; it removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those who have never travelled into the region of liberating doubt, and it keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing familar things in an unfamilar aspect . Bertrand Russell

When you come to look into this argument from design, it is a most astonishing thing that people can believe that this world, with all the things that are in it, with all its defects, should be the best that omnipotence and omniscience have been able to produce in millions of years. I really cannot believe it. Do you think that, if you were granted omnipotence and omniscience and millions of years in which to perfect your world, you could produce nothing better than the Ku Klux Klan or the Fascists? Moreover, if you accept the ordinary laws of science, you have to suppose that human life and life in general on this planet will die out in due course: it is a stage in the decay of the solar system; at a certain stage of decay you get the sort of conditions of temperature and so forth which are suitable to protoplasm, and there is life for a short time in the life of the whole solar system. You see in the moon the sort of thing to which the earth is tending -- something dead, cold, and lifeless. . Bertrand Russell

If the ordinary wage-earner worked four hours a day, there would be enough for everybody and no unemployment -- assuming a certain very moderate amount of sensible organization. This idea shocks the well-to-do, because they are convinced that the poor would not know how to use so much leisure. In America men often work long hours even when they are well off; such men, naturally, are indignant at the idea of leisure for wage-earners, except as the grim punishment of unemployment; in fact, they dislike leisure even for their sons. Bertrand Russell

There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge and wisdom. Shall we instead choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? I appeal as a human being to human beings; remember your humanity, and forget the rest. Bertrand Russell

How, in such an alien and inhuman world, can so powerless a creature as man preserve his aspirations untarnished? A strange mystery it is that nature, omnipotent but blind, in the revolutions of her secular hurryings through the abysses of space, has brought forth at last a child, subject still to her power, but gifted with sight, with knowledge of good and evil, with the capacity of judging all the works of his unthinking mother. In spite of death, the mark and seal of the parental control, man is yet free, during his brief years, to examine, to criticize, to know, and in imagination to create. To him alone, in the world with which he is aquainted, this freedom belongs; and in this lies his superiority to the resistless forces that control his outward life. Bertrand Russell

The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the cooperation or consent of his deliberate reason. Bertrand Russell

I have been accused of a habit of changing my opinions. I am not myself in any degree ashamed of having changed my opinions. What physicist who was already active in 1900 would dream of boasting that his opinions had not changed during the last half century? In science men change their opinions when new knowledge becomes available; but philosophy in the minds of many is assimilated rather to theology than to science. The kind of philosophy that I value and have endeavoured to pursue is scientific, in the sense that there is some definite knowledge to be obtained and that new discoveries can make the admission of former error inevitable to any candid mind. For what I have said, whether early or late, I do not claim the kind of truth which theologians claim for their creeds. I claim only, at best, that the opinion expressed was a sensible one to hold at the time when it was expressed. I should be much surprised if subsequent research did not show that it needed to be modified. I hope, therefore, that whoever uses this dictionary will not suppose the remarks which it quotes to be intended as pontifical pronouncements, but only as the best I could do at the time towards the promotion of clear and accurate thinking. Clarity, above all, has been my aim. Bertrand Russell

William James describes a man who got the experience from laughing-gas; whenever he was under its influence, he knew the secret of the universe, but when he came to, he had forgotten it. At last, with immense effort, he wrote down the secret before the vision had faded. When completely recovered, he rushed to see what he had written. It was: "A smell of petroleum prevails throughout. Bertrand Russell

СледуеÑ‚ признаÑ‚ь, чÑ‚о имееÑ‚ся определеннÑ‹й Ñ‚ип хрисÑ‚ианской эÑ‚ики, к коÑ‚орому осуждающая криÑ‚ика Ницше можеÑ‚ бÑ‹Ñ‚ь применена справедливо. Паскаль и ДосÑ‚оевский, коÑ‚орÑ‹х он сам приводиÑ‚ в качесÑ‚ве примера, — оба имеюÑ‚ чÑ‚о-Ñ‚о жалкое в своей добродеÑ‚ели. Паскаль принес в жерÑ‚ву своему Богу великолепнÑ‹й маÑ‚емаÑ‚ический ум, Ñ‚ем самÑ‹м приписÑ‹вая Богу жесÑ‚окосÑ‚ь, коÑ‚орая являеÑ‚ся космическим расширением болезненнÑ‹х душевнÑ‹х мук самого Паскаля. ДосÑ‚оевский не желал имеÑ‚ь ничего общего с «личной гордосÑ‚ью»; он согрешил бÑ‹, чÑ‚обÑ‹ покаяÑ‚ься и испÑ‹Ñ‚аÑ‚ь наслаждение исповеди. Я не сÑ‚ану обсуждаÑ‚ь вопрос, насколько в Ñ‚аких помрачениях ума следуеÑ‚ обвиняÑ‚ь хрисÑ‚иансÑ‚во, но я согласен с Ницше, счиÑ‚ая просÑ‚рацию ДосÑ‚оевского презренной. Я должен согласиÑ‚ься и с Ñ‚ем, чÑ‚о прямоÑ‚а и гордосÑ‚ь и даже некоÑ‚орое самоуÑ‚верждение являюÑ‚ся элеменÑ‚ами самого лучшего харакÑ‚ера. Нельзя восхищаÑ‚ься добродеÑ‚елью, в основе коÑ‚орой лежиÑ‚ сÑ‚рах. . Bertrand Russell

Со своей сÑ‚оронÑ‹, я предпочиÑ‚аю онÑ‚ологическое доказаÑ‚ельсÑ‚во [сущесÑ‚вования Бога], космологическое доказаÑ‚ельсÑ‚во и осÑ‚альной сÑ‚арÑ‹й запас аргуменÑ‚ов Ñ‚ой сенÑ‚именÑ‚альной нелогичносÑ‚и, коÑ‚орая береÑ‚ начало оÑ‚ Руссо. СÑ‚арÑ‹е доказаÑ‚ельсÑ‚ва бÑ‹ли по крайней мере чесÑ‚нÑ‹ми; если они правильнÑ‹е, Ñ‚о они доказÑ‹вали свою Ñ‚очку зрения, если они неправильнÑ‹е, Ñ‚о для любой криÑ‚ики досÑ‚упно доказаÑ‚ь эÑ‚о. Но новая Ñ‚еология сердца оÑ‚казÑ‹ваеÑ‚ся оÑ‚ доказаÑ‚ельсÑ‚ва; она не можеÑ‚ бÑ‹Ñ‚ь оÑ‚вергнуÑ‚а, поÑ‚ому чÑ‚о она не преÑ‚ендуеÑ‚ на доказаÑ‚ельсÑ‚во своей Ñ‚очки зрения. Ð’ конечном счеÑ‚е единсÑ‚веннÑ‹м основанием для ее приняÑ‚ия оказÑ‹ваеÑ‚ся Ñ‚о, чÑ‚о она позволяеÑ‚ нам предаваÑ‚ься прияÑ‚нÑ‹м грезам. ЭÑ‚о не заслуживающая уважения причина, и, если бÑ‹ я вÑ‹бирал между Фомой Аквинским и Руссо, я вÑ‹брал бÑ‹ Фому Аквинского. Bertrand Russell

Движение романÑ‚изма, в сущносÑ‚и, сÑ‚авило целью освобождение человеческой личносÑ‚и оÑ‚ пуÑ‚ общесÑ‚веннÑ‹х условносÑ‚ей и общесÑ‚венной морали. Ð’ часÑ‚носÑ‚и, эÑ‚и пуÑ‚Ñ‹ бÑ‹ли лишь бесполезнÑ‹м препяÑ‚сÑ‚вием к желаÑ‚ельнÑ‹м формам деяÑ‚ельносÑ‚и, Ñ‚ак как каждая древняя община вÑ‹рабоÑ‚ала правила поведения, оÑ‚носиÑ‚ельно коÑ‚орÑ‹х нечего сказаÑ‚ь, кроме Ñ‚ого, чÑ‚о они Ñ‚радиционнÑ‹. Но эгоисÑ‚ические сÑ‚расÑ‚и, однаждÑ‹ освобожденнÑ‹е, нелегко снова подчиниÑ‚ь инÑ‚ересам общесÑ‚ва. ХрисÑ‚иансÑ‚во имело определеннÑ‹й успех в усмирении «Я». Но экономические, полиÑ‚ические и инÑ‚еллекÑ‚уальнÑ‹е причинÑ‹ сÑ‚имулировали мяÑ‚еж проÑ‚ив церкви, а движение романÑ‚изма перенесло мяÑ‚еж в сферу морали. Поощрения нового, ничем не ограниченного «Я» ясно делали общесÑ‚венную кооперацию невозможной и посÑ‚авили его последоваÑ‚елей перед альÑ‚ернаÑ‚ивой анархии или деспоÑ‚изма. Эгоизм поначалу засÑ‚авлял людей ожидаÑ‚ь оÑ‚ других оÑ‚еческой нежносÑ‚и. Но, когда они оÑ‚крÑ‹ли с негодованием, чÑ‚о другие имеюÑ‚ свое собсÑ‚венное Я, разочарованное желание нежносÑ‚и обраÑ‚илось в ненависÑ‚ь и насилие. Человек — не одиночное живоÑ‚ное, и, поскольку сущесÑ‚вуеÑ‚ общесÑ‚венная жизнь, самоуÑ‚верждение не можеÑ‚ бÑ‹Ñ‚ь вÑ‹сшим принципом эÑ‚ики. Bertrand Russell

ЭÑ‚о не вина психологии романÑ‚иков, эÑ‚о их сÑ‚андарÑ‚ ценносÑ‚ей. Они восхищаюÑ‚ся сильнÑ‹ми сÑ‚расÑ‚ями, безразлично какого рода и каковÑ‹ бÑ‹ ни бÑ‹ли их социальнÑ‹е последсÑ‚вия. РоманÑ‚ическая любовь, особенно когда она несчасÑ‚лива, досÑ‚аÑ‚очно сильна, чÑ‚обÑ‹ заслужиÑ‚ь их одобрение, но большинсÑ‚во сильнейших сÑ‚расÑ‚ей разрушиÑ‚ельно: ненависÑ‚ь, негодование и ревносÑ‚ь, раскаяние и оÑ‚чаяние, поруганная гордосÑ‚ь и яросÑ‚ь несправедливо приÑ‚есняемого, воинсÑ‚веннÑ‹й пÑ‹л и презрение к рабам и Ñ‚русам. СледоваÑ‚ельно, Ñ‚ип человека, поддерживаемÑ‹й романÑ‚измом, особенно в его байроновском варианÑ‚е, — эÑ‚о склоннÑ‹й к насилию и анÑ‚исоциальнÑ‹й, анархический бунÑ‚арь или побеждающий деспоÑ‚.ПричинÑ‹ Ñ‚ого, чÑ‚о эÑ‚о мировоззрение обладаеÑ‚ приÑ‚ягаÑ‚ельной силой, лежаÑ‚ очень глубоко в природе человека и условиях его сущесÑ‚вования. Из чувсÑ‚ва самосохранения человек сÑ‚ал сÑ‚аднÑ‹м сущесÑ‚вом, но инсÑ‚инкÑ‚ивно он осÑ‚аеÑ‚ся в очень большой сÑ‚епени одиночкой; следоваÑ‚ельно, необходимÑ‹ религия и мораль, чÑ‚обÑ‹ подкрепиÑ‚ь эÑ‚оÑ‚ инсÑ‚инкÑ‚. Но привÑ‹чка воздерживаÑ‚ься оÑ‚ удовольсÑ‚вий в насÑ‚оящем ради преимущесÑ‚в в будущем уÑ‚омиÑ‚ельна, и когда возбуждаюÑ‚ся сÑ‚расÑ‚и, Ñ‚рудно держаÑ‚ь себя в благоразумнÑ‹х рамках общесÑ‚венного поведения. Те, кÑ‚о в Ñ‚акие моменÑ‚Ñ‹ оÑ‚брасÑ‹ваеÑ‚ их, приобреÑ‚аюÑ‚ новую энергию и ощущение силÑ‹ оÑ‚ прекращения внуÑ‚реннего конфликÑ‚а, и, хоÑ‚я в конце концов они могуÑ‚ попасÑ‚ь в беду, они наслаждаюÑ‚ся чувсÑ‚вом божесÑ‚венной экзальÑ‚ации, коÑ‚орое, хоÑ‚я извесÑ‚но великим мисÑ‚икам, никогда не можеÑ‚ бÑ‹Ñ‚ь испÑ‹Ñ‚ано Ñ‚еми, чье поведение не вÑ‹ходиÑ‚ за рамки прозаической добродеÑ‚ели. ИндивидуалисÑ‚ическая сÑ‚орона их природÑ‹ уÑ‚верждаеÑ‚ себя, но, если сохраняеÑ‚ся инÑ‚еллекÑ‚, эÑ‚о уÑ‚верждение должно облекаÑ‚ь себя в миф. МисÑ‚ик пребÑ‹ваеÑ‚ наедине с Богом и, созерцая бесконечное, чувсÑ‚вуеÑ‚ себя свободнÑ‹м оÑ‚ обязанносÑ‚ей по оÑ‚ношению к своему ближнему. Bertrand Russell

БунÑ‚ индивидуалисÑ‚ических инсÑ‚инкÑ‚ов проÑ‚ив социальнÑ‹х уз являеÑ‚ся ключом к пониманию философии, полиÑ‚ики и чувсÑ‚в — не Ñ‚олько Ñ‚ого, чÑ‚о обÑ‹чно назÑ‹ваеÑ‚ся движением романÑ‚изма, но и его последоваÑ‚елей вплоÑ‚ь до наших дней. Философия под влиянием немецкого идеализма сÑ‚ала солипсисÑ‚ской, и самоусовершенсÑ‚вование бÑ‹ло провозглашено основополагающим принципом эÑ‚ики. ЧÑ‚о касаеÑ‚ся чувсÑ‚ва, Ñ‚о должен бÑ‹л сущесÑ‚воваÑ‚ь неприяÑ‚нÑ‹й компромисс между сÑ‚ремлением к изоляции и необходимосÑ‚ью удовлеÑ‚ворения сÑ‚расÑ‚и и экономических поÑ‚ребносÑ‚ей. Ð’ рассказе Д. Г. Лоуренса «Человек, коÑ‚орÑ‹й любил осÑ‚рова» герой посÑ‚епенно все в большей сÑ‚епени пренебрегаеÑ‚ Ñ‚аким компромиссом и в конце концов умираеÑ‚ оÑ‚ голода и холода, но наслаждаясь полной изоляцией. Однако Ñ‚акой последоваÑ‚ельносÑ‚и не досÑ‚игли писаÑ‚ели, коÑ‚орÑ‹е превозносяÑ‚ одиночесÑ‚во. ОÑ‚шельник не пользуеÑ‚ся удобсÑ‚вами цивилизованной жизни, и человек, коÑ‚орÑ‹й хочеÑ‚ писаÑ‚ь книги или создаваÑ‚ь произведения искуссÑ‚ва, должен приняÑ‚ь помощь других, для Ñ‚ого чÑ‚обÑ‹ поддержаÑ‚ь свое сущесÑ‚вование в Ñ‚о время, когда он рабоÑ‚аеÑ‚. Для Ñ‚ого чÑ‚обÑ‹ продолжаÑ‚ь чувсÑ‚воваÑ‚ь себя в одиночесÑ‚ве, он должен бÑ‹Ñ‚ь в сосÑ‚оянии предоÑ‚враÑ‚иÑ‚ь Ñ‚ех, кÑ‚о служиÑ‚ ему, оÑ‚ покушения на его Я, чÑ‚о лучше всего досÑ‚игаеÑ‚ся, если они являюÑ‚ся рабами. СÑ‚расÑ‚ная любовь, однако, более сложное дело. Поскольку сÑ‚расÑ‚нÑ‹е любовники рассмаÑ‚риваюÑ‚ся как люди, коÑ‚орÑ‹е воссÑ‚али проÑ‚ив социальнÑ‹х оков, ими восхищаюÑ‚ся. Но в реальной жизни оÑ‚ношения любви сами бÑ‹сÑ‚ро сÑ‚ановяÑ‚ся социальнÑ‹ми оковами и парÑ‚нера по любви начинаюÑ‚ ненавидеÑ‚ь, и все более неисÑ‚ово, если любовь досÑ‚аÑ‚очно сильна, чÑ‚обÑ‹ сделаÑ‚ь узÑ‹ Ñ‚акими, чÑ‚о их Ñ‚рудно разорваÑ‚ь. СледоваÑ‚ельно, любовь начинаюÑ‚ предсÑ‚авляÑ‚ь как борьбу, в коÑ‚орой каждÑ‹й сÑ‚ремиÑ‚ся уничÑ‚ожиÑ‚ь другого, проникая сквозь защиÑ‚иÑ‚ельнÑ‹е барьерÑ‹ его или ее Я. ЭÑ‚а Ñ‚очка зрения сÑ‚ановиÑ‚ся обÑ‹чной в произведениях СÑ‚риндберга и еще больше Д. Г. Лоуренса. . Bertrand Russell

Однако сущесÑ‚вуеÑ‚ довод и более общего харакÑ‚ера проÑ‚ив слепого преклонения перед греками или кем бÑ‹ Ñ‚о ни бÑ‹ло еще. Правильное оÑ‚ношение к изучению Ñ‚ого или иного философа сосÑ‚оиÑ‚ не в Ñ‚ом, чÑ‚обÑ‹ почиÑ‚аÑ‚ь или презираÑ‚ь его, но прежде всего в некоÑ‚орого рода предрасположенносÑ‚и, дающей возможносÑ‚ь поняÑ‚ь, чÑ‚о именно склоняеÑ‚ к Ñ‚ому, чÑ‚обÑ‹ вериÑ‚ь в его Ñ‚еории, и Ñ‚олько поÑ‚ом следуеÑ‚ оживляÑ‚ь криÑ‚ическое оÑ‚ношение, коÑ‚орое должно напоминаÑ‚ь, насколько эÑ‚о возможно, сосÑ‚ояние ума Ñ‚ой личносÑ‚и, коÑ‚орая оÑ‚брасÑ‹ваеÑ‚ мнения, оÑ‚сÑ‚аиваемÑ‹е ею прежде. Презрение мешаеÑ‚ первой часÑ‚и эÑ‚ого процесса, преклонение — вÑ‚орой. СледуеÑ‚ при эÑ‚ом учиÑ‚Ñ‹ваÑ‚ь две вещи: надо помниÑ‚ь, чÑ‚о человек, чьи взглядÑ‹ и Ñ‚еории заслуживаюÑ‚ изучения, должен, по-видимому, обладаÑ‚ь определеннÑ‹м умом, но надо Ñ‚акже имеÑ‚ь в виду, чÑ‚о ни один человек не досÑ‚игал, верояÑ‚но, полной и окончаÑ‚ельной исÑ‚инÑ‹ по какому бÑ‹ Ñ‚о ни бÑ‹ло вопросу. Когда умнÑ‹й человек вÑ‹ражаеÑ‚ совершенно абсурднÑ‹й с нашей Ñ‚очки зрения взгляд, мÑ‹ не должнÑ‹ пÑ‹Ñ‚аÑ‚ься доказÑ‹ваÑ‚ь, чÑ‚о эÑ‚оÑ‚ взгляд Ñ‚ем не менее являеÑ‚ся правильнÑ‹м, но нам следуеÑ‚ попÑ‹Ñ‚аÑ‚ься поняÑ‚ь, каким образом эÑ‚оÑ‚ взгляд когда-Ñ‚о казался правильнÑ‹м. ЭÑ‚о упражнение исÑ‚орического и психологического воображения одновременно и расширяеÑ‚ сферу нашего мÑ‹шления, и помогаеÑ‚ нам поняÑ‚ь, насколько глупÑ‹ми многие из лелеемÑ‹х нами предрассудков покажуÑ‚ся веку, обладающему другим складом ума. Bertrand Russell

Science can teach us, and I think our hearts can teach us, no longer to look around for imaginary supporters, no longer to invent allies in the sky, but rather to look to our own efforts here below to make the world a fit place to live. Bertrand Russell

You all know the argument from design: everything in the world is made just so that we can manage to live in the world, and if the world was ever so little different, we could not manage to live in it. That is the argument from design. It sometimes takes a rather curious form; for instance, it is argued that rabbits have white tails in order to be easy to shoot. I do not know how rabbits would view that application. . Bertrand Russell

Love is wise; hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don't like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet. . Bertrand Russell

It is essential to happiness that our way of living should spring from our own deep impulses and not from the accidental tastes and desires of those who happen to be our neighbors, or even our relations. Bertrand Russell

Yo no nací dichoso. De niño, mi himno favorito era: «Cansado del mundo y con el peso de mis pecados». A los cinco años yo pensaba que si había de vivir setenta no había pasado aún más que la catorceava parte de mi vida vital, y me parecía casi insoportable la enorme cantidad de aburrimiento que me aguardaba. En la adolescencia la vida me era odiosa, y estaba continuamente al borde del suicidio, del cual me libré gracias al deseo de saber más matemáticas. Hoy, por el contrario, gusto de la vida, y casi estoy por decir que cada año que pasa la encuentro más gustosa. Esto es debido, en parte, a haber descubierto cuáles eran las cosas que deseaba más y haber adquirido gradualmente muchas de ellas. En parte es debido también a haberme desprendido, felizmente, de ciertos deseos (la adquisición del conocimiento indudable acerca de algo) como esencialmente inasequibles. Pero en la mayor parte se debe a la preocupación, cada día menor, de mí mismo. Bertrand Russell

The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish form our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent Death. Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never-tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instill faith in times of despair. . Bertrand Russell

I do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no God. I equally cannot prove that Satan is a fiction. The Christian god may exist; so may the gods of Olympus, or of ancient Egypt, or of Babylon. But no one of these hypotheses is more probable than any other: they lie outside the region of even probable knowledge, and therefore there is no reason to consider any of them. Bertrand Russell

Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them. Bertrand Russell

Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own. Bertrand Russell

Love is something far more than desire for sexual intercourse; it is the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives. There is a deep-seated fear, in most people, of the cold world and the possible cruelty of the herd; there is a longing for affection, which is often concealed by roughness, boorishness or a bullying manner in men, and by nagging and scolding in women. Passionate mutual love while it lasts puts an end to this feeling; it breaks down the hard walls of the ego, producing a new being composed of two in one. Bertrand Russell

If we were all given by magic the power to read each other’s thoughts, I suppose the first effect would be almost all friendships would be dissolved; the second effect, however, might be excellent, for a world without any friends would be felt to be intolerable, and we should learn to like each other without needing a veil of illusion to conceal from ourselves that we did not think each other absolutely perfect. Bertrand Russell

In the outworks of our lives, we were almost strangers, but we shared a certain outlook on human life and human destiny, which, from the very first, made a bond of extreme strength . At our very first meeting, we talked with continually increasing intimacy. We seemed to sink through layer after layer of what was superficial, till gradually both reached the central fire. It was an experience unlike any other that I have known. We looked into each other's eyes, half appalled and half intoxicated to find ourselves together in such a region. The emotion was as intense as passionate love, and at the same time all-embracing. I came away bewildered, and hardly able to find my way among ordinary affairs. Bertrand Russell

I hate the world and almost all the people in it. I hate the Labour Congress and the journalists who send men to be slaughtered, and the fathers who feel a smug pride when their sons are killed, and even the pacifists who keep saying human nature is essentially good, in spite of all the daily proofs to the contrary. I hate the planet and the human race– I am ashamed to belong to such a species. Bertrand Russell

In the Second World War he took no public part, having escaped to a neutral country just before its outbreak. In private conversation he was wont to say that homicidal lunatics were well employed in killing each other, but that sensible men would keep out of their way while they were doing it. Fortunately this outlook, which is reminiscent of Bentham, has become rare in this age, which recognizes that heroism has a value independent of its utility. The Last Survivor of a Dead Epoch. Bertrand Russell

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid .. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man. . Bertrand Russell

The psychology of adultery has been falsified by conventional morals, which assume, in monogamous countries, that attraction to one person cannot coexist with affection for another. Everybody knows that this is untrue. Bertrand Russell

If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time. Bertrand Russell

It is true that the modern Christian is less robust, but that is not thanks to Christianity; it is thanks to the generations of freethinkers, who from the Renaissance to the present day, have made Christians ashamed of many of their traditional beliefs. It is amusing to hear the modern Christian telling you how mild and rationalistic Christianity really is and ignoring the fact that all its mildness and rationalism is due to the teaching of men who in their own day were persecuted by all orthodox Christians. Bertrand Russell

When the qualities that now confer leadership have become universal, there will no longer be leaders and followers, and democracy will have been realized at last. Bertrand Russell

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand. Bertrand Russell

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important. Bertrand Russell

I want to say, in all seriousness, that a great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by belief in the virtuousness of work, and that the road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organised diminution of work. Bertrand Russell

In the modern world, however, love has another enemy more dangerous than religion, and that is the gospel of work and economic success. It is generally held, especially in America, that a man should not allow love to interfere with his career, and that if he does, he is silly. But in this as in all human matters a balance is necessary. Bertrand Russell

That is the idea -- that we should all be wicked if we did not hold to the Christian religion. It seems to me that the people who have held to it have been for the most part extremely wicked. You find this curious fact, that the more intense has been the religion of any period and the more profound has been the dogmatic belief, the greater has been the cruelty and the worse has been the state of affairs. In the so-called ages of faith, when men really did believe the Christian religion in all its completeness, there was the Inquisition, with all its tortures; there were millions of unfortunate women burned as witches; and there was every kind of cruelty practiced upon all sorts of people in the name of religion. You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. You may think that I am going too far when I say that that is still so. I do not think that I am. Take one fact. You will bear with me if I mention it. It is not a pleasant fact, but the churches compel one to mention facts that are not pleasant. Supposing that in this world that we live in today an inexperienced girl is married to a syphilitic man; in that case the Catholic Church says, 'This is an indissoluble sacrament. You must endure celibacy or stay together. And if you stay together, you must not use birth control to prevent the birth of syphilitic children.' Nobody whose natural sympathies have not been warped by dogma, or whose moral nature was not absolutely dead to all sense of suffering, could maintain that it is right and proper that that state of things should continue. That is only an example. There are a great many ways in which, at the present moment, the church, by its insistence upon what it chooses to call morality, inflicts upon all sorts of people undeserved and unnecessary suffering. And of course, as we know, it is in its major part an opponent still of progress and improvement in all the ways that diminish suffering in the world, because it has chosen to label as morality a certain narrow set of rules of conduct which have nothing to do with human happiness; and when you say that this or that ought to be done because it would make for human happiness, they think that has nothing to do with the matter at all. 'What has human happiness to do with morals? The object of morals is not to make people happy. Bertrand Russell

When a child reaches adolescence, there is very apt to be a conflict between parents and child, since the latter considers himself to be by now quite capable of managing his own affairs, while the former are filled with parental solicitude, which is often a disguise for love of power. Parents consider, usually, that the various moral problems which arise in adolescence are peculiarly their province. The opinions they express, however, are so dogmatic that the young seldom confide in them, and usually go their own way in secret. Bertrand Russell

It is not difficult for an unwise mother quite unintentionally to centre the heterosexual feelings of a young son upon herself, and it is true that, if this is done, the evil consequences pointed out by Freud will probably ensue. This is, however, much less likely to occur if the mother's sexual life is satisfying to her, for in that case she will not look to her child for a type of emotional satisfaction which ought to be sought only from adults. The parental impulse in its purity is an impulse to care for the young, not to demand affection from them, and if a woman is happy in her sexual life she will abstain spontaneously from all improper demands for emotional response from her child. Bertrand Russell

Perhaps the greatest importance of the family, in these days of contraceptives, is that it preserves the habit of having children. Bertrand Russell

Travelling, whether in the mental or the physical world, is a joy, and it is good to know that, in the mental world at least, there are vast countries still very imperfectly explored Bertrand Russell

For the young, there is nothing unattainable; a good thing desired with the whole force of a passionate will, and yet impossible, is to them not credible. Yet, by death, by illness, by poverty, or by the voice of duty, we must learn, each one of us, that the world was not made for us, and that, however beautiful may be the things we crave, Fate may nevertheless forbid them. It is the part of courage, when misfortune comes, to bear without regretting the ruin of our hopes, to turn away our thoughts from vain regrets. This degree of submission to power is not only just and right: it is the very gate of wisdom. . Bertrand Russell

The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. Bertrand Russell

In the visible world, the Milky Way is a tiny fragment; within this fragment, the solar system is an infinitesimal speck, and of this speck our planet is a microscopic dot. On this dot, tiny lumps of impure carbon and water, of complicated structure, with somewhat unusual physical and chemical properties, crawl about for a few years, until they are dissolved again into the elements of which they are compounded. Bertrand Russell

What I Have Lived ForThree passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. 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 this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness--that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. 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. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what--at last-- I have found. With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved. Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer. This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me. Bertrand Russell

But without going to such extremes prudence may easily involve the loss of some of the best things in life. The worshipper of Dionysus reacts against prudence. In intoxication, physical or spiritual, he recovers an intensity of feeling which prudence had destroyed; he finds the world full of delight and beauty, and his imagination is suddenly liberated from the prison of every-day preoccupations. Bertrand Russell

But without going to such extremes prudence may easily involve the loss of some of the best things in life. The worshipper of Dionysus reacts against prudence. In intoxication, physical or spiritual, he recovers an intensity of feeling which prudence had destroyed; he finds the world full of delight and beauty, and his imagination is suddenly liberated from the prison of every-day preoccupations Bertrand Russell

Physics is mathematical not because we know so much about the physical world, but because we know so little; it is only its mathematical properties that we can discover. Bertrand Russell

If children learn of sex as a relation between their parents to which they owe their own existence, they learn of it in its best form and in connection with its biological purpose. Bertrand Russell

For the inexperienced, however, it is very difficult to distinguish passionate love from mere sex hunger; especially is this the case with well-brought-up girls, who have been taught that they could not possibly like to kiss a man unless they loved him. Bertrand Russell

When you want to teach children to think, you begin by treating them seriously when they are little, giving them responsibilities, talking to them candidly, providing privacy and solitude for them, and making them readers and thinkers of significant thoughts from the beginning. That’s if you want to teach them to think. Bertrand Russell

The affection of parents makes infants feel safe in this dangerous world, and gives them boldness in experimentation and in exploration of their environments. Bertrand Russell

The heterosexual emotions of young children can find a natural, wholesome and innocent outlet with other children; in this form they are a part of play, and like all play, they afford a preparation for adult activities. Bertrand Russell

Both men and women who have children as a rule regulate their lives largely with reference to them, and children cause perfectly ordinary men and women to act unselfishly in certain ways, of which perhaps life insurance is the most definite and measurable. Bertrand Russell