Bertrand Russell

Philosopher, Mathematician

Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician, and social critic known for his work in analytical philosophy and advocacy for peace.

Born
May 18, 1872
Died
February 2, 1970
Quotes
1.2K
Rank
#128

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Bertrand Russell quotes (page 36 of 60)

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Bertrand Russell Philosopher, Mathematician
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"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is mass psychology.... Its importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda. Of these the most influential is what is called 'education.' Religion plays a part, though a diminishing one; the press, the cinema, and the radio play an increasing part.... It may be hoped that in time anybody will be able to persuade anybody of anything if he can catch the patient young and is provided by the State with money and equipment."

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"Orthodoxy is the grave of intelligence, no matter what orthodoxy it may be."

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"Even if we could be certain that one of the world's religions were perfectly true, given the sheer number of conflicting faiths on offer, every believer should expect damnation purely as a matter of probability."

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"That the world is in a bad shape is undeniable, but there is not the faintest reason in history to suppose that Christianity offers a way out."

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"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."

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"Worry is a form of fear, and all forms of fear produce fatigue. A man who has learned not to feel fear will find the fatigue of daily life enormously diminished."

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

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"Who ever heard a theologian preface his creed, or a politician conclude his speech with an estimate of the probable error of his opinion?"

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"The opposition of instinct and reason is mainly illusory. Instinct, intuition, or insight is what first leads to the beliefs which subsequent reason confirms or confutes; but the confirmation, where it is possible, consists, in the last analysis, of agreement with other beliefs no less instinctive. Reason is a harmonizing, controlling force rather than a creative one. Even in the most purely logical realms, it is insight that first arrives at what is new."

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"To a mind of sufficient intellectual power, the whole of mathematics would appear trivial, as trivial as the statement that a four-footed animal is an animal."

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"Whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants."

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"What Galileo and Newton were to the seventeenth century, Darwin was to the nineteenth."

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"This illustrates an important truth, namely, that the worse your logic, the more interesting the consequences to which it gives rise."

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"Christ . . . said that a man who had looked after a woman lustfully had sinned as much as the man who had seduced her. How absurd!"

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"Philosophy, if it cannot answer so many questions as we could wish, has at least the power of asking questions which increase the interest of the world, and show the strangeness and wonder lying just below the surface even in the commonest things of daily life."

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"After ages during which the earth produced harmless trilobites and butterflies, evolution progressed to the point at which it generated Neros, Genghis Khans, and Hitlers. This, however, is a passing nightmare; in time the earth will become again incapable of supporting life, and peace will return."

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"You may reasonably expect a man to walk a tightrope safely for ten minutes; it would be unreasonable to do so without accident for two hundred years."

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"At the age of eleven, I began Euclid, with my brother as my tutor. ... I had not imagined that there was anything so delicious in the world. After I had learned the fifth proposition, my brother told me that it was generally considered difficult, but I had found no difficulty whatsoever. This was the first time it had dawned on me that I might have some intelligence."

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"The root of the matter is a very simple and old fashioned thing... love or compassion. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a guide for action, a reason for courage, an imperative necessity for intellectual honesty."

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