It is not what the man of science believes that distinguishes him, but how and why he believes it. His beliefs are tentative, not dogmatic; they are based on evidence, not on authority or intuition.
Boredom is essentially a thwarted desire for events, not necessarily pleasant ones, but just occurrences such as will enable the victim of ennui to know one day from another. The opposite of boredom,...
One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.
To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
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.
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 ad...
Fear is the main source of superstition and one of the main sources of cruelty.
It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion.
Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves, or, more generally, in the acquisition of power.
Drunkenness is temporary suicide: the happiness that it brings is merely negative a momentary cessation of unhappiness.
...what is the use of making everybody rich if the rich themselves are miserable?
The most savage controversies are about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.
It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.
To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can do for those who study it.
It is preoccupation with possession more than anything else that prevents men from living freely and nobly.
From the standpoint of the upper classes, the system had many merits. They felt that what was paid out of the poor rate was charity, and therefore a proof of their benevolence; at the same time, wages...
In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.
All who are not lunatics are agreed about certain things. That it is better to be alive than dead, better to be adequately fed than starved, better to be free than a slave. Many people desire those th...
The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin, more even than death.