Bertrand Russell Quotes

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite.

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 bein...

What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.

I am sometimes shocked by the blasphemies of those who think themselves pious--for instance, the nuns who never take a bath without wearing a bathrobe all the time. When asked why, since no man can se...

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so sure of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts.

It is only in marriage with the world that our ideals can bear fruit divorced from it they remain barren.

In all affairs love religion politics or business it's a healthy idea now and then to hang a question mark on things you have long taken for granted.

When I was young, most teachers of philosophy in British and American universities were Hegelians, so that, until I read Hegel, I supposed there must be some truth to his system; I was cured, however,...

Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.

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.

Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunat...

The more we realize our minuteness and our impotence in the face of cosmic forces the more astonishing becomes what human beings have achieved.

Those who fear life are already three parts dead.

The man who can centre his thoughts and hopes upon something transcending self can find a certain peace in the ordinary troubles of life, which is impossible to the pure egoist.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.

The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the...