Famous Quotes

Quotes by Bertrand Russell

• The degree of one's emotions varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts.
• The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics.
• The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them.
• The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
• The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.
• 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 great men of history.
• The most savage controversies are about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.
• The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.
• The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.
• The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible.
• The slave is doomed to worship time and fate and death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour.
• The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals, or to savages, or even to most civilised men.
• The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
• The true spirit of delight, the exaltation, the sense of being more than Man, which is the touchstone of the highest excellence, is to be found in mathematics as surely as poetry.
• The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
• There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.
• There is no need to worry about mere size. We do not necessarily respect a fat man more than a thin man. Sir Isaac Newton was very much smaller than a hippopotamus, but we do not on that account value him less.
• Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.
• Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, Thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought is great and swift and free.
• 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.
• To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.
• To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
• To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
• 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.