Bertrand Russell Quotes
It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.
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.
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
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.
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
What's the difference between a bright, inquisitive five-year-old, and a dull, stupid nineteen-year-old? Fourteen years of the British educational system.
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
Very many people spend money in ways quite different from those that their natural tastes would enjoin, merely because the respect of their neighbors depends upon their possession of a good car and their ability to give good dinners. As a matter of fact, any man who can obviously afford a car but genuinely prefers travels or a good library will in the end be much more respected than if he behaved exactly like everyone else.
It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.
One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways.
A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.
It is amazing how much both happiness and efficiency can be increased by the cultivation of an orderly mind, which thinks about a matter adequately at the right time rather than inadequately at all times. When a difficult or worrying decision has to be reached, as soon as all the data are available, give the matter your best thought and make your decision; having made the decision, do not revise it unless some new fact comes to your knowledge. Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.
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