Quotes by Bertrand Russell
Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.
Russell, Bertrand
Drunkenness is temporary suicide.
Russell, Bertrand
Not... what opinions are held, but... how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, [liberal] opinions are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment.
Russell, Bertrand
If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence.
Russell, Bertrand
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.
Russell, Bertrand
The main thing needed to make men happy is intelligence.
Russell, Bertrand
Common sense, however it tries, cannot avoid being surprised from time to time.
Russell, Bertrand
Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.
Russell, Bertrand
We have two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice and another which we practice but seldom preach.
Russell, Bertrand
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.
Russell, Bertrand
No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.
Russell, Bertrand
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
Russell, Bertrand
In America everybody is of opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards.
Russell, Bertrand
War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Russell, Bertrand
Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.
Russell, Bertrand
The best practical advice I can give to the present generation is to practice the virtue which the Christians call love.
Russell, Bertrand