Bertrand Russell Quotes

I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Believe Death Deep Myself
Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of great fear.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Act Fear Greatness Human Man Trust
Your writing is never as good as you hoped, but never as bad as you feared.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Fear Goodness Hope Writing Yourself
Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Myself Philosophy Thinking
One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Feeling Imagination Ourselves Pain Time Understand
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives’ mouths.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Himself Man Marriage Woman
Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Born Education Man Stupidity
Those who have never known the deep intimacy and the intense companionship of happy mutual love have missed the best thing that life has to give.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Company Happiness Life Love
Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Kill Patriotism Willing
The use of self-control is like the use of brakes on the train. It is useful when you find yourself in the wrong direction but merely harmful when the direction is right.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Control Direction Harm Wrong Yourself
It is a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won’t go.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Angry Energy Philosophy Waste
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.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Enemy Quite Religion World
One of the most powerful of all our passions is the desire to be admired and respected.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Desire Ourselves Passion Power Respect
Mathematics rightly viewed possesses not only truth but supreme beauty.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Beautiful Mathematics Truth View
Patriots always talk of dying for their country but never of killing for their country.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Death Kill Patriotism Talk
One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Believe Important Oneself
The wise man thinks about his troubles only when there is some purpose in doing so; at other times he thinks about other things, or, if it is night, about nothing at all.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Man Night Purpose Thinking Wisdom
Whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Fear Mad Philosophy
A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Greatness Happiness Live Quiet True
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.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Healthy Philosophy
We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Deep Knowledge Philosophy
And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt his existence.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Doubt Existence God Myself Religion Thinking
The secret of happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible, horrible, horrible.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Deep Happiness Secret World
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Doubt Problem Wisdom World
No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

People Secret Virtue
Is there any knowledge in the world that is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt it?
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Doubt Knowledge Philosophy World
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.
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Knowledge Life Love Passion Search Simplicity Strong Suffering

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