Inspiring Quotes by Bertrand Russell
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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.

Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.

Liberty is the right to do what I like; license, the right to do what you like.

The observer, when he seems to himself to be observing a stone, is really, if physics is to be believed, observing the effects of the stone upon himself.

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.

Many people when they fall in love look for a little haven of refuge from the world, where they can be sure of being admired when they are not admirable, and praised when they are not praiseworthy.

No; we have been as usual asking the wrong question. It does not matter a hoot what the mockingbird on the chimney is singing. The real and proper question is: Why is it beautiful?

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.

The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible.

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.

Marriage is for women the commonest mode of livelihood, and the total amount of undesired sex endured by women is probably greater in marriage than in prostitution.

Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves.

In America everybody is of the 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.

Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.

The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so, this purpose has any similarity to ours.

The pleasure of work is open to anyone who can develop some specialised skill, provided that he can get satisfaction from the exercise of his skill without demanding universal applause.

Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?

The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.

Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy.

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.

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

Science is what you know, philosophy is what you don't know.

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.

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.

Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

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

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.

The most savage controversies are about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

I believe in using words, not fists. I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

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

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.

It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.

A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live.

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

The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.