War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
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Quotes by Bertrand Russell
Explore 25 verified and sourced quotes attributed to Bertrand Russell. Open any quote for its dedicated page, source details and related topics.
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Selected quotes by Bertrand Russell
The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
Those who have never known the deep intimacy and the intense companionship of mutual love have missed the best thing that life has to give.
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.
The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
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.
Love is something far more than desire for sexual intercourse; it is the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives.
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.
I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite.
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.
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.
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 only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.
Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves.
Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.
I like mathematics because it is not human and has nothing particular to do with this planet or with the whole accidental universe - because, like Spinoza's God, it won't love us in return.
Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.
To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
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