Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell

English mathematician, philosopher
18 May 1872 — 2 February 1970

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Bertrand Russell's books

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There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.

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The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.

War does not determine who is right. Only who is left.

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Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.

Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.

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

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

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

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 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.

To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being paralysed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can still do for those who study it.

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

Happiness is not best achieved by those who seek it directly.

Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.

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We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: one which we preach, but do not practice, and another which we practice, but seldom preach.

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