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I resolved from the beginning of my quest that I would not be misled by sentiment and desire into beliefs for which there was no good evidence.
Bertrand Russell -
Either Man will abolish war, or war will abolish Man.
Bertrand Russell
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In fact, contempt for happiness is usually contempt for other people's happiness, and is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race.
Bertrand Russell -
The fact that a belief has a good moral effect upon a man is no evidence whatsoever in favor of its truth.
Bertrand Russell -
Many agnostics (including myself) are quite as doubtful of the body as they are of the soul, but this is a long story taking one into difficult metaphysics. Mind and matter alike, I should say, are only convenient symbol in discourse, not actually existing things.
Bertrand Russell -
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
Bertrand Russell -
Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them.
Bertrand Russell -
Whatever happens, I cannot be a silent witness to murder or torture. Anyone who is a partner in this is a despicable individual. I am sorry I cannot be moderate about it...
Bertrand Russell
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The above proposition is occasionally useful.
Bertrand Russell -
I don't like the spirit of socialism – I think freedom is the basis of everything.
Bertrand Russell -
Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.
Bertrand Russell -
I dislike Communism because it is undemocratic, and capitalism because it favors exploitation.
Bertrand Russell -
All the time that he can spare from the adornment of his person, he devotes to the neglect of his duties.
Bertrand Russell -
We need a science to save us from science.
Bertrand Russell
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If you're certain, you're certainly wrong, because nothing deserves certainty.
Bertrand Russell -
Righteousness cannot be born until self-righteousness is dead.
Bertrand Russell -
Science, ever since the time of the Arabs, has had two functions: (1) to enable us to know things, and (2) to enable us to do things.
Bertrand Russell -
It seems that sin is geographical. From this conclusion, it is only a small step to the further conclusion that the notion of 'sin' is illusory, and that the cruelty habitually practised in punishing it is unnecessary.
Bertrand Russell -
The State is a collection of officials, different for difference purposes, drawing comfortable incomes so long as the status quo is preserved. The only alteration they are likely to desire in the status quo is an increase of bureaucracy and the power of bureaucrats.
Bertrand Russell -
No man who believes that all is for the best in this suffering world can keep his ethical values unimpaired, since he is always having to find excuses for pain and misery.
Bertrand Russell
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I do not pretend to start with precise questions. I do not think you can start with anything precise. You have to achieve such precision as you can, as you go along.
Bertrand Russell -
We are speaking on this occasion, not as members of this or that nation, continent, or creed, but as human beings, members of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt.
Bertrand Russell -
An individual may perceive a way of life, or a method of social organisation, by which more of the desires of mankind could be satisfied than under the existing method. If he perceives truly, and can persuade men to adopt his reform, he is justified. Without rebellion, mankind would stagnate, and injustice would be irremediable.
Bertrand Russell -
Politics is concerned with herds rather than with individuals, and the passions which are important in politics are, therefore, those in which the various members of a given herd can feel alike.
Bertrand Russell