Bertrand Russell Quotes
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I do not believe that I am now dreaming, but I cannot prove that I am not. I am, however, quite certain that I am having certain experiences, whether they be those of a dream or those of waking life.
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All the time that he can spare from the adornment of his person, he devotes to the neglect of his duties.
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Acquisitiveness – the wish to possess as much as possible of goods, or the title to goods – is a motive which, I suppose, has its origin in a combination of fear with the desire for necessaries.
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I do like clarity and exact thinking and I believe that very important to mankind because when you allow yourself to think inexactly your prejudices, your bias, your self interest comes in in ways you don't notice and you do bad things without knowing that you are doing them: self deception is very easy. So that I do think clear thinking immensely important.
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The fact that a belief has a good moral effect upon a man is no evidence whatsoever in favor of its truth.
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William James used to preach the 'will-to-believe.' For my part, I should wish to preach the 'will-to-doubt.' None of our beliefs are quite true; all at least have a penumbra of vagueness and error. What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.
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I dislike Communism because it is undemocratic, and capitalism because it favors exploitation.
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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.
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All movements go too far.
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The above proposition is occasionally useful.
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The rules of logic are to mathematics what those of structure are to architecture.
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If the Russians still adhered to the Greek Orthodox religion, if they had instituted parliamentary government, and if they had a completely free press which daily vituperated us, then - provided they still had armed forces as powerful as they have now - we should still hate them if they gave us ground for thinking them hostile.
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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.
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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...
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The principal source of the harm done by the State is the fact that power is its chief end.
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A European who goes to New York and Chicago sees the future... when he goes to Asia he sees the past.
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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.
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Of all evils of war the greatest is the purely spiritual evil: the hatred, the injustice, the repudiation of truth, the artificial conflict.
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The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
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I do not think that the real reason why people accept religion has anything to do with argumentation. They accept religion on emotional grounds. One is often told that it is a very wrong thing to attack religion, because religion makes men virtuous. So I am told; I have not noticed it.
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The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.
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Change is one thing, progress is another.
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It is obvious that 'obscenity' is not a term capable of exact legal definition; in the practice of the Courts, it means 'anything that shocks the magistrate.'
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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.