1872-1970, British Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist
A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it.
Bertrand Russell – [Illusion]
A process which led from the amoebae to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress — though whether the amoebae would agree with this opinion is not known.
Bertrand Russell – [Progress]
A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation.
Bertrand Russell – [Duty]
A truer image of the world, I think, is obtained by picturing things as entering into the stream of time from an eternal world outside, than from a view which regards time as the devouring tyrant of all that is.
Bertrand Russell – [Time and Time Management]
Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.
Bertrand Russell – [Capitalism]
All human activity is prompted by desire.
Bertrand Russell – [Desire]
All movements go too far.
Bertrand Russell – [Change]
Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation. When a man tells you that he knows the exact truth about anything, you are safe in inferring that he is an inexact man.
Bertrand Russell – [Detail]
An extra-terrestrial philosopher, who had watched a single youth up to the age of twenty-one and had never come across any other human being, might conclude that it is the nature of human beings to grow continually taller and wiser in an indefinite progress towards perfection; and this generalization would be just as well founded as the generalization which evolutionists base upon the previous history of this planet.
Bertrand Russell – [Evolution]
Anything you're good at contributes to happiness.
Bertrand Russell – [Happiness]
Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted.
Bertrand Russell – [Science and Scientists]
Bad philosophers may have a certain influence; good philosophers, never.
Bertrand Russell – [Philosophers and Philosophy]
Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.
Bertrand Russell – [Bores and Boredom]
Can a society in which thought and technique are scientific persist for a long period, as, for example, ancient Egypt persisted, or does it necessarily contain within itself forces which must bring either decay or explosion?
Bertrand Russell – [Science and Scientists]
Conventional people are roused to fury by departures from convention, largely because they regard such departures as a criticism of themselves.
Bertrand Russell – [Conventionality]
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
Bertrand Russell – [Opinions]
Drunkenness is temporary suicide.
Bertrand Russell – [Alcohol and Alcoholism]
Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.
Bertrand Russell – [Ethics]
Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken.
Bertrand Russell – [Experts]
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
Bertrand Russell – [Hope]