“To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The fundamental defect of Christian ethics consists in the fact that it labels certain classes of acts 'sins' and others 'virtue' on… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The law of causality, I believe, like much that passes muster among philosophers, is a relic of a bygone age, surviving, like… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Hegel's philosophy is very difficult—he is, I should say, the hardest to understand of all the great philosophers. Before entering on any… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
There is little of the true philosophic spirit in Aquinas. He does not, like the Platonic Socrates, set out to follow wherever… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Philosophy, as I shall understand the word, is something intermediate between theology and science.” — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Ethical metaphysics is fundamentally an attempt, however disguised, to give legislative force to our own wishes. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Aristotle's metaphysics, roughly speaking, may be described as Plato diluted by common sense. He is difficult because Plato and common sense do… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Among these surprising possibilities, doubt suggests that perhaps there is no table at all. Philosophy, if it cannot answer so many questions… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Hegel's philosophy is so odd that one would not have expected him to be able to get sane men to accept it,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“I dislike Nietzsche because he likes the contemplation of pain, because he erects conceit into a duty, because the men whom he… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The doctrine (of) maintaining that the language of daily life, with words used in their ordinary meanings, suffices for philosophy . .… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
If a philosophy is to bring happiness it should be inspired by kindly feelings. Marx pretended that he wanted the happiness of… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Even if (as I myself believe) almost all Hegel's doctrines are false, he still retains an importance which is not merely historical,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Two things are to be remembered: that a man whose opinions and theories are worth studying may be presumed to have had… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“There is a widespread philosophical tendency towards the view which tells us that Man is the measure of all things, that truth… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
If the ordinary wage-earner worked four hours a day, there would be enough for everybody and no unemployment -- assuming a certain… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“If any one asks: ‘Why should I accept the results of valid arguments based on true premisses?’ we can only answer by… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
An extra-terrestrial philosopher, who had watched a single youth up to the age of twenty-one and had never come across any other… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“When you come to look into this argument from design, it is a most astonishing thing that people can believe that this… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Men who allow their love of power to give them a distorted view of the world are to be found in every… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I can only say that, while my own opinions as to ethics do not satisfy me, other people's satisfy me still less. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
On the one hand, philosophy is to keep us thinking about things that we may come to know, and on the other… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Morally, a philosopher who uses his professional competence for anything except a disinterested search for truth is guilty of a kind of… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Humanistic ethics is based on the principle that only humans themselves can determine the criterion for virtue and not an authority transcending… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Advocates of capitalism like to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“It might seem that the empirical philosopher is the slave of his material, but that the pure mathematician, like the musician, is… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress though whether the amoeba… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
When people begin to philosophize they seem to think it necessary to make themselves artificially stupid. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Unhappy business men, I am convinced, would increase their happiness more by walking six miles every day than by any conceivable change… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“This seems plainly absurd; but whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities. One” — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“When a man tells you he knows the exact truth about anything, you are safe in inferring he is an inexact man.” — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Any philosophy worth taking seriously would have to be built upon a firm foundation of unyielding despair. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“When two things have frequently existed in close temporal contiguity, either comes in time to cause the other.” — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“In various ways, methods of approaching the mathematician's ideal were sought, and the resulting suggestions were the source of much that was… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
If the State does not acquire supremacy over [vast private] enterprises, it becomes their puppet, and they become the real State. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
That the world is in a bad shape is undeniable, but there is not the faintest reason in history to suppose that Christianity offers… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
Those who advocate common usage in philosophy sometimes speak in a manner that suggests the mystique of the 'common man.' — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
“Such, in outline, but even more purposeless, more void of meaning, is the world which Science presents for our belief. Amid such a world,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
Dr. Arnold . . . the admired reformer of public schools, came across some cranks who thought it a mistake to flog boys. Anyone… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
Of all evils of war the greatest is the purely spiritual evil: the hatred, the injustice, the repudiation of truth, the artificial conflict. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
I cannot escape from the conclusion that the great ages of progress have depended upon a small number of individuals of transcendent ability. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
I think it would be just to say the most essential characteristic of mind is memory, using this word in its broadest sense to… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
The newspapers at one time said that I was dead but after carefully examining the evidence I came to the conclusion that this statement… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
“Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion.” — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
“Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
There is no greater reason for children to honour parents than for parents to honour children except, that while the children are young, the… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
