Religion Quotes by Bertrand Russell

The true spirit of delight...is to be found in mathematics as surely as in poetry.

— Bertrand Russell

I don't like the spirit of socialism - I think freedom is the basis of everything.

— Bertrand Russell

All religions are both harmful and untrue.

— Bertrand Russell

Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God.

— Bertrand Russell

Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.

— Bertrand Russell

Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless.

— Bertrand Russell

It is the things for which there is no evidence that are believed with passion.

— Bertrand Russell

There can't be a practical reason for believing something that is not true.

— Bertrand Russell

To save the world requires faith and courage: faith in reason, and courage to proclaim what reason shows to be true.

— Bertrand Russell

This, however, is a passing nightmare; in time the earth will become again incapable of supporting life, and peace will return.

— Bertrand Russell

The twin conceptions of sin and vindictive punishment seem to be at the root of much that is most vigorous, both in…

— Bertrand Russell

My own view on religion is . . . It helped in early days to fix the calendar, and . . .…

— Bertrand Russell

Religion and Science are two aspects of social life, of which the former has been important as far back as we know…

— Bertrand Russell

“In this lies Man's true freedom: in determination to worship only the God created by our own love of the good.”

— Bertrand Russell

That the world is in a bad shape is undeniable, but there is not the faintest reason in history to suppose that…

— Bertrand Russell

Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human…

— Bertrand Russell

The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure…

— Bertrand Russell

“Religious toleration, to a certain extent, has been won, because people have ceased to consider religion so important as it was once…

— Bertrand Russell

“All the labours of ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noon-day brightness of human genius, are destined to extinciton…

— Bertrand Russell

By religion I mean a set of beliefs held as dogmas, dominating the conduct of life, going beyond or contrary to evidence,…

— Bertrand Russell

The immense majority of intellectually eminent men disbelieve in the Christian religion, but they conceal the fact in public, because they are…

— Bertrand Russell

“It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so,it will be necessary first to slay…

— Bertrand Russell

“You would think ill of a soldier who refused to fight unless victory was certain. The person who needs religion to bolster…

— Bertrand Russell

The world in which we live can be understood as a result of muddle and accident; but if it is the outcome…

— Bertrand Russell

“Over a billion people believe in Allah without truly knowing what Allah supposedly stands for or what he really demands of them.…

— Bertrand Russell

There is something feeble, and a little contemptible, about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of…

— Bertrand Russell

We may define "faith" as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one…

— Bertrand Russell

Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand-in-hand. It is because…

— Bertrand Russell

“In England, under the Blasphemy Laws, it is illegal to express disbelief in the Christian religion, though in practice the law is…

— Bertrand Russell

A religious creed differs from a scientific theory in claiming to embody eternal and absolutely certain truth, whereas science is always tentative,…

— Bertrand Russell

Owing to the identification of religion with virtue, together with the fact that the most religious men are not the most intelligent,…

— Bertrand Russell

More and more people are becoming unable to accept traditional [religious] beliefs. If they think that, apart from these beliefs, there is…

— Bertrand Russell

“That is the idea -- that we should all be wicked if we did not hold to the Christian religion. It seems…

— Bertrand Russell

“When you come to look into this argument from design, it is a most astonishing thing that people can believe that this…

— Bertrand Russell

“The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play the largest part and the possessive impulses the smallest. This…

— Bertrand Russell

“Religion is based primarily upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly as the wish to feel that…

— Bertrand Russell

“When Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning-rod, the clergy, both in England and America, with the enthusiastic support of George III, condemned it…

— Bertrand Russell

“What would have happened if Einstein had advanced something equally new in the sphere of religion or politics? English people would have…

— Bertrand Russell

No opinion has ever been too errant to become a creed.

— Bertrand Russell

I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue.

— Bertrand Russell