The teaching of Christ, as it appears in the Gospels, has had extraordinarily little to do with the ethics of Christians. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Of all evils of war the greatest is the purely spiritual evil: the hatred, the injustice, the repudiation of truth, the artificial… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
My whole religion is this: do every duty, and expect no reward for it, either here or hereafter. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
No Carthaginian denied Moloch, because to do so would have required more courage that was required to face death in battle. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Religions that teach brotherly love have been used as an excuse for persecution, and our profoundest scientific insight is made into a… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“The habit of considering a man’s religious, moral and political opinions before appointing him to a post or giving him a job… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Religions which have any very strong hold over men's actions have generally some instinctive basis. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
It is amusing to hear the modern Christian telling you how mild and rationalistic Christianity really is and ignoring the fact that… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Throughout the long period of religious doubt, I had been rendered very unhappy by the gradual loss of belief, but when the… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: "The bigs… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The harm that theology has done is not to create cruel impulses, but to give them the sanction of what professes to… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Broadly speaking, Protestants like to be good and have invented theology in order to keep themselves so, whereas Catholics like to be… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Undoubtedly the most important source of religion is fear; this can be seen in the present day, since anything that causes alarm… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause. If there can be anything without a cause, it may… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Religion is based ... mainly upon fear ... fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
You find this curious fact, that the more intense has been the religion of any period and more profound has been the… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The knowledge exists by which universal happiness can be secured; the chief obstacle to its utilization for that purpose is the teaching… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
There is something feeble and a little contemptible about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“The battle must be fought exactly as the battle of religious toleration was fought. And as in that case, so in this,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“People will tell us that without the consolations of religion they would be intolerably unhappy. So far as this is true, it… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Religion prevents our children from having a rational education; religion prevents us from removing the fundamental causes of war; religion prevents us… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
There are two ways of avoiding fear: one is by persuading ourselves that we are immune from disaster, and the other is… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
In all affairs, love, religion, politics, or business, it's a healthy idea, now and then, to hang a question mark on things… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I do not think that the real reason why people accept religion has anything to do with argumentation. They accept religion on… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
There's a Bible on that shelf there. But I keep it next to Voltaire - poison and antidote. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
RELIGION: A set of beliefs held as dogmas, dominating the conduct of life, going beyond or contrary to evidence, and inculcated by… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Fervent religious believers sacrifice pleasures of the body, but instead enjoy pleasures of the mind, including the joy of knowing that those… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The evolution of our spirit is blazed on the dark background of eternity by our individual wakes. Every person can, if he/she… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
All the labor of all the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I know a parson who frightened his congregation terribly by telling them the second coming was very imminent indeed, but they were… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
There is no excuse for deceiving children. And when, as must happen in conventional families, they find that their parents have lied,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
It appeared to me that the dignity of which human existence is capable is not attainable by devotion to the mechanism of… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The three main extra-rational activities in modern life are religion, war, and love. all these are extra-rational, but love is not anti-rational,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young, and I… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Protestants, from the first, have been distinguished from their opponents by what they do not believe; to throw over one more dogma… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The man who suffers from a sense of sin is suffering from a particular kind of self-love. In all this vast universe… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Nevertheless, when it is your lot to have to endure something that is (or seems to you) worse than the ordinary lot… — 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
