Belief in a Divine mission is one of the many forms of certainty that have afflicted the human race. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I have throughout been curious about how much we can be said to know and with what degree of certainty or doubtfulness. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than… — 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
“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
While the dogmatist is harmful, the sceptic is useless ...; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
All that passes for knowledge can be arranged in a hierarchy of degrees of certainty, with arithmetic and the facts of perception… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. If you take your children… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. So long as men are… — 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
When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also add that some things are more nearly certain than others — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
A habit of basing convictions upon evidence, and of giving to them only that degree or certainty which the evidence warrants, would,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Some care is needed in using Descartes' argument. "I think, therefore I am" says rather more than is strictly certain. It might… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
But as the work proceeded I was continually reminded of the fable about the elephant and the tortoise. Having constructed an elephant… — 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 Image
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 Image
Those who advocate common usage in philosophy sometimes speak in a manner that suggests the mystique of the 'common man.' — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image