“not because the moral law enjoins unselfishness, but because, given the society in which they live, it is the way in which… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Ages of prolonged uncertainty, while they are compatible with the highest degree of saintliness in a few, are inimical to the prosaic… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The first essential character [of civilization], I should say, is forethought. This, indeed, is what mainly distinguishes men from brutes and adults… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The moral thing I should wish to say to them is very simple; I should say: "Love is wise - Hatred is… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Science is no substitute for virtue; the heart is as necessary for a good life as the head. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“To preach an altruistic morality appears to me somewhat useless, because it will appeal only to those who already have altruistic desires.… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“It must, I think, be admitted that the evils of the world are due to moral defects quite as much as to… — 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
When I was a child . . . Only virtue was prized, virtue at the expense of intellect, health, happiness, and every mundane good. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Among human beings, the subjection of women is much more complete at a certain level of civilization than it is among savages.… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Moral indignation is one of the most harmful forces in the modern world, the more so as it can always be diverted… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“To endure uncertainity is difficult, but so are most of the other virtues.” — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
What has human happiness to do with morals? The object of morals is not to make people happy. — 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
We know that the exercise of virtue should be its own reward, and it seems to follow that the enduring of it… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Modern technique has made it possible for leisure, within limits, to be not the prerogative of small privileged classes, but a right… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“We need a morality based upon love of life, upon pleasure in growth and positive achievement, not upon repression and prohibition.” — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Self-respect will keep a man from being abject when he is in the power of enemies, and will enable him to feel… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“The less rational a man is, the oftener he will fail to perceive how what injures others also injures him, because hatred… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
For the learning of every virtue there is an appropriate discipline, and for the learning of suspended judgment the best discipline is… — 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
By self-interest, Man has become gregarious, but in instinct he has remained to a great extent solitary; hence the need of religion… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Diet, injections, and injunctions will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and the sort of beliefs… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The first essential character [of civilization], I should say, is forethought. This, I would say, is what distinguishes men from brutes and… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
[The church] is in its major part an opponent still of progress and improvement in all the ways that diminish suffering in… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Morality in sexual relations, when it is free from superstition, consists essentially in respect for the other person, and unwillingness to use… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
...the nonexistence of God makes more difference to some of us than to others. To me, it means that there is no… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The widespread interest in gossip is inspired, not by a love of knowledge but by malice: no one gossips about other people's… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
When it was first proposed to establish laboratories at Cambridge, Todhunter, the mathematician, objected that it was unnecessary for students to see… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“There are a great many ways in which, the church, by its insistence upon what it chooses to call morality, inflicts upon… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Moral progress has consisted in the main of protest against cruel customs, and of attempts to enlarge human sympathy. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The fact that a belief has a good moral effect upon a man is no evidence whatsoever in favor of its truth.… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
There is an element of the busybody in our conception of virtue: unless a man makes himself a nuisance to a great… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I mean by intellectual integrity the habit of deciding vexed questions in accordance with the evidence, or of leaving them undecided where… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Liberation from the tyranny of the body contributes to greatness, but just as much to greatness in sin as to greatness in… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Having come to a sound egoistic decision by the help of the unconscious, a man proceeds to invent, or adopt from others,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Over a billion people believe in Allah without truly knowing what Allah supposedly stands for or what he really demands of them.… — 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
![“The first essential character [of civilization], I should say, is forethought. This, indeed, is what mainly distinguishes men from brutes and adults from children.” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/038/bertrand-russell-69_adults_the-first-essential-character-of-civiliz_260958.jpg)
![“The first essential character [of civilization], I should say, is forethought. This, I would say, is what distinguishes men from brutes and adults from children.” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/07a/bertrand-russell-69_adults_the-first-essential-character-of-civiliz_1556492.jpg)
![“[The church] is in its major part an opponent still of progress and improvement in all the ways that diminish suffering in the world, because it has chosen to label as morality a certain narrow set of rules of conduct which have nothing to do with human happiness; and when you say that this or…” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bb2/bertrand-russell-69_certain_the-church-is-in-its-major-part-an-oppon_1591489.jpg)
![“If the State does not acquire supremacy over [vast private] enterprises, it becomes their puppet, and they become the real State.” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bad/bertrand-russell-69_acquire_if-the-state-does-not-acquire-supremacy_1379.jpg)
