Knowledge Quotes by Bertrand Russell

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

— Bertrand Russell

The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.

— Bertrand Russell

Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you; you must acquire it.

— Bertrand Russell

Science is what we know, and philosophy is what we don't know.

— Bertrand Russell

“Knowledge, as opposed to fantasies of wish fulfilment, is difficult to come by.”

— Bertrand Russell

The degree of one's emotions varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts.

— Bertrand Russell

The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge.

— Bertrand Russell

What men really want is not knowledge but certainty.

— Bertrand Russell

“I think the essence of wisdom is emancipation, as far as possible, from the tyranny of the here and now.”

— Bertrand Russell

Awareness of universals is called conceiving, and a universal of which we are aware is called a concept.

— Bertrand Russell

We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge…

— Bertrand Russell

“Knowledge exists, and good will exists; but both remain impotent until they possess the proper organs for making themselves heard.”

— Bertrand Russell

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for…

— Bertrand Russell

All that passes for knowledge can be arranged in a hierarchy of degrees of certainty, with arithmetic and the facts of perception…

— Bertrand Russell

We shall say that we have acquaintance with anything of which we are directly aware, without the intermediary of any process of…

— Bertrand Russell

Right conduct can never, except by some rare accident, be promoted by ignorance or hindered by knowledge.

— Bertrand Russell

... mathematical knowledge ... is, in fact, merely verbal knowledge. "3" means "2+1", and "4" means "3+1". Hence it follows (though the…

— Bertrand Russell

I conclude that, while it is true that science cannot decide questions of value, that is because they cannot be intellectually decided…

— Bertrand Russell

The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge,…

— Bertrand Russell

The really useful education is that which follows the direction of the child's own instinctive interests, supplying knowledge for which it is…

— Bertrand Russell

The examination system, and the fact that instruction is treated mainly as a training for a livelihood, leads the young to regard…

— Bertrand Russell

On the one hand, philosophy is to keep us thinking about things that we may come to know, and on the other…

— Bertrand Russell

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why…

— Bertrand Russell

All definite knowledge - so I should contend - belongs to science; all dogma as to what surpasses definite knowledge belongs to…

— Bertrand Russell

Gradually, ... the aspect of science as knowledge is being thrust into the background by the aspect of science as the power…

— Bertrand Russell

While the dogmatist is harmful, the sceptic is useless ...; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy…

— Bertrand Russell

The significance of a fact is relative to [the general body of scientific] knowledge. To say that a fact is significant in…

— Bertrand Russell

Philosophy arises from an unusually obstinate attempt to arrive at real knowledge. What passes for knowledge in ordinary life suffers from three…

— Bertrand Russell

Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to…

— Bertrand Russell

“There is a widespread philosophical tendency towards the view which tells us that Man is the measure of all things, that truth…

— Bertrand Russell

Whatever we know without inference is mental.

— Bertrand Russell

The pursuit of knowledge is, I think, mainly actuated by love of power

— Bertrand Russell

Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.

— Bertrand Russell

Every increase in knowledge requires an increase in wisdom

— Bertrand Russell

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens.

— Bertrand Russell

“I do not think there can be any defense for the view that knowledge is ever undesirable.”

— Bertrand Russell

Some kind of philosophy is a necessity to all but the most thoughtless, and in the absence of knowledge it is almost…

— Bertrand Russell

“The ideal of an “all-round” education is out of date; it has been destroyed by the progress of knowledge.”

— Bertrand Russell

All knowledge, we feel, must be built up upon our instinctive beliefs; and if these are rejected, nothing is left.

— Bertrand Russell

The pursuit of knowledge is, I think, mainly actuated by love of power. And so are all advances in scientific technique.

— Bertrand Russell