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
[There are m]oral precepts that we consider really important, such as 'don't pick your nose' or 'don't eat peas with a knife'.… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I greatly doubt whether the men who become pirate chiefs are those who are filled with retrospective terror of their fathers, or… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God. The Christian holds that we… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
You could take up the line that some of the gnostics took up - a line which I often thought was a… — 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
There is a possibility in human minds of something mysterious as the night-wind, deep as the sea, calm as the stars, and… — 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
When I say that children should be told about sex, I do not mean that they should be told only the bare… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I conclude that, while it is true that science cannot decide questions of value, that is because they cannot be intellectually decided… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source… — 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