For a good notation has a subtlety and suggestiveness which at times make it seem almost like a live teacher. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
At first it seems obvious, but the more you think about it the stranger the deductions from this axiom seem to become;… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Calculus required continuity, and continuity was supposed to require the infinitely little; but nobody could discover what the infinitely little might be. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
It seems to us unwise to have insisted on teaching geometry to the younger Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, in order to make… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
... mathematical knowledge ... is, in fact, merely verbal knowledge. "3" means "2+1", and "4" means "3+1". Hence it follows (though the… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The fact that all Mathematics is Symbolic Logic is one of the greatest discoveries of our age; and when this fact has… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Remote from human passions, remote even from the pitiful facts of nature, the generations have gradually created an ordered cosmos [mathematics], where… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Pure mathematics consists entirely of assertions to the effect that, if such and such a proposition is true of anything, then suchand… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I like mathematics because it is not human and has nothing particular to do with this planet or with the whole accidental… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty—a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
It can be shown that a mathematical web of some kind can be woven about any universe containing several objects. The fact… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Ordinary language is totally unsuited for expressing what physics really asserts, since the words of everyday life are not sufficiently abstract. Only… — 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