We may often do as we please - but we cannot please as we please. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Bad philosophers may have a certain influence; good philosophers, never. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The human race may well become extinct before the end of the century. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
There may be no good reasons for very many opinions that are held with passion. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Orthodoxy is the grave of intelligence, no matter what orthodoxy it may be. — 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
It is obviously possible that what we call waking life may only be an unusual and persistent nightmare. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Cruelty is, in theory, a perfectly adequate ground for divorce, but it may be interpreted so as to become absurd. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Science, by itself, cannot supply us with an ethic. It can show us how to achieve a given end, and it may… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Envy, in fact, is one form of a vice, partly moral, partly intellectual, which consists in seeing things never in themselves, but… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
One eminently orthodox Catholic divine laid it down that a confessor may fondle a nun's breasts, provided he does it without evil… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Fundamental happiness depends more than anything else upon what may be called a friendly interest in persons and things. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Religion may in most of its forms be defined as the belief that the gods are on the side of the government. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The three main extra-rational activities in modern life are religion, war, and love. all these are extra-rational, but love is not anti-rational,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
I wish to propose for the reader's favourable consideration a doctrine which may, I fear, appear wildly paradoxical and subversive. The doctrine… — 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
If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause. If there can be anything without a cause, it may… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
In the daily lives of most men and women, fear plays a greater part than hope: they are more filled with the… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Nine-tenths of the appeal of pornography is due to the indecent feelings concerning sex which moralists inculcate in the young; the other… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is based on the idea of approximation. If a man tells you he… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The argument against the persecution of opinion does not depend upon what the excuse for persecution may be. The argument is that… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
We are ... led to a somewhat vague distinction between what we may call "hard" data and "soft" data. This distinction is… — 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
There is a further advantage [to hydrogen bombs]: the supply of uranium in the planet is very limited, and it might be… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Science, by itself, cannot supply us with an ethic. It can show us how to achieve a given end, and it may… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
It is odd that neither the Church nor modern public opinion condemns petting, provided it stops short at a certain point. At… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“We may say, in a broad way, that Greek philosophy down to Aristotle expresses the mentality appropriate to the City State; that… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Scientific method, although in its more refined forms it may seem complicated, is in essence remarkably simply. It consists in observing such… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
When white men first effect contact with some unspoilt race of savages, they offer them all kinds of benefits, from the light… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
You may reasonably expect a man to walk a tightrope safely for ten minutes; it would be unreasonable to do so without… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Reason may be a small force, but it is constant, and works always in one direction, while the forces of unreason destroy… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor, but honest. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Boys and young men acquire readily the moral sentiments of their social milieu, whatever these sentiments may be. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
If everything has a cause, then God must have a cause. If there can be anything without a cause, it may just… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
There is little of the true philosophic spirit in Aquinas. He does not, like the Platonic Socrates, set out to follow wherever… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
It is likely that America will be more important during the next century or two, but after that it may well be… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Aristotle's metaphysics, roughly speaking, may be described as Plato diluted by common sense. He is difficult because Plato and common sense do… — 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
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
Those who advocate common usage in philosophy sometimes speak in a manner that suggests the mystique of the 'common man.' — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
“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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
“Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion.” — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
“Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
There is no greater reason for children to honour parents than for parents to honour children except, that while the children are young, the… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share
![“There is a further advantage [to hydrogen bombs]: the supply of uranium in the planet is very limited, and it might be feared that it would be used up before the human race was exterminated, but now that the practically unlimited supply of hydrogen can be utilized, there is considerable reason to…” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8ed/bertrand-russell-69_advantage_there-is-a-further-advantage-to-hydrogen_959896.jpg)
