Orthodoxy is the grave of intelligence, no matter what orthodoxy it may be. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination. — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
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
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
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
The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so, this purpose has any similarity to ours. — 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
The human race may well become extinct before the end of the century. Speaking as a mathematician, I should say the odds… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
it [is] possible to suppose that, if Russia is allowed to have peace, an amazing industrial development may take place, making Russia… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
On the one hand, philosophy is to keep us thinking about things that we may come to know, and on the other… — 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
No satisfaction based upon self-deception is solid, and however unpleasant the truth may be, it is better to face it once and… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The Church no longer contends that knowledge is in itself sinful, though it did so in its palmy days; but the acquisition… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
You may, if you are an old-fashioned schoolmaster, wish to consider yourself full of universal benevolence and at the same time derive… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
There is in Aristotle an almost complete absence of what may be called benevolence or philanthropy. The sufferings of mankind . .… — 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 life of man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
More and more people are becoming unable to accept traditional [religious] beliefs. If they think that, apart from these beliefs, there is… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Gradually, ... the aspect of science as knowledge is being thrust into the background by the aspect of science as the power… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
What makes a free thinker is not his beliefs, but the way in which he holds them. If he holds them because… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
The true function of logic ... as applied to matters of experience ... is analytic rather than constructive; taken a priori, it… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
If the youth is content to abandon his previous associates and to throw in his lot whole-heartedly with the rulers, he may,… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
A man who has once perceived, however temporarily and however briefly, what makes greatness of soul, can no longer be happy if… — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
We may define "faith" as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one… — 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
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
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
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
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
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
![“it [is] possible to suppose that, if Russia is allowed to have peace, an amazing industrial development may take place, making Russia a rival of the United States.” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e81/bertrand-russell-69_development_it-is-possible-to-suppose-that-if-russia_1472906.jpg)
![“[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'. There may, for ought I know, be admirable reasons for eating peas with a knife, but . . . early persuasion has made me completely incapable of appreciating them.” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a02/bertrand-russell-69_admirable_there-are-m-oral-precepts-that-we-consid_2626535.jpg)
![“More and more people are becoming unable to accept traditional [religious] beliefs. If they think that, apart from these beliefs, there is no reason for kindly behaviour, the results may be needlessly unfortunate. That is why it is important to show that no supernatural reasons are needed to make…” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e97/bertrand-russell-69_accepting_more-and-more-people-are-becoming-unable_1214762.jpg)
