Virtue Quotes by Bertrand Russell

no one ever gossips about the virtues of others

— Bertrand Russell

Science is no substitute for virtue; the heart is as necessary for a good life as the head.

— Bertrand Russell

Humanistic ethics is based on the principle that only humans themselves can determine the criterion for virtue and not an authority transcending…

— Bertrand Russell

When I was a child . . . Only virtue was prized, virtue at the expense of intellect, health, happiness, and every mundane good.

— Bertrand Russell

Christianity offers reasons for not fearing death or the universe, and in so doing it fails to teach adequately the virtue of…

— Bertrand Russell

We know that the exercise of virtue should be its own reward, and it seems to follow that the enduring of it…

— Bertrand Russell

“Liberation from the tyranny of the body contributes to greatness, but just as much to greatness in sin as to greatness in…

— Bertrand Russell

For the learning of every virtue there is an appropriate discipline, and for the learning of suspended judgment the best discipline is…

— Bertrand Russell

There is an element of the busybody in our conception of virtue: unless a man makes himself a nuisance to a great…

— Bertrand Russell

The best practical advice I can give to the present generation is to practice the virtue which the Christians call love.

— Bertrand Russell

Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may…

— Bertrand Russell

The fundamental defect of Christian ethics consists in the fact that it labels certain classes of acts 'sins' and others 'virtue' on…

— Bertrand Russell

[Regarding] the convention that clergymen are more virtuous than other men. Any average selection of mankind, set apart and told that it…

— Bertrand Russell

If throughout your life you abstain from murder, theft, fornication, perjury, blasphemy, and disrespect toward your parents, church, and your king, you…

— Bertrand Russell

The governors of the world believe, and have always believed, that virtue can only be taught by teaching falsehood, and that any…

— Bertrand Russell

I think modern educational theorists are inclined to attach too much importance to the negative virtue of not interfering with children, and…

— Bertrand Russell

The criminal law has, from the point of view of thwarted virtue, the merit of allowing an outlet for those impulses of…

— Bertrand Russell

Owing to the identification of religion with virtue, together with the fact that the most religious men are not the most intelligent,…

— Bertrand Russell

The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. So long as men are…

— Bertrand Russell

We are told that Sin consists in acting contrary to God's commands, but we are also told that God is omnipotent. .…

— Bertrand Russell

I mean by intellectual integrity the habit of deciding vexed questions in accordance with the evidence, or of leaving them undecided where…

— Bertrand Russell

The widespread interest in gossip is inspired, not by a love of knowledge but by malice: no one gossips about other people's…

— Bertrand Russell

The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them. We…

— Bertrand Russell

Man is a rational animal—so at least I have been told. … Aristotle, so far as I know, was the first man…

— Bertrand Russell