a generation that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men, of men unduly divorced from the slow process of nature, of men in whom every vital impulse slowly withers as though they were cut flowers in a vase. Bertrand Russell More Quotes by Bertrand Russell More Quotes From Bertrand Russell Some people would rather die than think. Bertrand Russell education death thinking It is a curious and painful fact that almost all the completely futile treatments that have been believed in during the long history of medical folly have been such as caused acute suffering to the patient. When anesthetics were discovered, pious people considered them an attempt to evade the will of God. It was pointed out, however, that when God extracted Adam's rib He put him into a deep sleep. This proved that anesthetics are all right for men; women, however, ought to suffer, because of the curse of Eve. Bertrand Russell pain sleep science Why repeat the old errors, if there are so many new errors to commit? Bertrand Russell repeats commit errors Hegel's philosophy is so odd that one would not have expected him to be able to get sane men to accept it, but he did. He set it out with so much obscurity that people thought it must be profound. It can quite easily be expounded lucidly in words of one syllable, but then its absurdity becomes obvious. Bertrand Russell men philosophy people All the important human advances that we know of since historical times began have been due to individuals of whom the majority faced virulent public opposition. Bertrand Russell progress historical important There is darkness without and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, nor vastness anywhere; only triviality for a moment and then nothing. Bertrand Russell darkness-within vastness splendor I hold all knowledge that is concerned with things that actually exist - all that is commonly called Science - to be of very slight value compared to the knowledge which, like philosophy and mathematics, is concerned with ideal and eternal objects, and is freed from this miserable world which God has made. Bertrand Russell philosophy world knowledge HELL: A place where the police are German, the motorists French and the cooks English. Bertrand Russell police god travel As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods. Bertrand Russell atheist men thinking Too little liberty brings stagnation, and too much brings chaos. Bertrand Russell liberty too-much littles [Man] ... his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labour of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins. Bertrand Russell inspiration men science And all this madness, all this rage, all this flaming death of our civilization and our hopes, has been brought about because a set of official gentlemen, living luxurious lives, mostly stupid, and all without imagination or heart, have chosen that it should occur rather than that any one of them should suffer some infinitesimal rebuff to his country`s pride. Bertrand Russell stupid war country Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it. Bertrand Russell truth ifs trying Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance. Bertrand Russell ignorance knowing philosophy Be isolated, be ignored, be attacked, be in doubt, be frightened, but do not be silenced. Bertrand Russell frightened ignored doubt There is no reason to suppose that the world had a beginning at all. The idea that things must have a beginning is really due to the poverty of our thoughts. Bertrand Russell poverty world ideas Scientific societies are as yet in their infancy. It is to be expected that advances in physiology and psychology will give governments much more control over individual mentality than they now have even in totalitarian countries. Fitche laid it down that education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished. Bertrand Russell country school thinking No one gossips about other people's secret virtues. Bertrand Russell keeping-secrets respect people Envy, in fact, is one form of a vice, partly moral, partly intellectual, which consists in seeing things never in themselves, but only in their relations. Bertrand Russell envy desire may I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue. Bertrand Russell atheism atheist religion
