Do not feel certain of anything. Bertrand Russell More Quotes by Bertrand Russell More Quotes From Bertrand Russell No man treats a motorcar as foolishly as he treats another human being. When the car will not go, he does not attribute its annoying behavior to sin; he does not say, 'You are a wicked motorcar, and I shall not give you any more petrol until you go.' He attempts to find out what is wrong and to set it right. Bertrand Russell cargivingmen Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. Bertrand Russell patriotic4th-of-julygovernment RELIGION: A set of beliefs held as dogmas, dominating the conduct of life, going beyond or contrary to evidence, and inculcated by methods which are emotional or authoritarian, not intellectual. Bertrand Russell emotionalgodreligion The discipline in your life should be one determined by your own desires and your own needs, not put upon you by society or authority. Bertrand Russell disciplinedesireneeds The Christian view that all intercourse outside marriage is immoral was, as we see in the above passages from St. Paul, based upon the view that all sexual intercourse, even within marriage, is regrettable. A view of this sort, which goes against biological facts, can only be regarded by sane people as a morbid aberration. The fact that it is embedded in Christian ethics has made Christianity throughout its whole history a force tending towards mental disorders and unwholesome views of life. Bertrand Russell christianviewsfear The social psychologist of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will try different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for more than one generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen. Bertrand Russell armychildrenschool To realize the unimportance of time is the gate to wisdom. Bertrand Russell gatesrealizingtime Human nature is so constructed that it gives affection most readily to those who seem least to demand it. Bertrand Russell emotionalfeelingsgiving Fervent religious believers sacrifice pleasures of the body, but instead enjoy pleasures of the mind, including the joy of knowing that those men who didn't follow their religion would be tortured for eternity. Bertrand Russell sacrificereligiousmen There is something feeble and a little contemptible about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Bertrand Russell atheistlittlesmen If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation do you prefer the grain to the vote? Bertrand Russell bagsdemocracymen There is something feeble, and a little contemptible, about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought, and he therefore cannot carry his own reflection to any logical conclusion. Bertrand Russell comfortingmenbelieve Both in thought and in feeling, even though time be real, to realise the unimportance of time is the gate of wisdom. Bertrand Russell realwisdomtime A smile happens in a flash, but its memory can last a lifetime. Bertrand Russell smilelastsmemories Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them. Bertrand Russell stupidclevermen So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence. Bertrand Russell atheistdeathreligion From India to Spain, the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished. What was lost to christendom at this time was not lost to civilization, but quite the contrary. Bertrand Russell islamicindiacivilization If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. Bertrand Russell deep-lifeopinionthinking The harm that theology has done is not to create cruel impulses, but to give them the sanction of what professes to be lofty ethic, and to confer an apparently sacred character upon practices which have come down from more ignorant and barbarous times. Bertrand Russell practicegivingcharacter The fact that a belief has a good moral effect upon a man is no evidence whatsoever in favor of its truth. I'm not contending in a dogmatic way that there is not a God. What I'm contending is that we don't know that there is. I don't like the word "absolute." I don't think there is anything absolute whatever. The moral law, for example, is always changing. At one period in the development of the human race, almost everybody thought cannibalism was a duty. Bertrand Russell lawmenthinking
