I am allowed to use plain English because everybody knows that I could use mathematical logic if I chose. Bertrand Russell More Quotes by Bertrand Russell More Quotes From Bertrand Russell When a man acts in ways that annoy us we wish to think him wicked, and we refuse to face the fact that his annoying behavior is the result of antecedent causes which, if you follow them long enough, will take you beyond the moment of his birth, and therefore to events for which he cannot be held responsible by any stretch of imagination... When a motorcar fails to start, we do not attribute its annoying behavior to sin, we do not say, you are a wicked motorcar, and you shall not have any more gasoline until you go. Bertrand Russell menlongthinking The human heart as modern civilization has made it is more prone to hatred than to friendship. And it is prone to hatred because it is dissatisfied. Bertrand Russell hatredheartcivilization I read Zuleika Dobson with pleasure. It represents the Oxford that the two World Wars have destroyed with a charm that is not likely to be reproduced anywhere in the world for the next thousand years. Bertrand Russell oxfordwaryears A man without a bias cannot write interesting history - if indeed such a man exists. Bertrand Russell writingmenhistory Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is based on the idea of approximation. If a man tells you he knows a thing exactly, then you can be safe in inferring that you are speaking to an inexact man. Bertrand Russell mathmenideas Power is sweet; it is a drug, the desire for which increases with a habit. Bertrand Russell politicalsweetwar At the age of eleven, I began Euclid, with my brother as my tutor. This was one of the great events of my life, as dazzling as first love. I had not imagined there was anything so delicious in the world. From that moment until I was thirty-eight, mathematics was my chief interest and my chief source of happiness. Bertrand Russell first-lovebrotherlife Many people when they fall in love look for a little haven of refuge from the world, where they can be sure of being admired when they are not admirable, and praised when they are not praiseworthy. Bertrand Russell lovepeoplefall Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; no fire, no heroism, no intensity of though and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave. Bertrand Russell firefeelingsmen In science the successors stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors; where one man of supreme genius has invented a method, a thousand lesser men can apply it. ... In art nothing worth doing can be done without genius; in science even a very moderate capacity can contribute to a supreme achievement. Bertrand Russell menscienceart When the state intervenes to insure the indoctrination of some doctrine, it does so because there is no conclusive evidence in favor of that doctrine. Bertrand Russell doctrinegovernmentdoe Happiness is not best achieved by those who seek it directly. Bertrand Russell happyhappinessinspirational At the age of eleven, I began Euclid, with my brother as my tutor. ... I had not imagined that there was anything so delicious in the world. After I had learned the fifth proposition, my brother told me that it was generally considered difficult, but I had found no difficulty whatsoever. This was the first time it had dawned on me that I might have some intelligence. Bertrand Russell brotheragescience Marriage is for women the commonest mode of livelihood, and the total amount of undesired sex endured by women is probably greater in marriage than in prostitution. Bertrand Russell feministmarriagesex The moral thing I should wish to say to them is very simple; I should say: "Love is wise - Hatred is foolish." In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other. Bertrand Russell hatredwiselove-is I don't like the spirit of socialism - I think freedom is the basis of everything. Bertrand Russell socialismspiritthinking 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 spiritualevilwar Everybody can do something toward creating in his own environment kindly feelings rather than anger, reasonableness rather than hysteria, happiness rather than misery. Bertrand Russell hysteriacreatingfeelings Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. Bertrand Russell changehappyhappiness I hate the world and almost all the people in it. I hate the Labour Congress and the journalists who send men to be slaughtered, and the fathers who feel a smug pride when their sons are killed, and even the pacifists who keep saying human nature is essentially good, in spite of all the daily proofs to the contrary. I hate the planet and the human race—I am ashamed to belong to such a species. Bertrand Russell hatepridefather
