It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion. Bertrand Russell More Quotes by Bertrand Russell More Quotes From Bertrand Russell Herd pressure is to be judged by two things: first, its intensity, and second, its direction. Bertrand Russell pressure two firsts I have lived in the pursuit of a vision, both personal and social. Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle; to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world, for all its horrors, has left me unshaken. Bertrand Russell hate beautiful believe Organized people are just too lazy to look for things Bertrand Russell lazy people looks Most people believe in God because they have been taught from early infancy to do it, and that is the main reason. Then I think that the next most powerful reason is the wish for safety. Bertrand Russell powerful believe thinking What will be the good of the conquest of leisure and health, if no one remembers how to use them? Bertrand Russell leisure use remember There is a possibility in human minds of something mysterious as the night-wind, deep as the sea, calm as the stars, and strong as Death, a mystic contemplation, the “intellectual love of God.” Those who have known it cannot believe in wars any longer, or in any kind of hot struggle. If I could give to others what has come to me in this way, I could make them too feel the futility of fighting. But I do not know how to communicate it: when I speak, they stare, applaud, or smile, but do not understand. Bertrand Russell stars strong war Your writing is never as good as you hoped; but never as bad as you feared. Bertrand Russell writing Belief systems provide a programme which relieves the necessity of thought. Bertrand Russell programmes belief-systems belief Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness. Bertrand Russell marriage happiness love William James used to preach the "will-to-believe." For my part, I should wish to preach the "will-to-doubt." None of our beliefs are quite true; all at least have a penumbra of vagueness and error. What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. Bertrand Russell errors opposites believe The man who suffers from a sense of sin is suffering from a particular kind of self-love. In all this vast universe the thing that appears to him of most importance is that he himself should be virtuous. It is a grave defect in certain forms of traditional religion that they have encouraged this particular kind of self-absorption. Bertrand Russell self love men What hunger is in relation to food, zest is in relation to life. Bertrand Russell zest food life Grasshopper always wrong in argument with chicken. Bertrand Russell grasshoppers argument wisdom It is, of course, clear that a country with a large foreign population must endeavour, through its schools, to assimilate the children of immigrants. It is, however, unfortunate that a large part of this process should be effected by means of a somewhat blatant nationalism. Bertrand Russell mean country children In action, in desire, we must submit perpetually to the tyranny of outside forces; but in thought, in aspiration, we are free, free from our fellowmen, free from the petty planet on which our bodies impotently crawl, free even, while we live, from the tyranny of death. Bertrand Russell body action desire Science is at no moment quite right, but it is seldom quite wrong, and has, as a rule, a better chance of being right than the theories of the unscientific. It is, therefore, rational to accept it hypothetically. Bertrand Russell accepting chance moments Belief in God and a future life makes it possible to go through life with less of stoic courage than is needed by skeptics. Bertrand Russell stoic skeptic belief Men have physical needs, and they have emotions. While physical needs are unsatisfied, they take first place; but when they are satisfied, emotions unconnected with them become important in deciding whether a man is to be happy or unhappy. Bertrand Russell important unhappy men For my part I distrust all generalizations about women, favorable and unfavorable, masculine and feminine, ancient and modern; all alike, I should say, result from paucity of experience. Bertrand Russell masculine-and-feminine ancient women If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full. Bertrand Russell eugenics population black
