No satisfaction based upon self-deception is solid. Bertrand Russell More Quotes by Bertrand Russell More Quotes From Bertrand Russell No opinion has ever been too errant to become a creed. Bertrand Russell opiniongodreligion As soon as we abandon our own reason, and are content to rely upon authority, there is no end to our trouble. . . . No Catholic, for instance, takes seriously the text which says that a Bishop should be the husband of one wife. Bertrand Russell rely-uponwifehusband A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it. Bertrand Russell hallucinationserrorsscience The average man's opinions are much less foolish than they would be if he thought for himself. Bertrand Russell averageinspirationalmen Fanaticism is the danger of the world, and always has been, and has done untold harm. I might almost say that I was fanatical against fanaticism. Bertrand Russell donemightworld What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. Bertrand Russell oppositessciencebelieve Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoon to the philosopher, and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately it is the philosopher, not the protozoon, who gives us this assurance. Bertrand Russell wisdomgivingscience Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man. Bertrand Russell stupidclevermen It can be shown that a mathematical web of some kind can be woven about any universe containing several objects. The fact that our universe lends itself to mathematical treatment is not a fact of any great philosophical significance. Bertrand Russell philosophicalkindnessmath If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause. If there can be anything without a cause, it may just as well be the world as God, so that there cannot be any validity in that argument... The idea that things must have a beginning is really due to the poverty of our imagination. Bertrand Russell imaginationideasreligion I am myself a dissenter from all known religions, and I hope that every kind of religious belief will die out. Bertrand Russell atheistreligiousreligion I do not pretend that birth control is the only way in which population can be kept from increasing. There are others, which, one must suppose, opponents of birth control would prefer. Bertrand Russell opponentspopulationbirth-control While economics is about how people make choice, sociology is about how they don't have any choice to make. Bertrand Russell economicschoicespeople This is one of those views which are so absolutely absurd that only very learned men could possibly adopt them. Bertrand Russell confusionviewsmen Can a society in which thought and technique are scientific persist for a long period, as, for example, ancient Egypt persisted, or does it necessarily contain within itself forces which must bring either decay or explosion? Bertrand Russell egyptsciencelong Very few men can be genuinely happy in a life involving continual self-assertion against the skepticism of the mass of mankind, unless they can shut themselves up in a coterie and forget the cold outer world. The man of science has no need of a coterie, since he is thought well of by everybody except his colleagues. The artist, on the contrary, is in the painful situation of having to choose between being despised and being despicable. Bertrand Russell artistselfmen Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake. Bertrand Russell dogmamistakepeople Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion go hand in hand. Bertrand Russell atheistfearhands No man can be a good teacher unless he has feelings of warm affection toward his pupils and a genuine desire to impart to them what he believes to be of value. Bertrand Russell teachingteacherbelieve Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate. Bertrand Russell libertyprinciplesexercise
