The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution. Bertrand Russell More Quotes by Bertrand Russell More Quotes From Bertrand Russell I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached. Bertrand Russell differentcountrythinking A drop of water is not immortal; it can be resolved into oxygen and hydrogen. If, therefore, a drop of water were to maintain that it had a quality of aqueousness which would survive its dissolution we should be inclined to be skeptical. In like manner we know that the brain is not immortal. Bertrand Russell oxygenbrainwater If throughout your life you abstain from murder, theft, fornication, perjury, blasphemy, and disrespect toward your parents, church, and your king, you are conventionally held to deserve moral admiration even if you have never done a single kind, generous or useful action. This very inadequate notion of virtue is an outcome of taboo morality, and has done untold harm. Bertrand Russell disrespectparentkings The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, and relations of friendship or affection. Bertrand Russell happinessmeanart That the world is in a bad shape is undeniable, but there is not the faintest reason in history to suppose that Christianity offers a way out. Bertrand Russell shapesatheistworld This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the second chance were offered me. Bertrand Russell second-chancehas-beensfound One must expect a war between U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. which will begin with the total destruction of London. I think the war will last 30 years, and leave a world without civilised people, from which everything will have to build afresh - a process taking (say) 500 years. Bertrand Russell waryearsthinking The desire to understand the world and the desire to reform it are the two great engines of progress, without which human society would stand still or retrogress. Bertrand Russell progressjusticetwo Either man will abolish war, or war will abolish man. Bertrand Russell menwarpeace Hatred of enemies is easier and more intense than love of friends. But from men who are more anxious to injure opponents than to benefit the world at large no great good is to be expected. Bertrand Russell hatelovemen To fear love is to fear life. Bertrand Russell love-lifelove-youlove-is I am as drunk as a lord, but then, I am one, so what does it matter ? Bertrand Russell does-it-matterdrunkalcohol It is clear that thought is not free if the profession of certain opinions makes it impossible to earn a living. Bertrand Russell opinionwisdomimpossible Our use of the phrase 'The Dark Ages' to cover the period from 600 to 1000 marks our undue concentration on Western Europe. [...] From India to Spain, the brilliant civilisation of Islam flourished. What was lost to Christendom at this time was not lost to civilisation, but quite the contrary. [...] To us it seems that West-European civilisation is civilisation, but this is a narrow view. Bertrand Russell islamicviewscivilization The best practical advice I can give to the present generation is to practice the virtue which the Christians call love. Bertrand Russell christiankindnesslove Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth - more than ruin, more even than death. Bertrand Russell halloweenanxietymen We are all prone to the malady of the introvert who with the manifold spectacle of the world spread out before him, turns away and gazes only upon the emptiness within. Bertrand Russell solitudeadviceworld Man can be stimulated by hope or driven by fear, but the hope and the fear must be vivid and immediate if they are to be effective without producing weariness. Bertrand Russell hopeexpectationsmen Right conduct can never, except by some rare accident, be promoted by ignorance or hindered by knowledge. Bertrand Russell right-conductignoranceknowledge Mankind has become so much one family that we cannot insure our own prosperity except by insuring that of everyone else. Bertrand Russell humankindprosperitymankind
