The luxury to disparage freedom is the privilege of those who already possess it. Bertrand Russell More Quotes by Bertrand Russell More Quotes From Bertrand Russell All forms of fear produce fatigue. Bertrand Russell produceformfear Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim. Bertrand Russell competitionlifefunny Official morality has always been oppressive and negative: it has said "thou shalt not," and has not troubled to investigate the effect of activities not forbidden by the code. Bertrand Russell moralitysaidnegative Man is a rational animal – so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life, I have looked diligently for evidence in favour of this statement, but so far I have not had the good fortune to come across it, though I have searched in many countries spread over three continents. Bertrand Russell animalmenlong The experience of overcoming fear is extraordinarily delightful. Bertrand Russell overcoming-fearovercomingfear I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong. Bertrand Russell fearphilosophyfunny A man who has once perceived, however temporarily and however briefly, what makes greatness of soul, can no longer be happy if he allows himself to be petty, self-seeking, troubled by trivial misfortunes, dreading what fate may have in store for him. The man capable of greatness of soul will open wide the windows of his mind, letting the winds blow freely upon it from every portion of the universe. Bertrand Russell fategreatnessblow What has human happiness to do with morals? The object of morals is not to make people happy. Bertrand Russell moralhumanspeople We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power. Bertrand Russell engineeringphilosophicalscience God and Satan alike are essentially human figures, the one a projection of ourselves, the other of our enemies. Bertrand Russell satanfiguresenemy Dogma demands authority, rather than intelligent thought, as the source of opinion; it requires persecution of heretics and hostility to unbelievers; it asks of its disciples that they should inhibit natural kindliness in favor of systematic hatred. Bertrand Russell intelligenthatredwisdom Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. Bertrand Russell fearanimalbelieve People will tell us that without the consolations of religion they would be intolerably unhappy. So far as this is true, it is a coward's argument. Nobody but a coward would consciously choose to live in a fool's paradise. When a man suspects his wife of infidelity, he is not thought the better of for shutting his eyes to the evidence. And I cannot see why ignoring evidence should be contemptible in one case and admirable in the other. Bertrand Russell eyemenpeople It seems to me a fundamental dishonesty, and a fundamental treachery to intellectual integrity to hold a belief because you think it's useful and not because you think it's true. Bertrand Russell intellectualintegritythinking One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision. Bertrand Russell ignoranceimaginationstupid One of the main causes of trouble in the world is dogmatic and fanatical belief in some doctrine for which there is no adequate evidence Bertrand Russell adequatedoctrineworld And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence Bertrand Russell spiritualgoddeath The happiness that is genuinely satisfying is accompanied by the fullest exercise of our faculties and the fullest realization of the world in which we live. Bertrand Russell exercisejoyhappiness An educator should think of a child as a gardener thinks of a plant, as something to be made to grow by having the right soil and the right amount of water. If your roses fail to bloom, it does not occur to you to whip them, but you try to find out what has been amiss in your treatment of them. ... The important thing is what the children do, and not what they do not do. And what they do, if it is to have value, must be a spontaneous expression of their own vital energy. Bertrand Russell teachingchildrenthinking When Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning-rod, the clergy, both in England and America, with enthusiastic support of George III, condemned it as an impious attempt to defeat the will of God. Bertrand Russell england-and-americalightningsupport
