The more we realize our minuteness and our impotence in the face of cosmic forces, the more amazing becomes what human beings have achieved. Bertrand Russell More Quotes by Bertrand Russell More Quotes From Bertrand Russell No people anywhere in the world would accept being expelled en masse from their own country; how can anyone require the people of Palestine to accept a punishment which nobody else would tolerate? Bertrand Russell punishment country people Love cannot exists as a duty; to tell a child that it ought to love its parents and its brother and sisters is utterly useless, if not worse. Bertrand Russell brother love children Education, which was at first made universal in order that all might be able to read and write, has been found capable of serving quite other purposes. By instilling nonsense it unifies populations and generates collective enthusiasm. Bertrand Russell education writing school The skill of the politician consists in guessing what people can be brought to think advantageous to themselves; the skill of the expert consists in calculating what really is advantageous, provided people can be brought to think so. Bertrand Russell skills people thinking Freedom in education has many aspects. There is first of all freedom to learn or not to learn. Then there is freedom as to what to learn. And in later education there is freedom of opinion. Bertrand Russell aspect opinion firsts Science, by itself cannot, supply us with an ethic. Bertrand Russell ethics morality The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. Bertrand Russell love relationship life The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them. Bertrand Russell dad father children It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. Bertrand Russell freedom money life Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day. Bertrand Russell summer men moving We are condemned to kill time, thus we die bit by bit. - Octavio Paz The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. Bertrand Russell wasted-time wasting-time enjoy Mathematics rightly viewed possesses not only truth but supreme beauty. Bertrand Russell western-philosophy mathematics math My sad conviction is that people can only agree about what they're not really interested in. Bertrand Russell conviction agreement people Liberty is the right to do what I like; licence, the right to do what you like. Bertrand Russell license liberty The chicken noticed that the farmer came every day to feed it. It predicted that the farmer would continue to bring food every day. Inductivists think that the chicken had "extrapolated" its observations into a theory, and that each feeding time added justification to that theory. Then one day the farmer came and wrung the chicken's neck. This inductively justifies the conclusion that induction cannot justify any conclusion. Bertrand Russell necks one-day thinking One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important, and that to take a holiday would bring all kinds of disaster. If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his or her work important. Bertrand Russell holiday work men Language serves not only to express thought but to make possible thoughts which could not exist without it. Bertrand Russell programming learning language It will be said that the joy of mental adventure must be rare, that there are few who can appreciate it, and that ordinary education can take no account of so aristocratic a good. I do not believe this. The joy of mental adventure is far commoner in the young than in grown men and women. ...It is rare in later life because everything is done to kill it during education. Bertrand Russell education adventure believe The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics. Bertrand Russell energy power science A life without adventure is likely to be unsatisfying, but a life in which adventure is allowed to take whatever form it will is sure to be short. Bertrand Russell cohesion adventure travel
