Bertrand Russell Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Bertrand Russell quotes, Bertrand Russell sayings, and Bertrand Russell proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: ‘The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that’s fair.’ In these words he epitomized the history of the human race. Bertrand Russell
Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear. Bertrand Russell
A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand. Bertrand Russell
Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education. Bertrand Russell
The place of the father in the modern suburban family is very small one, particularly if he plays golf. Bertrand Russell
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own. Bertrand Russell
Science tells us what we can know, but what we can know is little, and if we forget how much we cannot know we become insensitive to many things of great importance. Bertrand Russell
Most of the greatest evils that man has inflicted upon man have come through people feeling quite certain about something which, in fact, was false. Bertrand Russell
Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it. Bertrand Russell
Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true. Bertrand Russell
War does not determine who is right--only who is left. Bertrand Russell
Both in thought and in feeling, even though time be real, to realise the unimportance of time is the gate of wisdom. Bertrand Russell
The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. Bertrand Russell
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd. Bertrand Russell
Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness. Bertrand Russell
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. Bertrand Russell
The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the cooperation or consent of his deliberate reason. Bertrand Russell
But the discipline you have in your life should be one determined by your own desires and your own needs, not put upon you by society or authority. Bertrand Russell
The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the thigs and persons that interests you be as far as possible friendly rather hostile. Bertrand Russell
Power may be defined as the production of intended effects. It is thus a quantitative concept: given two men with similar desires, if one achieves all the desires that the other achieves, and also others, he has more power than the other. Bertrand Russell
The power impulse has two forms: explicit, in leaders; implicit in their followers. When men willingly follow a leader, they do so with a view to the acquisition of power by the group which he commands, and they feel that his triumphs are theirs. Bertrand Russell
The power impulse has two forms: explicit, in leaders; implicit in their followers. When men willingly follow a leader, they do so with a view to the acquisition of power by the group which he commands, and they feel that his triumphs are theirs. Bertrand Russell
There is power over human beings and power over dead matter or non-human forms of life. Bertrand Russell
Love of power, in its widest sense, is the desire to be able to produce intended effects upon the outer world, whethen human or non-human. Bertrand Russell
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
I like mathematics because it is not human and has nothing particular to do with this planet or with the whole accidental universe— because, like Spinoza's God, it won't love us in return. Bertrand Russell
Love is something far more than desire for sexual intercourse; it is the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives. Bertrand Russell
The whiter my hair becomes, the more ready people are to believe what I say. Bertrand Russell
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
No one gossips about other people's secret virtues. Bertrand Russell