Bertrand Russell
43 quotations
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
Most people would rather die than think: many do.
All human activity is prompted by desire.
To acquire immunity to eloquence is of the utmost importance to the citizens of a democracy.
Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken.
The fundamental defect with fathers is that they want their children to be a credit to them.
Folly is perennial, yet the human race has survived.
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.
Drunkenness is temporary suicide.
No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.
Anything you're good at contributes to happiness.
Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation, or creed.
Happiness is not best achieved by those who seek it directly.
Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.
A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it.
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt.
There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.
The good life is one inspired by life and guided by knowledge.
Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.
Indignation is a submission of our thoughts, but not of our desires.
No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor, but honest.