Bertrand Russell

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The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holder's lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.

Bertrand Russell

On the Value of Scepticism

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Russell, Bertrand. "On the Value of Skepticism." Sceptical Essays. George Allen and Unwin Ltd./W. W. Norton & Company, 1928.

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A dog cannot relate his autobiography; however eloquently he may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were honest though poor.

Bertrand Russell

Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits

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Russell, Bertrand. Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits. George, Allen and Unwin/Simon & Schuster, 1948, pt. 2, ch. 1.

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The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

Bertrand Russell

Marriage and Morals

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Russell, Bertrand. Marriage and Morals. Allen & Unwin, 1929, ch. 5.

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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

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Russell, Bertrand. "Dreams and Facts." Sceptical Essays. George Allen and Unwin Ltd./W. W. Norton & Company, 1928.

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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

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Russell, Bertrand. "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish." Unpopular Essays. George Allen & Unwin, 1950.

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Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish." Unpopular Essays. George Allen & Unwin, 1950.

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It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. "On the Value of Skepticism." Sceptical Essays. George Allen and Unwin Ltd./W. W. Norton & Company, 1928.

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Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. The Conquest of Happiness. Liveright, 1930, ch. 12.

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The idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. "In Praise of Idleness." In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays. George Allen & Unwin, 1935. Originally published in Harper's Magazine, Oct. 1932.

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Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves, or, more generally, in the acquisition of power.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. "The Recrudescence of Puritanism." Sceptical Essays. George Allen and Unwin Ltd./W. W. Norton & Company, 1928.

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The psychology of adultery has been falsified by conventional morals, which assume, in monogamous countries, that attraction to one person cannot coexist with a serious affection for another. Everybody knows that this is untrue.

Bertrand Russell

Marriage and Morals

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Russell, Bertrand. Marriage and Morals. Allen & Unwin, 1929, ch. 16.

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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 co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. The Problems of Philosophy. Henry Holt and Company/Williams and Norgate, 1912, ch. 15.

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The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. "On the Value of Skepticism." Sceptical Essays. George Allen and Unwin Ltd./W. W. Norton & Company, 1928.

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Mathematics takes us still further from what is human, into the region of absolute necessity, to which only the actual world, but every possible world, must conform.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. "The Study of Mathematics." The New Quarterly, Nov. 1907.

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Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. "In Praise of Idleness." In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays. George Allen & Unwin, 1935. Originally published in Harper's Magazine, Oct. 1932.

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The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish." Unpopular Essays. George Allen & Unwin, 1950.

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One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. The Conquest of Happiness. Liveright, 1930, ch. 9.

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Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty—a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show.

Bertrand Russell

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Original Citation

Russell, Bertrand. "The Study of Mathematics." The New Quarterly, Nov. 1907.

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Current Citation

Russell, Bertrand. The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, edited by Robert E. Egner and Lester E. Denonn. Routledge, 2009, ch. 31.

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To acquiesce in despair is the very way to make despairing forecasts come true.

Bertrand Russell

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Original Citation

Russell, Bertrand. "No Funk, No Frivolity, No Fanaticism." New York Times, 6 May 1951, sec. SM, p. 4.

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Current Citation

Russell, Bertrand. The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell. Vol. 26. Routledge, 2020, pt. 1.

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If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense.

Bertrand Russell

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Russell, Bertrand. "Is There a God?" The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, edited by John G. Slater and Peter Köllner. Vol. 11, Routledge, 1997. Originally commissioned by Illustrated magazine, 1952. Unpublished.

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