Bertrand Russell

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

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death....Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.

To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.

'Change' is scientific, 'progress' is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.

What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.

In all things it is a good idea to hang a question mark now and then on the things we have taken for granted.

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.

The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.

It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.

War does not determine who is right -- only who is left.

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.

The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.

'Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.

Matematyka może być zdefiniowana jako zagadnienie, w którym nigdy nie wiemy o czym mówimy, ani czy to, co mówimy jest prawdą.

The main thing needed to make men happy is intelligence.

A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to philosophers to be obviously progress -- though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known.

The most savage controversies are about those matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.

Największym wyzwaniem myśliciela jest takie sformułowanie problemu, które pozwoli na uzyskanie rozwiązania.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom, in the pursuit of truth as in the endeavour after a worthy manner of life.

There is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate government action.

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.

Although it is a gloomy view to suppose that life will die out, sometimes when I contemplate the things that people do with their lives I think it is almost a consolation.

Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.

What men really want is not knowledge but certainty.

Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves.

Większość ludzi wolałaby umrzeć niż pomyśleć; i w rzeczywistości tak właśnie robią.

Pewnego dnia zobaczyłem w szkole chłopca średniej postury, maltretującego małego chłopca. Skarciłem go naganą, ale on odparł: „Duzi mnie biją, więc ja biję dzieci; to jest fair”. W tych słowach podsumował historię rasy ludzkiej.

It is a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won't go.

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.

The Christian view that all intercourse outside marriage is immoral was, as we see in the above passages from St. Paul, based upon the view that all sexual intercourse, even within marriage, is regrettable. A view of this sort, which goes against biological facts, can only be regarded by sane people as a morbid aberration. The fact that it is embedded in Christian ethics has made Christianity throughout its whole history a force tending towards mental disorders and unwholesome views of life.

Badania w dziedzinie medycyny dokonały tak olbrzymiego postępu, że dziś - praktycznie biorąc - nikt już nie jest zdrowy.

Naukowcy usiłują przekształcić to co niemożliwe - w możliwe. Politycy często chcą przekształcić to co możliwe - w niemożliwe.

W demokracji wolno głupcom głosować; w dyktaturze wolno głupcom rządzić.

The observer, when he seems to himself to be observing a stone, is really, if physics is to be believed, observing the effects of the stone upon himself.

Language serves not only to express thoughts, but to make possible thoughts which could not exist without it.

Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.

Zrozumienie głupiego człowieka o tym, co mówi człowiek mądry, nigdy nie jest dokładne, ponieważ nieświadomie przekłada on to, co słyszy, na to, co może zrozumieć.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom."