Saturday, April 28, 2007

Bertrand Russell quotes

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

I believe in using words, not fists. I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

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

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

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

Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

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

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

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.

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.

The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible.

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

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

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