To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can do for those who study it. Bertrand Russell on age
It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion. Bertrand Russell on age
Admiration of the proletariat, like that of dams, power stations, and aeroplanes, is part of the ideology of the machine age. Bertrand Russell on age
Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself. Bertrand Russell on art
Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. Bertrand Russell on change
Many a man will have the courage to die gallantly, but will not have the courage to say, or even to think, that the cause for which he is asked to die is an unworthy one. Bertrand Russell on courage
The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf. Bertrand Russell on dad
The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them. Bertrand Russell on dad
The slave is doomed to worship time and fate and death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour. Bertrand Russell on death
Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education. Bertrand Russell on education
We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought. Bertrand Russell on education
In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards. Bertrand Russell on equality
In the revolt against idealism, the ambiguities of the word experience have been perceived, with the result that realists have more and more avoided the word. Bertrand Russell on experience
The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf. Bertrand Russell on family
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead. Bertrand Russell on fear
To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. Bertrand Russell on fear
Boredom is... a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it. Bertrand Russell on fear
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. Bertrand Russell on fear
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd. Bertrand Russell on fear
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. Bertrand Russell on fear