A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation. Bertrand Russell on work
Change is one thing, progress is another. “Change” is scientific, “progress” is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy. Bertrand Russell on change
Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves. Bertrand Russell on convention
Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure. Bertrand Russell on freedom
Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. Bertrand Russell on happiness
Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy. Bertrand Russell on happiness
If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give. Bertrand Russell on happiness
Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power. Bertrand Russell on ideals
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 individuality
Many people when they fall in love look for a little haven of refuge from the world, where they can be sure of being admired when they are not admirable, and praised when they are not praiseworthy. Bertrand Russell on love
Love is something far more than desire for sexual intercourse; it is the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives. Bertrand Russell on love
Marriage is for women the commonest mode of livelihood, and the total amount of undesired sex endured by women is probably greater in marriage than in prostitution. Bertrand Russell on marriage
Religions that teach brotherly love have been used as an excuse for persecution, and our profoundest scientific insight is made into a means of mass destruction. Bertrand Russell on religion
The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals, or to savages, or even to most civilised men. Bertrand Russell on understanding