Bertrand Russell

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

"The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."

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

"The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation."

"If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years."

"Do not fear to be alone, even though you may be afraid of it."

"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge."

"Fear is the parent of cruelty."

"A sense of humor is good for your health."

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."

"Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty."

"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."

"The way to acquire good friends is to be one yourself."

"Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it."

"Do not suppose that I want to persuade you into Christianity. I do not bring you a message of divine truth. I bring you a defiance."

"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."

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

"The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice."

"Change is one thing, progress is another."

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

"I am not angry with you, I am merely expressing an alternative point of view."

"It is a preposterous assumption that the producer of the commodity knows better what is good for the consumer than the consumer himself."

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."

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

"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."

"We are all prone to the malady of the introvert, and we are all shy of making the effort to change things."

"If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it."

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

"Almost everything that distinguishes the modern world from earlier centuries is attributable to science."

"To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead."