Bertrand Russell

"Most of the things that people do all day long are not essentially different in kind from what animals do."

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

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

"Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about."

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

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

"One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison."

"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."

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

"Do not fear the new, but do not lose reverence for the old."

"The purpose of an open mind, like an open mouth, is to close it on something solid."

"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."

"What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out."

"The world needs open hearts and open minds, and there is no teacher like diversity."

"If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion."

"The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution."

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

"The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists."

"Do you think that, if you were suddenly put in a position of power, you would have enough knowledge to use that power well?"

"Conventional people are roused to fury by departures from convention."

"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."

"The life of the creative person is an unhappy one, because their sensitivity makes suffering inevitable."

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

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

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

"To endure a man's contempt all his life does not come within the scope of human nature."

"Bad news sells because the collapse of things is newsworthy."

"One should respect the young and educate the old, because neither can teach the other."

"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."

"The recitation of traditional rules is not education, it is indoctrination."