Bertrand Russell

"Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own."

"Do you think you can find happiness in having?"

"The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder."

"I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world."

"One should 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."

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

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

"Very slowly, I learned to believe in myself."

"Happiness is not best achieved by those who seek it directly."

"In physics there may someday be laws as neat and as symmetrical as those of mathematics, but this cannot be assumed to be true from the start."

"Every philosopher would like to suppose that he encompasses the whole of truth and falsehood."

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

"Creativity is something you inherit, and you can inherit it anywhere."

"Knowledge is power, but zeal for knowledge is a power above power."

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

"The question of free will is important from the practical point of view."

"Envy is the basis of democracy."

"Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the Earth's surface; second, telling other people to do so."

"Science can teach us, and I think our tastes ought to be, not to despise anything that exists in nature."

"Conventional people are roused to fervor by something new, provided it can be shown to be very old."

"One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and imprisonment."

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

"If a democratic government does not make us happier than an autocratic one, there is no advantage in its form of government."

"Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure."

"Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past."

"Think of the whole stock of imaginative works which would be forever lost if we were forced to read only books published within the last ten years."

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

"Drunkenness is temporary suicide."

"You feel yourself degraded if you ring a bell for a servant, but not degraded by causing a telephone exchange to lose money through your conversation."

"The world needs open hearts and open minds, and there is no time to lose."