Russell, Bertrand

"Do not create a problem because an answer is already known."

"The world is in such a state that it is fortunate that a man should have some private occupation entirely unconnected with public affairs."

"I would prefer the company of peasants to that of rich men because they are more real."

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

"Careful attention to the world of experience is fundamental to all scientific inquiry."

"It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence in favor of this supposition, but so far I have not had the good fortune to find it."

"Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language."

"The happy man is he who has freed himself from fear and from desire in regard to things beyond his control."

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

"It is not what the man of science believes that distinguishes him, but how and why he believes it."

"To choose to do something is to create yourself as a person; the act is thus fundamentally distinct from an act of obedience."

"The mark of a civilized man is his ability to read and reflect without irritation."

"When you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only: what are the facts, and what is the truth that the facts bear out? Never let yourself be diverted either by what you wish to believe or by what you think would have good social effects if it were believed; but look only and solely at what are the facts."

"The life and vigor of all intellectual work depends almost entirely upon a certain instinctive delight in the work itself."

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

"Mathematics possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty—a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture."

"A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand."

"Fear of public opinion is the parent of all tyranny."

"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."

"Silence, also, can speak volumes and express truths that words cannot capture."

"In almost every action one has to choose between a policy of security and a policy of adventure; security is the smaller, the riskier—adventure is the greater, the bolder."

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

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

"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 fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd."

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

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

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

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education."

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