Russell, Bertrand

"Every act of creation is first an act of destruction."

"Envy is the basis of democracy."

"The world needs open hearts and open minds, and if all we ever do is close our hearts and minds to those different from us, we will never learn or grow."

"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."

"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."

"Science does not promise happiness; it promises truth."

"The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise."

"Religions make the same claims about the world. But most of them can't both be true. As a matter of logic, at most one of them can be true."

"The knowledge that makes us treasure our friends is made bitter by the knowledge that we must lose them."

"Very few people can afford to be treated as well as they treat their dogs and cats."

"Liberty is to the collective body what health is to every individual body."

"What is past is no longer in my care; what is future is not yet in my care."

"Drunkenness is a social disease."

"Feeling superior is a sign of inferiority."

"Organized Christianity has always been the deadly enemy of moral progress."

"My own conclusion as to the mental constitution of the professional philosopher is that he is seldom emotionally normal."

"An ancient saying: The man who fears God is afraid of nothing else, whereas the man who fears not God is afraid of everything."

"Passive acceptance of the teacher's wisdom is easy to most school children, but not so the production of new ideas."

"Mathematics is the only science where one never knows what one is talking about nor whether what one says is true."

"Conquer the world by meditation."

"I desire the things that will destroy the British Empire."

"As a rule it is the unseen and unheard that appeals most to the imagination."

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe."

"You should respect people's beliefs, but you should also question everything."

"In the hall of fame of great scientists, Aristotle does not stand very high."

"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly."

"Change is the only constant in life; therefore, we must learn to adapt."

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

"Many of our beliefs are caused by our desires rather than by evidence."

"Obscenity is whatever happens to shock some elderly and ignorant magistrate."