Russell, Bertrand

"What is it that makes a man happy? The answer is not a simple one."

"Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, the chief glory of man."

"Fear is the thought which says that we might not be what we wish to be, that we might not achieve what we wish to achieve."

"The first prerequisite for a sound monetary system is that it should be subject to the control of the democratic government of the moment, not to the caprice of a few financiers."

"Science aims at construction; superstition aims at destruction."

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

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

"The most valuable thing a human being can possess is the ability to think for oneself."

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

"What is science but a method of orderly observation and logical inference."

"Do not be afraid of the unknown; be afraid of false knowledge."

"To try to make the world better is to be naive."

"Knowledge and lust are the two great endeavors of mankind."

"The secret to a good life is a combination of thinking and not thinking too much."

"Not to be absolutely certain is, I believe, one of the essential things in rationality."

"The question of what is true, what is real, what is lasting—this will always be the fundamental question of philosophy."

"Skepticism alone cannot build a civilization. Only faith and hope can do that."

"I am firm, you are obstinate, he is pig-headed."

"The human race has become so sophisticated that it is in danger of forgetting how to be human."

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

"The good is often the enemy of the best."

"In the field of public affairs, men with principles are either wiser or more foolish than those without them."

"Love is something 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."

"The true spirit of delight, the exaltation, the sense of being more than Man, is the touchstone of the highest excellence."

"Accurate scholarship can unearth the whole offence from Luther until now that has driven a culture mad."

"Freedom of thought is best preserved when the government is weakest."

"Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true."

"Desire can produce a kind of magic, but it requires more than desire to produce happiness."

"The power of thought is in its negation, not in its affirmation."

"The telltale sign of a mediocre mind is the inability to hold two opposing views simultaneously."