- Boredom is therefore a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.
- I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: “The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that’s fair.” In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.
- To save the world requires faith and courage: faith in reason, and courage to proclaim what reason shows to be true.
- Most people would die sooner than think — in fact they do so.
- There is no logical impossibility in the hypothesis that the world sprang into being five minutes ago, exactly as it then was, with a population that “remembered” a wholly unreal past. There is no logically necessary connection between events at different times; therefore nothing that is happening now or will happen in the future can disprove the hypothesis that the world began five minutes ago.
- I do not believe that I am now dreaming, but I cannot prove that I am not. I am, however, quite certain that I am having certain experiences, whether they be those of a dream or those of waking life.
- No nation was ever so virtuous as each believes itself, and none was ever so wicked as each believes the other.
- The hopes which inspire communism are, in the main, as admirable as those instilled by the Sermon on the Mount, but they are held as fanatically and are as likely to do as much harm.
- We shall be wise to build our philosophy upon science, because the risk of error in philosophy is pretty sure to be greater than in science.
- The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
- Humankind has become so much one family that we cannot insure our own prosperity except by insuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must resign yourself to seeing others also happy.
- The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
- Religions, which condemn the pleasures of sense, drive men to seek the pleasures of power.
- It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true.
- This idea of weapons of mass extermination is utterly horrible and is something which no one with one spark of humanity can tolerate. I will not pretend to obey a government which is organising a mass massacre of mankind.
- “Not enough evidence, God, not enough evidence.” (Russell’s reply when asked what he would say if he died and found himself confronted by God, demanding to know why Russell had not believed in him)
- Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of skeptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake. If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.
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Interesting quotes. This is rather enjoyable ballyhoo.
Ha!
Bertrand Russell is a joke in the intellectual world.
Seriously, the idea of citing him is actually hilarious to anyone who has any decent education.
Ha, Bertrand Russell!
Excellent quotes. Anyone who claims that Bertrand Russel is a joke is a total moron.
@Jimmy
B. Russell was a titan. He is revered by mathematicians. Principia Mathematica was, and possibly still is, the most daring undertaking in the history of mathematics.
I’ve just got to thank jimmy for being such an excellent example of at least one of Russells’s statements about humanity:
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
I have little doubt jimmy that you are quite sure that you are right.
+1 to Joe & jerry …..Jimmy’s a fool
Â
Hold on a second. Jimmy is merely applying what he knows. Let’s see if the argument works in other cases: “Ha!
Jimmy is a joke in the intellectual world. Seriously, the idea of citing Jimmy is actually hilarious to anyone who has any decent education. Ha, Jimmy!”
It just works so well, especially for those who have no education. Oh my God – I’ve cited Jimmy! Does this makes me as stupid? No, because I wasn’t citing Jimmy, but merely the “the Jimmy argument”.
So Jimmy, I feel I must ask, what constitutes the intellectual world? If it is not the countless universities (including McMaster University, which maintains an online archive of his work) that teach his work, the intelligentsia that adore him, or the 1950 Nobel Committee for Literature, then what is it? You’re right, as glowing a portrait of the man you can paint, he was not perfect and has his critics (Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosopher and former Russell student, for one), but don’t just write him off as being a joke in intellectual circles. Also find me enough evidence to show that the broad terms you’ve established that where ever I may roam in the halls of modern Academia I’ll find nothing but scorn for Russell and his work.
Newton was an idiot and all.
Lay off my man Jimmy, the guy is a genius. I have read all of Jimmy’s books, he has the greatest philosophical mind since Aristotle. Keep up the great work Jimmy, I think your work has totally surpassed that of Russell. I and the rest of the world are delighted that you decided to share your special brand of wisdom with us. All hail Jimmy!
Hi, I found your blog on this new directory of WordPress Blogs at blackhatbootcamp.com/listofwordpressblogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, i duno. Anyways, I just clicked it and here I am. Your blog looks good. Have a nice day. James.
Jimmy, I can’t judge how you compare to Russell until you say something clever so why not try saying something clever?