Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRSwas a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, political activist and Nobel laureate. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had "never been any of these things, in any profound sense". He was born in Monmouthshire into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in the United Kingdom...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth18 May 1872
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is a paradox; as is a paradox why the number 1 is not prime if it has no other divisors besides himself.
Science is at no moment quite right, but it is seldom quite wrong, and has, as a rule, a better chance of being right than the theories of the unscientific. It is, therefore, rational to accept it hypothetically.
The practice of inhibiting impulses, which is to a great extent necessary to civilized life, makes mistakes easier, by preventing experience of the actions to which a desire would otherwise lead, and by often causing the inhibited impulses themselves to be unnoticed or quickly forgotten.
In considering irregular appearances, there are certain very natural mistakes which must be avoided.
Boredom is... a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.
In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards.
A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation.
The degree of one's emotions varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts.
Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.
Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.
The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.
None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.
Mathematics takes us into the region of absolute necessity, to which not only the actual word, but every possible word, must conform.
I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite.