Bertrand Russell's Ten Commandments
The best answer to fanaticism? Liberalism
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”
-Bertrand Russell
This is the latest in my quotes collection series. Check out the full collection here.
Bertrand Russell was many things: a philosopher, a mathematician, a Nobel laureate and lifelong troublemaker. Over a life spanning nearly a century, he published more than seventy books and many, many millions of words. But of all his contributions, few are as succinct and enduring as the ten principles he laid out in a 1951 essay titled “The Best Answer to Fanaticism - Liberalism.”
In this brief piece, Russell offered his own version of the Ten Commandments - not as religious doctrine, but as a moral and intellectual guide for a world increasingly torn apart by ideology, extremism, and dogma.
Seventy years later, his commandments feel more urgent than ever. In a culture where outrage is monetized and doubt seen as weakness, Russell’s call for honesty, openness, and intellectual humility is a breath of fresh air - and his moderate liberalism might be just the kind of radicalism we need.
Here, then, are Bertrand Russell’s Ten Commandments.
1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2. Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.
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Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was a British philosopher, mathematician, public intellectual, and political activist. His book The Problems of Philosophy was the one of the first philosophy books I read, and it helped sell me both on philosophy and on Russell himself. He was a great writer, and also often very funny. Here, then, in no particular order, ar…
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