Top 12 Bertrand Russell Quotes

Words of wisdom from the great Lord Russell

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, are my Top 12 quotes from Bertrand Russell.

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1. “I wish to propose for the reader’s favourable consideration a doctrine which may, I fear, appear wildly paradoxical and subversive. The doctrine in question is this: that it is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true.”

2. “The scepticism that I advocate amounts only to this: (1) that when the experts are agreed, the opposite opinion cannot be held to be certain; (2) that when they are not agreed, no opinion can be regarded as certain by a non-expert; and (3) that when they all hold that no sufficient grounds for a positive opinion exist, the ordinary man would do well to suspend his judgment.”

3. “In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying.”

4. “The secret of happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible, horrible, horrible.”

5. “Man is a rational animal - so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life, I have looked diligently for evidence in favor of this statement, but so far I have not had the good fortune to come across it, though I have searched in many countries spread over three continents.”

6. “The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.”

7. “Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.”

8. “If you think your belief is based upon reason, you will support it by argument rather than by persecution, and will abandon it if the argument goes against you. But if your belief is based upon faith, you will realize that argument is useless, and will therefore resort to force either in the form of persecution or by stunting or distorting the minds of the young in what is called ‘education.’”

9. “The fundamental difference between the liberal and the illiberal outlook is that the former regards all questions as open to discussion and all opinions as open to a greater or less measure of doubt, while the latter holds in advance that certain opinions are absolutely unquestionable, and that no argument against them must be allowed to be heard. What is curious about this position is the belief that if impartial investigation were permitted it would lead men to the wrong conclusion, and that ignorance is, therefore, the only safeguard against error. This point of view cannot be accepted by any man who wishes reason rather than prejudice to govern human action.”

10. “To expect a personality to survive the disintegration of the brain is like expecting a cricket club to survive when all of its members are dead.”

11. “If man was evolved by insensible gradations from lower forms of life, a number of things became very difficult to understand. At what moment in evolution did our ancestors acquire free will? At what stage in the long journey from the amoeba did they begin to have immortal souls? When did they first become capable of the kinds of wickedness that would justify a benevolent Creator in sending them into eternal torment? Most people felt that such punishment would be hard on monkeys, in spite of their propensity for throwing coconuts at the heads of Europeans. But how about Pithecanthropus Erectus? Was it really he who ate the apple? Or was it Homo Pekinensis?”

12. “Of course not. After all, I might be wrong.” [Russell’s response to being asked whether he’d die for his beliefs.]

Bonus Bertie Anecdote: Russell spent some time behind bars for his pacifist opposition to World War I. In his autobiography, he recounted a favorite story about this period.

I was much cheered on my arrival by the warder at the gate, who had to take particulars about me. He asked my religion, and I replied “agnostic.” He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh, “Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God.” This remark kept me cheerful for about a week.

Thanks to James West for sharing the cartoon!

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