Bertrand Russell

Whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true.

The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.

The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day.

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.

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

The ability to intelligently fill your free time is the highest degree of personal culture.

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

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

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Admiration of the proletariat, like that of dams, power stations, and aeroplanes, is part of the ideology of the machine age.

To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can do for those who study it.

In the revolt against idealism, the ambiguities of the word experience have been perceived, with the result that realists have more and more avoided the word.

The true spirit of delight, the exaltation, the sense of being more than Man, which is the touchstone of the highest excellence, is to be found in mathematics as surely as poetry.

Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.

A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live.

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

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.

People’s opinions are mainly designed to make them feel comfortable; truth, for most people is a secondary consideration.

The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves and wiser people are so full of doubts.

To suffer unnecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic.

It's easy to fall in love. The hard part is finding someone to catch you.

Science is what we know, and philosophy is what we don't know.

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.