Quotes from Bertrand Russell

it is difficult to throw oneself into other people's petty concerns when one's own are very absorbing and interesting.

El problema nace de la filosofía de la vida que todos han recibido, según la cual la vida es una contienda, una competición, en la que solo el vencedor merece respeto. Esta visión de la vida conduce a un cultivo exagerado de la voluntad, a expensas de los sentidos y del intelecto

is clear that human knowledge must always be content to accept some terms as intelligible without definition

I must, before I die, find some means of saying the essential thing which is in me, which I have not yet said, a thing which is neither love nor hate nor pity nor scorn but the very breath of life, shining and coming from afar, which will link into human life the immensity, the frightening, wondrous and implacable forces of the non-human.

A política é em grande parte dominada por estribilhos moralistas desprovidos de qualquer verdade.

I shall never lose the sense of being a ghost.

the Churches, everywhere, opposed as long as they could practically every innovation that made for an increase of happiness or knowledge here on Earth

the supply of uranium in the planet is very limited, and it is feared that it may be used up before the human race is exterminated, but if the practically unlimited supply of hydrogen in the sea could be utilized there would be considerable reason to hope that homo sapiens might put an end to himself, to the great advantage of the other less ferocious animals.

An individual may be influenced: A. By direct physical power over his body, e.g. when he is imprisoned or killed; B. By rewards and punishments as inducements, e.g. in giving or withholding employment; C. By influence on opinion, i.e. propaganda in its broadest sense. Under this last head I should include the opportunity for creating desired habits in others

The intoxicating delight of sudden understanding.

Há dois motivos para ler um livro. Um: porque você gosta; o outro: pra você se gabar disto.

The merits of democracy are negative: it does not insure good government, but it prevents certain evils.

Hegel thought of the universe as a closely knit unity. His universe was like a jelly in the fact that, if you touched any one part of it, the whole quivered; but it was unlike a jelly in the fact that it could not really be cut up into parts. The appearance of consisting of parts, according to him, was a delusion.

In a hopeful age, great present evils can be endured, because it is thought that they will pass; but in a tired age even real goods lose their savour.

This seems plainly absurd; but whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities.

La disciplina externa es el único camino a la felicidad para aquellos desdichados cuya absorción en sí mismos es tan profunda que no se puede curar de ningún otro modo.

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure, and the intelligent are full of doubt.

Ninguém pode negar, face aos indícios disponíveis, que é fácil, uma vez garantido o poder militar, produzir uma população de lunáticos fundamentalistas. Talvez fosse igualmente fácil produzir uma população de gente razoável e sã, mas muitos governos preferem não o fazer, visto que essas pessoas seriam incapazes de sentir admiração pelos políticos que lideram tais governos.

The examination system, and the fact that instruction is treated mainly as training for a livelihood, leads the young to regard knowledge, from a purely utilitarian point of view, as the road to money, not as the gateway to wisdom.

Men fear thought as they do nothing else on Earth, more than ruin, more even than death... Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible. Thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.

Some great goods are logically bound up with certain evils. To take a trivial illustration, a drink of cold water when you are very thirsty on a hot day may give you such great pleasure that you think the previous thirst, though painful, was worth enduring, because without it the subsequent enjoyment could not have been so great.

in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

manevi bir çöküÅŸün en büyük belirtisi, kiÅŸinin yapt??? iÅŸin çok önemli olduÄŸunu düÅŸünmeye baÅŸlamas?d?r" insanlar bilgisiz doÄŸar, aptal deÄŸil, eÄŸitilerek aptal olurlar... dünyan?n en büyük problemi, ak?ls?z ve fanatik kiÅŸilerin kendilerinden son derece emin olmas?, buna kar??l?k zeki insanlar?n sürekli ÅŸüpheler içinde olmas?d?r.

fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wise people so full of doubts.