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" The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it. "

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" 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. "

Bertrand Russell

Result

Experience

" I do not pretend to start with precise questions. I do not think you can start with anything precise. You have to achieve such precision as you can, as you go along. "

" One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny. "

" The coward wretch whose hand and heart Can bear to torture aught below, Is ever first to quail and start From the slightest pain or equal foe. "

" Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relative to other matter; second, telling other people to do so. "

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

" 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. "

" If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give. "

" Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact. "

Bertrand Russell

Proud

Men

" Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate. "

" It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this. "

" Contempt for happiness is usually contempt for other people's happiness, and is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race. "

" Boredom is... a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it. "

" Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. "

" The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf. "

Bertrand Russell

Family

Small

" The degree of one's emotions varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts. "

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

" Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd. "

" Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires. "

" Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power. "

" Liberty is the right to do what I like; license, the right to do what you like. "

" 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. "

" Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted. "

" To understand a name you must be acquainted with the particular of which it is a name. "

" The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile. "

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

" Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths. "

" There is no need to worry about mere size. We do not necessarily respect a fat man more than a thin man. Sir Isaac Newton was very much smaller than a hippopotamus, but we do not on that account value him less. "

" Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true. "

" If any philosopher had been asked for a definition of infinity, he might have produced some unintelligible rigmarole, but he would certainly not have been able to give a definition that had any meaning at all. "