Bertrand Russell

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

—Bertrand Russell

Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.

—Bertrand Russell

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.

—Bertrand Russell

Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.

—Bertrand Russell

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

—Bertrand Russell

In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.

—Bertrand Russell

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.

—Bertrand Russell

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

—Bertrand Russell

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.

—Bertrand Russell

The whiter my hair becomes, the more ready people are to believe what I say.

—Bertrand Russell

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

—Bertrand Russell

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

—Bertrand Russell

There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.

—Bertrand Russell

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.

—Bertrand Russell