One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways.

—Bertrand Russell

politics opinion freedom happiness tyranny

About Bertrand Russell

Portrait of Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was an English mathematician and philosopher. A founder of analytic philosophy, he was a leading philosopher of the 20th century who produced pioneering work in logic, set theory, and philosophy of language. Russell popularised philosophy to...

More quotations from Bertrand Russell

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

—Bertrand Russell

knowledge pleasure

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

—Bertrand Russell

certainty reasoning rationality absolutes

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

—Bertrand Russell

respect age belief

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

understanding ignorance intelligence knowledge

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

—Bertrand Russell

More quotations tagged with “tyranny”

When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.

war fear enemies tyranny treaties

Love is a tyrant sparing none.

—Pierre Corneille

Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny.

death fate tyranny

It is my intention to make my entire life a rejection of, a protest against the crimes and injustices of war and political tyranny which threaten to destroy the whole race of [humankind] and the world with [it] .… I make monastic silence a protest against the lies of politicians, propagandists, and agitators, and when I speak it is to deny that my faith and my church can ever be aligned with these forces of injustice and destruction. But it is true, nevertheless, that the faith in which I believe is also invoked by many who believe in war, believe in racial injustices, believe in self-righteous and lying forms of tyranny. My life must, then, be a protest against these also, and perhaps against these most of all.

—Thomas Merton

justice war humanity politics life silence rejection church crime protest faith lies racism tyranny

A good deal of tyranny goes by the name of protection.

—Crystal Eastman

tyranny protection deceit

History

8 Feb 2014 Added