Bertrand Russell

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

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

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.

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

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

No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.

We have finished the job, what shall we do with the tools?

It takes an enemy and a friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart. The one to slander you, and the other to get the news to you.

Treat everyone as if they were a guest in your own house, because in reality, they are a guest in your own world.

Be bad, but at least don’t be a liar, a deceiver!

People have the right to think and say whatever they want to. But you have the right not to take it to heart, and not to react.

When you want nothing from anyone else, you’re safe for anyone to be with. Including yourself.

Well, as a kid I did not get Shakespeare. I just never understood it.

I realize that advice is worth what it costs – that is, nothing.

Man is a comparative being. Substandard things must go before super-standard things can come.

I think I am basically a happy person.

The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out, the conservative adopts them.

Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.

Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.

We teach people how to treat us.

Being home alone at night makes me a bit nervous. If I’m at home alone, I have to sleep on the sofa – I can’t face going to bed. I’m there with the TV on and all the lights on. I’m not very brave about anything in life. In tennis, yes. In everything else, not very.