1,551 Quotes by Bertrand Russell

My desire and wish is that the things I start with should be so obvious that you wonder why I spend my time stating them. This is what I aim at because 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.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.

Conquer the world by intelligence, and not merely by being slavishly subdued by the terror that comes from it.

In Labor movements generally, success through violence can hardly be expected except in circumstances where success without violence is attainable.

The objection to propaganda is not only its appeal to unreason, but still more the unfair advantage which it gives to the rich and powerful.

[T]he infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three-parts deadالخوفُ من الحبِّ يعني الخوفَ من الحياةِ، وأولئكَ الذينَ يخافونَ الحياةَ هم بالفعلِ ثلاثة أرباع موتى!

Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear.....Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion has gone hand-in-hand.