Bertrand Russel
Bertrand Russel
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRSwas a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, political activist and Nobel laureate. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had "never been any of these things, in any profound sense". He was born in Monmouthshire into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in the United Kingdom...
contact great individual rest sources work
Love, children, and work are the great sources of fertilizing contact between the individual and the rest of the world
marriage outside sex within
Sex outside marriage is sin; sex within marriage is not sin.
became evolution man since taken
Since evolution became fashionable, the glorification of Man has taken a new form.
die people rather
Most people would rather die than think: many do.
chief earth fear glory great hell light looks men merciless pit ruin subversive swift
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth more than ruin more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
earth fear men merciless ruin subversive
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin -- more even than death.... Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit.
aims anguish children compel men mothers opponents ordinary political pursuit quite submit
Men, quite ordinary men, will compel children to look on while their mothers are raped. In pursuit of political aims men will submit their opponents to long years of unspeakable anguish
avoid beyond far goes necessary opinion public respect starvation submission tyranny voluntary
One should 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
discovery human occasion prevent suffering
One occasion for theological intervention to prevent the mitigation of human suffering was the discovery of anesthetics
belief feeble human man power pride submission whom worship
Man is a feeble creature, to whom only submission and worship are besoming. Pride is insolence, and belief in human power is impiety
concerned fuss life obscure personally phenomenon sort transitory
Life is a brief, small, and transitory phenomenon in an obscure corner, not at all the sort of thing that one would make a fuss about if one were not personally concerned
hated impose machines slavery valued worshipped
Machines are worshipped because they are beautiful, and valued because they confer power; they are hated because they are hideous, and loathed because they impose slavery
admitted believe communion needs pattern purgatory scientific socrates
The Platonic Socrates was a pattern to subsequent Philosophers for many ages. As a man, we may believe him admitted to the communion of saints; but as a philosopher he needs a long residence in a scientific purgatory
care children
We must care about the world of our children and grandchildren, a world we may never see.