Inspirational Quotes
Words to motivate, inspire, and guide you.
Bertrand Russell Quotes
ObservationPerceptionInteractionSelf The observer, when he seems to himself to be observing a stone, is really, if physics is to be believed, observing the effects of the stone upon himself.
CourageInnovationProgressNonconformity Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
Perception A truer image of the world, I think, is obtained by picturing things as entering into the stream of time from an eternal world outside, than from a view which regards time as the devouring tyrant of all that is.
DemocracyAccountabilityLeadership Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who'll get the blame.
FearSanityHumanityTrustMorality 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.
FathersFamily RolesPresenceResponsibilityGolf The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.
CourageFearCrueltyJustice The coward wretch whose hand and heart Can bear to torture aught below, Is ever first to quail and start From the slightest pain or equal foe.
ObjectivityTruthGoodnessDesire Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.
IdealismHatredLove of Power Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.
PhilosophyTheoryPracticalityRelevance The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals, or to savages, or even to most civilised men.
Herd MentalityFearBehaviorSocietyGroup Dynamics Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
EvolutionProgressPerspective A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known.
BalanceContrastRelationship DynamicsDutyEndurance A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation.
ScienceProgressPivotal EraInfluenceHuman Ingenuity Almost everything that distinguishes the modern world from earlier centuries is attributable to science, which achieved its most spectacular triumphs in the seventeenth century.
PowerControlHuman Nature Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves, or, more generally, in the acquisition of power.
FreedomDetachment Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.
ExcellenceMathematicsPoetryJoy The true spirit of delight, the exaltation, the sense of being more than Man, which is the touchstone of the highest excellence, is to be found in mathematics as surely as poetry.
Gender StereotypesHumorPhilosophyHistorical MisconceptionsCritical Thinking Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths.
PerspectiveBeautyInquiry No; we have been as usual asking the wrong question. It does not matter a hoot what the mockingbird on the chimney is singing. The real and proper question is: Why is it beautiful?
BeliefCredulityHuman NatureReason Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.
PhilosophyLogicFoundations Of KnowledgeRationalityCritical Thinking Every philosophical problem, when it is subjected to the necessary analysis and justification, is found either to be not really philosophical at all, or else to be, in the sense in which we are using the word, logical.
Critical ThinkingDemocracyDiscernment To acquire immunity to eloquence is of the utmost importance to the citizens of a democracy.
EducationFreedom of ThoughtIntelligenceParadox We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought.
CompetitionPowerDominanceSurvival Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.
PowerFearLeadershipAmbition The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history.
PropagandaHatredEmotionInfluence Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?
LanguageThinkingProgressPhilosophy I remain convinced that obstinate addiction to ordinary language in our private thoughts is one of the main obstacles to progress in philosophy.
DisciplineHabitMindsetSelf-Control Right discipline consists, not in external compulsion, but in the habits of mind which lead spontaneously to desirable rather than undesirable activities.
HappinessExpectationContentment If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give.
FearSuperstitionCrueltyCourageWisdom Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
ObscenitySubjectivityAuthorityJudgment Obscenity is whatever happens to shock some elderly and ignorant magistrate.
ReligionPleasurePowerAsceticismHistory Religions, which condemn the pleasures of sense, drive men to seek the pleasures of power. Throughout history power has been the vice of the ascetic.
WisdomIntrospectionTime PerceptionInsight Both in thought and in feeling, even though time be real, to realise the unimportance of time is the gate of wisdom.
DoubtSkepticismCritical ThinkingOpen-mindedness I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.
Machine AgeIdeologyTechnologyAdmiration Admiration of the proletariat, like that of dams, power stations, and aeroplanes, is part of the ideology of the machine age.
Power The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics.
Agriculture's DownfallHuman SufferingTechnological Salvation With the introduction of agriculture mankind entered upon a long period of meanness, misery, and madness, from which they are only now being freed by the beneficent operation of the machine.
PossessionsFreedomMaterialismNoble Living It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.