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One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.

Bertrand Russell

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Bertrand Russell
Age: 97 †
Born: 1872
Born: May 18
Died: 1970
Died: February 2
Analytic Philosopher
Autobiographer
Epistemologist
Essayist
Journalist
Logician
Mathematician
Metaphysician
Peace Activist
Philosopher
Tryleg
Bertrand Arthur William Russell
Russell
Bertrand Russell
3rd Earl Russell
Bertrand Russell
Earl Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell
3rd Earl Russell
Feel
Painful
Feels
Evolution
Things
Filled
Time
Ignorance
Stupid
Doubt
Indecision
Imagination
Stupidity
Understanding
Certainty

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In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards.
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Whenever one finds oneself inclined to bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure.
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Change is scientific progress is ethical change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.
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The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. If you take your children for a picnic on a doubtful day, they will demand a dogmatic answer as to whether it will be fine or wet, and be disappointed in you when you cannot be sure.
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The secrets to happiness include enterprise, exploration of one's interests and the overcoming of obstacles.
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Those who advocate common usage in philosophy sometimes speak in a manner that suggests the mystique of the 'common man.'
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Curious learning not only makes unpleasant things less unpleasant but also makes pleasant things more pleasant.
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Most people believe in God because they have been taught from early infancy to do it, and that is the main reason. Then I think that the next most powerful reason is the wish for safety.
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A man is rational in proportion as his intelligence informs and controls his desires.
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Drunkenness is temporary suicide.
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The question of unrealityis a very important one. Misled by grammar, the great majority of those logicians who have dealt with this question have dealt with it on mistaken lines. They have regarded grammatical form as a surer guide in analysis than, in fact, it is. And they have not known what differences in grammatical form are important.
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The experience of overcoming fear is extraordinarily delightful.
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Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.
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We must be skeptical even of our skepticism.
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I am firm YOU are obstinate HE is a pig-headed fool.
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I went to Salt Lake City and the Mormons tried to convert me, but when I found they forbade tea and tobacco I thought it was no religion for me.
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Religions which have any very strong hold over men's actions have generally some instinctive basis.
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All the important human advances that we know of since historical times began have been due to individuals of whom the majority faced virulent public opposition.
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It is in the nature of imperialism that citizens of the imperial power are always among the last to know-or care-about circumstances in the colonies.
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How much good it would do if one could exterminate the human race.
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