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Calculus required continuity, and continuity was supposed to require the infinitely little but nobody could discover what the infinitely little might be.

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
Might
Mathematical
Math
Discover
Calculus
Mathematics
Continuity
Supposed
Infinitely
Nobody
Statistics
Littles
Required
Little
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More quotes by Bertrand Russell

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The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.
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More important than the curriculum is the question of the methods of teaching and the spirit in which the teaching is given
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We know too much and feel too little.
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There is no need to worry about mere size. We do not necessarily respect a fat man more than a thin man. Sir Isaac Newton was very much smaller than a hippopotamus, but we do not on that account value him less.
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The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play the largest part and the possessive impulses the smallest.
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The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.
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The doctrine (of) maintaining that the language of daily life, with words used in their ordinary meanings, suffices for philosophy . . . I find myself totally unable to accept . . . . Because it makes almost inevitable the perpetuation amongst philosophers of the muddle-headedness they have taken over from common sense.
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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.
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I used often to go to America during Prohibition, and there was far more drunkenness there then than before the prohibition of pornography has much the same effect.
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Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom.
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The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.
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I am paid by the word, so I always write the shortest words possible.
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Public opinion is always more tyrannical towards those who obviously fear it than towards those who feel indifferent to it.
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Modern definitions of truth, such as those as pragmatism and instrumentalism, which are practical rather than contemplative, are inspired by industrialisation as opposed to aristocracy.
Bertrand Russell
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Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.
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To create a healthy philosophy you should renounce metaphysics but be a good mathematician.
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Boredom is... a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.
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Happiness is not best achieved by those who seek it directly.
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War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
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When Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning-rod, the clergy, both in England and America, with enthusiastic support of George III, condemned it as an impious attempt to defeat the will of God.
Bertrand Russell