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The fundamental principle in the analysis of propositions containing descriptions is this: Every proposition which we can understand must be composed wholly of constituents with which we are acquainted.

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
Every
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Acquainted
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Containing
Fundamental
Constituents
Fundamentals
Proposition
Principle
Composed
Principles
Propositions
Understand
Acquaintance
Must
Wholly
Descriptions

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Too little liberty brings stagnation, and too much brings chaos.
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The resistance to a new idea increases by the square of its importance.
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For love of domination we must substitute equality for love of victory we must substitute justice for brutality we must substitute intelligence for competition we must substitute cooperation. We must learn to think of the human race as one family.
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Philosophy, from the earliest times, has made greater claims, and achieved fewer results, than any other branch of learning.
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Neither acquiescence in skepticism nor acquiescence in dogma is what education should produce.
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We are condemned to kill time, thus we die bit by bit. - Octavio Paz The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
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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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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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To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
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Education, which was at first made universal in order that all might be able to read and write, has been found capable of serving quite other purposes. By instilling nonsense it unifies populations and generates collective enthusiasm.
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The saviors of the world, society's last hope.
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Americans need rest, but do not know it.
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One of the main causes of trouble in the world is dogmatic and fanatical belief in some doctrine for which there is no adequate evidence
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Contempt for happiness is usually contempt for other people's happiness, and is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race.
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When it was first proposed to establish laboratories at Cambridge, Todhunter, the mathematician, objected that it was unnecessary for students to see experiments performed, since the results could be vouched for by their teachers, all of them of the highest character, and many of them clergymen of the Church of England.
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If the West can claim superiority in anything, it is . . . in science and scientific technique.
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One of the most interesting and harmful delusions to which men and nations can be subjected is that of imagining themselves special instruments of the Divine Will.
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Only six need be attempted.
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There's a Bible on that shelf there. But I keep it next to Voltaire - poison and antidote.
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To discover a system for the avoidance of war is a vital need of our civilisation.
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