Bertrand Russell citáty

strana 14

„Základní příčinou potíží je to, že v moderním světě jsou hloupí sebejistí, zatímco inteligentní jsou plní pochybností.“

„Nebojte se být výstřední ve svých názorech, protože každý názor, který byl nyní přijat, byl kdysi výstřední.“

„Existují dva motivy pro čtení knihy: jeden, protože se vám líbí; druhý, že se tím můžete chlubit.“

„Nikdy bych za svou víru nezemřel, protože bych se mohl mýlit.“

„Ať už se to týká čehokoliv, nezaškodí občas popřemýšlet i nad věcmi, které jsme dlouho považovali za samozřejmé.“

„Skutečně uspokojivé štěstí je doprovázeno co nejplnějším uplatněním našich schopností a co nejplnějším poznáním světa, v němž žijeme.“

„Bát se lásky znamená bát se života a ti, kdo se života bojí, jsou již ze tří čtvrtin mrtvi.“

„Kdybych žil ještě jednou, dopustil bych se stejných hloupostí a chyb, ale snažil bych se je udělat dřív.“

„Pokládám lásku za jednu z nejdůležitějších věcí v lidském životě. Láska je mnohem více než touha po pohlavním styku, je hlavním východiskem z osamělosti.“

„Většina lidí raději umře, než aby myslela. A přinejmenším jednou v životě to i udělají.“

„Nejvíc utrpení způsobil člověk člověku proto, že byl přesvědčen o věcech, které se ukázaly být nepravdivé.“

„Málokteří lidé mohou být šťastni, aniž by nenáviděli nějakou osobu, národ nebo tvora.“

„Moudrý člověk přemítá o svých strastech jen tehdy, když to potřebuje, v jiných případech myslí na jiné věci.“

„V dobách, kdy náboženství bylo ještě na vrcholu své slávy, mělo slovo "bůh" dokonale přesný význam, avšak v důsledku útoků ze strany racionalistů stával se tento pojem stále mlhavější a vybledlejší, až se dnes těžko pozná, co vlastně lidé mají na mysli, když prohlašují, že věří v boha.“

„Musel jsem se dívat na to, že lidem příliš nezáleží na vlastním přežití nebo na přežití celého lidstva, jako spíše na zničení svého protivníka.“

„Válka neurčuje na čí straně je pravda - jenom kdo zbyde.“

„Historie světa je souhrn událostí, kterým se bylo možno vyhnout.“

„Válka je iracionálním následkem pýchy, nudy a chamtivosti.“

„Jsou-li všichni odborníci zajedno, je na místě opatrnost.“

„Jsem přesvědčen, že vědecké poznání je jedním z vrcholů lidského úsilí. Netvrdím, že poznání nemůže nikdy způsobit zlo. Tvrdím však, a to velmi důrazně, že poznání neporovnatelně častěji přináší užitek než škodu, a strach z poznání je mnohem škodlivější.“

„Život je břímě, když ti, které máme rádi, mají jiné, jež staví na první místo. Když nemáme na světě koutek, do něhož můžeme utéct se svou osamělostí.“

„Leckdo vděčí za své úspěchy radám, jichž neuposlechl.“

„Naneštěstí je pro přetížené učitele takřka nemožné zachovat si instinktivní náklonnost k dětem| postupně k nim nabudou tytéž pocity jako cukrářský učeň ke kremrolím.“

„Jestliže je moudrost v životě zbraní, hloupost obvykle bývá dobrým pacientem.“

„Aristoteles se domníval, že ženy mají méně zubů než muži; ač byl dvakrát ženat, nikdy mu nenapadlo se podívat.“

„Chtěl bych, aby někdo zakopal válečnou sekeru a zapomněl, kde leží.“

„Vědci se snaží přeměnit nemožné na možné. Politici často zase chtějí přeměnit možné v nemožné.“

„Matematika se popravdě řečeno nepyšní pouze pravdivostí, ale také svrchovanou krásu - krásou chladnou a strohou, jakou nalézáme u soch; krásou, jež se neodvolává k žádné slabé stránce naší přirozenosti; krásou bez zbytečného pozlátka, které je běžné v hudbě či malířství - a přesto vznešeně čistou a stroze dokonalou, takovou, již se pyšní jen největší umělecká díla.“

„Základem demokracie je závist.“

„Moderní humor, to je někdy skrývané zoufalství.“

„Základní chyba otců: očekávají od svých dětí, že jim budou dělat čest.“

„Příliš málo svobody přináší stagnaci, příliš mnoho chaos.“

„Dobrý život je inspirován láskou a řízený vědomostmi.“

„Vlastenectví je ochota zabíjet a nechat se zabít z triviálních důvodů.“

„Ve filosofii jde o to začít s něčím tak jednoduchým, až se zdá, že to nestojí za řeč, a skončit něčím tak paradoxním, že tomu nikdo nechce věřit.“

„Život není nic víc než soutěž o to být raději zločincem než obětí.“

„Člověk by měl zpravidla dbát veřejného mínění jen tolik, kolik musí, aby neumřel hladem a nedostal se do vězení, ale vše, co sahá dále, je dobrovolné podřizování zbytečnému tyranství…“

„Když se do lásky míchá majetek, ztrácí svou životodárnou moc a stravuje osobnost.“

„Jste největšími pokrytci, jaké svět kdy poznal. Dovoláváte se hodnot, jimiž pohrdáte a po nichž bezohledně a cynicky šlapete“

„Když si člověk připustí, že nic není jisté, tak musí, podle mého názoru, také připustit, že některé věci jsou daleko více jisté než jiné.“

„Ze všech forem opatrnosti, je opatrnost v lásce nejvíce osudná opravdovému štěstí.“

„Strach je hlavním zdrojem pověr a jedním z hlavních zdrojů krutosti. Dobýt strach je začátek moudrosti.“

„Překonání strachu je počátkem moudrosti.“

„A kdyby Bůh existoval, považuji za velmi nepravděpodobné, že by byl tak nepokojně ješitný a urážel se na ty, kdo o jeho existenci pochybují.“

„Čas, který promarníte a nevadí vám, že ho promarníte, není promarněný čas.“

“Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation; but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind is also rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good.”

“Ironclads and Maxim guns must be the ultimate arbiters of metaphysical truth.”

“It is not to be supposed that young men and women who are busy acquiring valuable specialized knowledge can spare a great deal of time for the study of philosophy, but even in the time that can easily be spared without injury to the learning of technical skills, philosophy can give certain things that will greatly increase the student’s value as a human being and as a citizen. It can give a habit of exact and careful thought, not only in mathematics and science, but in questions of large practical import. It can give an impersonal breadth and scope to the conception of the ends of life. It can give to the individual a just measure of himself in relation to society, of man in the present to man in the past and in the future, and of the whole history of man in relation to the astronomical cosmos. By enlarging the objects of his thoughts it supplies an antidote to the anxieties and anguish of the present, and makes possible the nearest approach to serenity that is available to a sensitive mind in our tortured and uncertain world.”

“In action, in desire, we must submit perpetually to the tyranny of outside forces; but in thought, in aspiration, we are free, free from our fellowmen, free from the petty planet on which our bodies impotently crawl, free even, while we live, from the tyranny of death.”

“I must confess that I am deeply troubled. I fear that human beings are intent upon acting out a vast deathwish and that it lies with us now to make every effort to promote resistance to the insanity and brutality of policies which encompass the extermination of hundreds of millions of human beings.”

“Most people, at a crisis, feel more loyalty to their nation than to their class.”

“I must confess that I am unable to appreciate the merits of Confucius. His writings are largely occupied with trivial points of etiquette, and his main concern is to teach people how to behave correctly on various occasions. When one compares him, however, with the traditional religious teachers of some other ages and races, one must admit that he has great merits, even if they are mainly negative. His system, as developed by his followers, is one of pure ethics, without religious dogma; it has not given rise to a powerful priesthood, and it has not led to persecution. It certainly has succeeded in producing a whole nation possessed of exquisite manners and perfect courtesy. Nor is Chinese courtesy merely conventional; it is quite as reliable in situations for which no precedent has been provided. And it is not confined to one class; it exists even in the humblest coolie. It is humiliating to watch the brutal insolence of white men received by the Chinese with a quiet dignity which cannot demean itself to answer rudeness with rudeness. Europeans often regard this as weakness, but it is really strength, the strength by which the Chinese have hitherto conquered all their conquerors.”

“When I was 4 years old … I dreamt that I'd been eaten by a wolf, and to my great surprise I was in the wolf's stomach and not in heaven.”

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

“When I was a boy, I had a clock with a pendulum that could be lifted off. I found that the clock went very much faster without the pendulum. If the main purpose of a clock is to go, the clock was the better for losing its pendulum. True, it could no longer tell the time, but that did not matter if one could teach oneself to be indifferent to the passage of time. The linguistic philosophy which cares only about language and not about the world, is like the boy who preferred the clock without the pendulum because, although it no longer told the time, it went more easily than before and at a more exhilarating pace.”

“If a "religion" is defined to be a system of ideas that contains unprovable statements, then Gödel taught us that mathematics is not only a religion, it is the only religion that can prove itself to be one.”

“Not enough evidence God! Not enough evidence!”

“It is likely that America will be more important during the next century or two, but after that it may well be the turn of China.”

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”

“It is generally admitted that most grown-up people, however regrettably, will try to have a good time.”

“That I, a funny little gesticulating animal on two legs, should stand beneath the stars and declaim in a passion about my rights – it seems so laughable, so out of all proportion. Much better, like Archimedes, to be killed because of absorption in eternal things…
There is a possibility in human minds of something mysterious as the night-wind, deep as the sea, calm as the stars, and strong as Death, a mystic contemplation, the "intellectual love of God." Those who have known it cannot believe in wars any longer, or in any kind of hot struggle. If I could give to others what has come to me in this way, I could make them too feel the futility of fighting. But I do not know how to communicate it: when I speak, they stare, applaud, or smile, but do not understand.”

“You, your families, your friends and your countries are to be exterminated by the common decision of a few brutal but powerful men. To please these men, all the private affections, all the public hopes, all that has been achieved in art, and knowledge and thought and all that might be achieved hereafter is to be wiped out forever.
Our ruined lifeless planet will continue for countless ages to circle aimlessly round the sun unredeemed by the joys and loves, the occasional wisdom and the power to create beauty which have given value to human life.”

“The process of philosophizing, to my mind, consists mainly in passing from those obvious, vague, ambiguous things, that we feel quite sure of, to something precise, clear, definite, which by reflection and analysis we find is involved in the vague thing that we start from, and is, so to speak, the real truth of which that vague thing is a sort of shadow.”

“The reason that I call my doctrine logical atomism is because the atoms that I wish to arrive at as the sort of last residue in analysis are logical atoms and not physical atoms. Some of them will be what I call "particulars" – such things as little patches of color or sounds, momentary things – and some of them will be predicates or relations and so on.”

“Mysticism is, in essence, little more than a certain intensity and depth of feeling in regard to what is believed about the universe.”

“I am sure that university life would be better, both intellectually and morally, if most university students had temporary childless marriages. This would afford a solution to the sexual urge neither restless nor surreptitious, neither mercenary nor casual, and of such a nature that it need not take up time which ought to be given to work.”

“[Unlike the] utilitarian… I judge pleasure and pain to be of small importance compared to knowledge, the appreciation and contemplation of beauty, and a certain intrinsic excellence of mind which, apart from its practical effects, appears to me to deserve the name of virtue. [For] many years it seemed to me perfectly self-evident that pleasure is the only good and pain the only evil. Now, however, the opposite seems to me self-evident.
What first turned me away from utilitarianism was the persuasion that I myself ought to pursue philosophy, although I had (and have still) no doubt that by doing economics and the theory of politics I could add more to human happiness. It appeared to me that the dignity of which human existence is capable is not attainable by devotion to the mechanism of life, and that unless the contemplation of eternal things is preserved, mankind will become no better than well-fed pigs. But I do not believe that such contemplation on the whole tends to happiness. It gives moments of delight, but these are outweighed by years of effort and depression.”

“An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God. The Christian holds that we can know there is a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not. The Agnostic suspends judgment, saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial. At the same time, an Agnostic may hold that the existence of God, though not impossible, is very improbable; he may even hold it so improbable that it is not worth considering in practice. In that case, he is not far removed from atheism. His attitude may be that which a careful philosopher would have towards the gods of ancient Greece. If I were asked to prove that Zeus and Poseidon and Hera and the rest of the Olympians do not exist, I should be at a loss to find conclusive arguments. An Agnostic may think the Christian God as improbable as the Olympians; in that case, he is, for practical purposes, at one with the atheists.”

“Power may be defined as the production of intended effects.”

“At puberty, the elements of an unsuperstitious sexual morality ought to be taught. Boys and girls should be taught that nothing can justify sexual intercourse unless there is mutual inclination… Boys and girls should be taught respect for each other's liberty; they should be made to feel that nothing gives one human being rights over another, and that jealousy and possessiveness kill love. They should be taught that to bring another human being into the world is a very serious matter, only to be undertaken when the child will have a reasonable prospect of health, good surroundings, and parental care. But they should also be taught methods of birth control, so as to insure that children shall only come when they are wanted. Finally, they should be taught the dangers of venereal disease, and the methods of prevention and cure. The increase of human happiness to be expected from sex education on these lines is immeasurable.”

“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.”

“So much of modern mathematical work is obviously on the border-line of logic, so much of modern logic is symbolic and formal, that the very close relationship of logic and mathematics has become obvious to every instructed student. The proof of their identity is, of course, a matter of detail: starting with premisses which would be universally admitted to belong to logic, and arriving by deduction at results which as obviously belong to mathematics, we find that there is no point at which a sharp line can be drawn, with logic to the left and mathematics to the right. If there are still those who do not admit the identity of logic and mathematics, we may challenge them to indicate at what point, in the successive definitions and deductions of Principia Mathematica, they consider that logic ends and mathematics begins. It will then be obvious that any answer must be quite arbitrary.”

“My own opinion—which I may as well indicate at the outset—is that pure Anarchism, though it should be the ultimate ideal, to which society should continually approximate, is for the present impossible, and would not survive more than a year or two at most if it were adopted. On the other hand, both Marxian Socialism and Syndicalism, in spite of many drawbacks, seem to me calculated to give rise to a happier and better world than that in which we live. I do not, however, regard either of them as the best practicable system. Marxian Socialism, I fear, would give far too much power to the State, while Syndicalism, which aims at abolishing the State, would, I believe, find itself forced to reconstruct a central authority in order to put an end to the rivalries of different groups of producers. The best practicable system, to my mind, is that of Guild Socialism, which concedes what is valid both in the claims of the State Socialists and in the Syndicalist fear of the State, by adopting a system of federalism among trades for reasons similar to those which are recommending federalism among nations.”

“The principal source of the harm done by the State is the fact that power is its chief end.”