Bertrand Russell nejznámější citáty
Bertrand Russell: Citáty o životě
„Většina lidí raději umře, než aby myslela. A přinejmenším jednou v životě to i udělají.“
Varianta: Většina lidí raději umírá než myslí. A přinejmenším jednou v životě to učiní.
Bertrand Russell: Citáty o lidech
„Smutné je, že hlupáci jsou tak sebejistí, zatímco moudří lidé jsou vždy plní pochybností.“
Zdroj: Bertrand Russell. Citaty.net [online]. [cit. 2012-06-04]. Dostupné online. http://citaty.net/autori/bertrand-russell/
Bertrand Russell citáty a výroky
„Jsou-li všichni odborníci zajedno, je na místě opatrnost.“
Varianta: Jsou-li všichni odborníci za jedno, je na místě opatrnost.
„Dobrý život je inspirován láskou a řízený vědomostmi.“
Zdroj: UDWIG, Petr. Konec prokrastinace. V Brně: Jan Melvil, 2013. (Briquet).
http://ndk.cz/view/uuid:c1912080-9702-11e4-a808-005056827e52?page=uuid:d7b6c660-9a92-11e4-a2db-005056825209 Dostupné online. ISBN 978-80-87270-51-6. S. 272.
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as to seem not worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.
Zdroj: Cit. u Barrow, Pí na nebesích.
Bertrand Russell: Citáty anglicky
Zdroj: The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
Zdroj: 1910s, Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays http://archive.org/stream/mysticism00russuoft/mysticism00russuoft_djvu.txt (1918), Ch. 3: A Free Man's Worship
Kontext: Such... but even more purposeless, more void of meaning, is the world which Science presents for our belief. Amid such a world, if anywhere, our ideals henceforward must find a home. That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the débris of a universe in ruins—all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built.
Kontext: That Man is the product of causes that had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve individual life beyond the grave; that all the labors of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins – all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built.
“The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice.”
1940s, Philosophy for Laymen (1946)
Kontext: 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. The same sort of assurance is demanded, in later life, of those who undertake to lead populations into the Promised Land. “Liquidate the capitalists and the survivors will enjoy eternal bliss.” “Exterminate the Jews and everyone will be virtuous.” “Kill the Croats and let the Serbs reign.” “Kill the Serbs and let the Croats reign.” These are samples of the slogans that have won wide popular acceptance in our time. Even a modicum of philosophy would make it impossible to accept such bloodthirsty nonsense. But so long as men are not trained to withhold judgment in the absence of evidence, they will be led astray by cocksure prophets, and it is likely that their leaders will be either ignorant fanatics or dishonest charlatans. To endure uncertainty is difficult, but so are most of the other virtues. For the learning of every virtue there is an appropriate discipline, and for the learning of suspended judgment the best discipline is philosophy.
But if philosophy is to serve a positive purpose, it must not teach mere skepticism, for, while the dogmatist is harmful, the skeptic is useless. Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or of ignorance.
“Sometimes the hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn”
Varianta: The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.
Zdroj: 1920s, Sceptical Essays (1928), Ch. 10: Recrudescence of Puritanism
“no one ever gossips about the virtues of others”
1920s
Varianta: No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.
Zdroj: On Education, Especially in Early Childhood (1926), Ch. 2: The Aims of Education, p. 50
Kontext: The instinctive foundation of the intellectual life is curiosity, which is found among animals in its elementary forms. Intelligence demands an alert curiosity, but it must be of a certain kind. The sort that leads village neighbours to try to peer through curtains after dark has no very high value. The widespread interest in gossip is inspired, not by a love of knowledge but by malice: no one gossips about other people's secret virtues, but only about their secret vices. Accordingly most gossip is untrue, but care is taken not to verify it. Our neighbour's sins, like the consolations of religion, are so agreeable that we do not stop to scrutinise the evidence closely.
“Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken.”
A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42 (1996), p. 281
Attributed from posthumous publications
Response to the question "Suppose Lord Russell, this film were to be looked at by our descendants, like a dead sea scroll in a thousand years time. What would you think it's worth telling that generation about the life you've lived and the lessons you've learned from it?" in a BBC interview on "Face to Face" (1959) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3aPkzHpT8M
1950s
Kontext: When you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only: What are the facts, and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted, either by what you wish to believe, or by what you think would have beneficent social effects if it were believed; but look only and solely at what are the facts.
Kontext: I should like to say two things. One intellectual and one moral. The intellectual thing I should want to say to them is this: "When you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only: What are the facts, and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted, either by what you wish to believe, or by what you think would have beneficent social effects if it were believed; but look only and solely at what are the facts." That is the intellectual thing that I should wish to say. The moral thing I should wish to say to them is very simple; I should say: "Love is wise – Hatred is foolish." In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other. We have to learn to put up with the fact, that some people say things we don't like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital, to the continuation of human life on this planet.
Zdroj: Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects
