18 quotes
When people begin to philosophize they seem to think it necessary to make themselves artificially stupid.
Theory of Knowledge (1913)
Mysticism is, in essence, little more than a certain intensity and depth of feeling in regard to what is believed about the universe.
Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays (1918)
Science is what we know, and philosophy is what we don't know.
Unpopular Essays (1950)
The atomists, unlike Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, sought to explain the world without introducing the notion of purpose or final cause.
A History of Western Philosophy (1945)
Philosophy seems to me on the whole a rather hopeless business.
Philosophy, from the earliest times, has made greater claims, and achieved fewer results, than any other branch of learning.
Our Knowledge of the External World (1914)
The pursuit of philosophy is founded on the belief that knowledge is good, even if what is known is painful.
Philosophy for Laymen (1946)
Philosophers, for the most part, are constitutionally timid, and dislike the unexpected. Few of them would be genuinely happy as pirates or burglars.
Unpopular Essays (1950)
Tigers are more beautiful than sheep, but we prefer them behind bars.
What was best in the Cynic doctrine passed over into Stoicism, which was an altogether more complete and rounded philosophy.
A History of Western Philosophy (1945)
I remain convinced that obstinate addiction to ordinary language in our private thoughts is one of the main obstacles to progress in philosophy.
Library of Living Philosophers: The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell (1944)
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.
The Philosophy of Logical Atomism (1918)
'Philosophy' is a word which has been used in many ways, some wider, some narrower. I propose to use it in a very wide sense, which I will now try to explain.
The essence of liberalism is an attempt to secure a social order not based on irrational dogma, and insuring stability without involving more restraints than are necessary for the preservation of the community.
A History of Western Philosophy (1945)
Philosophy, if it cannot answer so many questions as we could wish, has at least the power of asking questions which increase the interest of the world, and show the strangeness and wonder lying just below the surface even in the commonest things of daily life.
The Problems of Philosophy (1912)
The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment.
Unpopular Essays (1950)
Things may have a real essence, which will consist of their physical constitution, but this is in the main unknown to us, and is not the "essence" of which scholastics speak. Essence as we can know it is purely verbal; it consists merely in the definition of a general term.
A History of Western Philosophy (1945)
Yes, if you happen to be interested in philosophy and good at it, but not otherwise – but so does bricklaying. Anything you're good at contributes to happiness.
Attributed