“Philosophy, from the earliest times, has made greater claims, and achieved fewer results, than any other branch of learning.”

— Bertrand Russell, Our Knowledge of the External World, 1914, Lecture I

About Bertrand Russell

1872 – 1970

British philosopher and logician, Nobel laureate in Literature (1950).

“Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.”

“The fundamental defect of fathers is that they want their children to be a credit to them.”

“There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.”

“Be attentive therefore, according to the instruction of the Gospel, to learn obedience from the lily and the bird.”

“I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and right.”

“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be.”

“Life consists in the alternate process of learning and unlearning; but it is often wiser to unlearn than to learn.”

“Warriors of the light are not perfect. Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to grow and to learn.”

“I realize I don’t know very much. None of us knows very much. But we can all learn more. Then we can teach one another.”