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

— Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness (1930), Ch. 3

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.”

“My whole religion is this: do every duty, and expect no reward for it, either here or hereafter.”

“He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.”

“One day I would be a better hand at the game. One day I would learn how to laugh.”

“Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”

“I can resist everything except temptation.”

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.”