Читать книгу Burden of thoughts - Helmut Lauschke - Страница 7

(Bertrand Russell 1872-1970) Quotes: The question today is how one can persuade humanity to consent to its own survival. Scientists strive to make the impossible possible. Science is what we know and philosophy is what we don't know. This is the essence of science: first you think of something that might be true. Then you look to see if it is, and generally it is not. What philosophy must remove is certainty, be it that of knowing or that of not knowing; that is the essence of science. The greatest risk is run by people who never want to take the slightest risk.

The politician differs from the scientist in that he can talk for a long time without having to say anything. Therefore there is no nonsense that a government cannot convince its people to be sensible.

What philosophy must remove is certainty, be it that of knowing or that of not knowing. In essence, science fights for the truth of the things that are extrapolated in research.

With us there are those who are considered moral lights, people who renounce ordinary joys themselves and, in order to keep themselves harmless, spoil the joys of others. Those who really have authority are not afraid to admit mistakes.

True morality in sexual life is based on respect for the personality of the other and an inner reluctance to use it as a means for the purpose of personal instinct saturation, regardless of one's own wishes.

A democrat needs not to believe that a majority will always make a wise choice. What he is supposed to believe in is the need that the majority decision must be passed until the majority passes another decision.

What is needed is not the will to believe, but the will to discover, which is exactly the opposite. You should never do the same stupidity twice, because there is plenty of choice. When all experts are in agreement, caution is advised.

Boredom is a serious problem. At least half of all human sins arise from fear of boredom. What people call the struggle for existence is in the great majority the struggle for ascent.

There is a separate discipline for acquiring each virtue. The best discipline to exercise restraint in judgment is philosophy. Even if all professionals are of the same opinion, they may very well be mistaken.

The particular skill of the politician is knowing which passions are easiest to arouse and how, once aroused, can be prevented from harming him and his followers.

Yet it now seems to be the fate of the idealists to preserve what they are fighting for in a form that destroys their ideal. The question today is how to persuade humanity to consent to its own survival.

Modern man views money as a means of getting more money, so that he can splurge and make an effort and triumph over those who have hitherto been his own.

Grandfather John Russell, who was given the title of Earl Russell in 1861, was British Prime Minister. Bertrand Russell's father, John Russell, died when Bertrand was three years old. His mother, Katherine Louisa Stanley, died of diphtheria before her husband.