Tag: Bertrand Russell

Stupidity Quotes

Posted on May 26, 2011 by

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe.” – Albert Einstein

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and
conscientious stupidity.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward.” – Bill Davidsen

“Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.” –Bertrand Russell

“In politics stupidity is not a handicap.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.” – Frank Leah

“There are only two ways by which to rise in this world, either by one’s own industry or by the stupidity of others.” – Jean de la Bruyere

“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” –Thomas Szasz

“The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.” – Unknown

“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.” –Bertrand Russell

“Stupidity has a certain charm – ignorance does not” – Frank Zappa

“It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.” – George Bernard Shaw

The whole problem with the world is that…

Posted on March 31, 2011 by

“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” – Bertrand Russell

“The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, they finish by loading honors on your head.” – Jean Cocteau (1889-1963)

“Everyone is a genius at least once a year; a real genius has his original ideas closer together.” – Georg Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it” – Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

“While we are postponing, life speeds by.” – Seneca (3BC – 65AD)

“Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?” – Bumper Sticker

“God, please save me from your followers!” – Bumper Sticker

“Fill what’s empty, empty what’s full, and scratch where it itches.” – The Duchess of Windsor, when asked what is the secret of a long and happy life

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

“Luck is the residue of design.” – Branch Rickey – former owner of the Brooklyn Dodger Baseball Team

“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.” – Mel Brooks

“Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.” – Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

“Wit is educated insolence.” – Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

“My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you’ll be happy; if not, you’ll become a philosopher.” – Socrates (470-399 B.C.)

“Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t” – Erica Jong (1942-)

“Show me a woman who doesn’t feel guilty and I’ll show you a man.” – Erica Jong (1942-)

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou (1928-)

“Egotist: a person more interested in himself than in me.” – Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

“A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.” – Gore Vidal

“Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them.” – Samuel Palmer (1805-80)

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

“The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows.” – Aristotle Onassis (1906-1975)

“Sometimes when reading Goethe I have the paralyzing suspicion that he is trying to be funny.” – Guy Davenport

“When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.” – Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

Famous People Quotes #7

Posted on February 15, 2011 by

“Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.” – Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.” – Niels Bohr (1885-1962)

“We all agree that your theory is crazy, but is it crazy enough?” – Niels Bohr (1885-1962)

“When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” – Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)

“In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite.” – Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

“I would have made a good Pope.” – Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994)

“In any contest between power and patience, bet on patience.” – W.B. Prescott

“Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin.” – John von Neumann (1903-1957)

“The mistakes are all waiting to be made.” – chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956) on the game’s opening position

“It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.” – Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

“Grove giveth and Gates taketh away.” – Bob Metcalfe (inventor of Ethernet) on the trend of hardware speedups not being able to keep up with software demands

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” – Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

“A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation.” – H. H. Munro (Saki) (1870-1916)

“There are two ways of constructing a software design; one way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.” – C. A. R. Hoare

“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

“What do you take me for, an idiot?” – General Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), when a journalist asked him if he was happy

“I heard someone tried the monkeys-on-typewriters bit trying for the plays of W. Shakespeare, but all they got was the collected works of Francis Bacon.” – Bill Hirst

“Three o’clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.” – Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

“A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.” – Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

“It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.” – George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.” – Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980)

“A man can’t be too careful in the choice of his enemies.” – Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.” – John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

“Logic is in the eye of the logician.” – Gloria Steinem

“No one can earn a million dollars honestly.” – William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925)

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” – Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

War Quotes

Posted on January 7, 2011January 8, 2011 by

– “War does not determine who is right – only who is left.” – Bertrand Russell

– “It’ll be a great day when education gets all the money it wants and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy bombers.” – Unknown

– “I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, «Mother, what was war?»” – Eve Merriam

– “The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking… the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.” – Albert Einstein

– “The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.” – David Friedman

– “«There are no atheists in foxholes» isn’t an argument against atheism, it’s an argument against foxholes.” – James Morrow

– “Sometimes I think it should be a rule of war that you have to see somebody up close and get to know him before you can shoot him.” – Colonel Potter

– “All the arms we need are for hugging.” – Unknown

– “A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.” – Napoleon

– “A great war leaves the country with three armies – an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves.” – German Proverb

– “The most persistent sound which reverberates through men’s history is the beating of war drums.” – Arthur Koestler

– “Everyone’s a pacifist between wars. It’s like being a vegetarian between meals.” – Colman McCarthy

– “Draft beer, not people.” – Bob Dylan

– “The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

– “War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.” – John F. Kennedy

– “What this planet needs is more mistletoe and less missile-talk.” – Unknown

– “Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people – and kill them.” – Pacifist Badge, 1978

– “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” – Ernest Hemingway

– “War makes thieves and peace hangs them.” – George Herbert

– “You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.” – Jeanette Rankin

– “You are not going to get peace with millions of armed men. The chariot of peace cannot advance over a road littered with cannon.” – David Lloyd George

– “Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.” – Carl Sandburg

– “In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.” – José Narosky

– “We kind o’ thought Christ went agin war an’ pillage.” – James Russell Lowell

Inspirational Quotes

Posted on December 4, 2010 by

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison

“Tough times never last, but tough people do.” – Robert Schuller

“Arise awake and stop not till the goal is reached.” – Swami Vivekananda

“I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.” – Abraham Lincoln

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” – Joseph Kennedy

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” – Edmund Hillary

“Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.” –Ezra Taft Benson

“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” – Bertrand Russell

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Start where you are with what you have. Make something of it and never be satisfied. – George Washington Carver

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford

“The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” – Harry Golden

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan

“My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.” – Michael Jordan

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”
–Ernest Hemingway

“Never, never, never, never ever give up!” – Winston Churchill

Philosophy Quotes

Posted on November 17, 2010 by

“The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts.” – Bertrand Russell

“Whenever people agree with me I feel I must be wrong.” – Oscar Wilde

“Some people drown, that’s all. It’s not fair but it happens. Some people drown.” – Stephen King, Stand By Me

“You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.” – Al Capone

“Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.” – Graham Greene

“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” – Sigmund Freud

“A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.” – Mark Twain

“In the long run we are all dead.” – John Maynard Keynes

“The grass is always greener in a cemetary.” – Amanda Gonzalez

“An optimist is a guy that has never had much experience.” – Donald R. Perry Marquis

Funny Wisdom Quotes

Posted on November 14, 2010 by

A word to the wise ain’t necessary. It’s the stupid ones who need the advice. – Bill Cosby

Men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all the other alternatives. – Abba Eban

I am not young enough to know everything. – Oscar Wilde

Cabbage: A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man’s head. – Ambrose Bierce

Some folk are wise, and some are otherwise. – Tobias Smollett

Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom. – Euripides

Cleverness is not wisdom. – Euripides

Silence is true wisdom’s best reply. – Euripides

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. – Bertrand Russell

It’s so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don’t say it. – Sam Levenson

Nothing would more contribute to make a man wise than to have always an enemy in his view. – Lord Halifax

Science Quotes

Posted on October 14, 2010October 9, 2010 by

“Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.” – Bertrand Russell

“Science never solves a problem without creating ten more.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.” – Charles Darwin

“There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.” – Hippocrates

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” – Isaac Asimov

“The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.” – Sir William Bragg

“New discoveries in science will continue to create a thousand new frontiers for those who still would adventure.” – Herbert Hoover

“However far modern science and techniques have fallen short of their inherent possibilities, they have taught mankind at least one lesson; nothing is impossible.” – Lewis Mumford

“I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale.” – Marie Curie

“Science is simply common sense at its best. That is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.” – Thomas Huxley