#ss

You might sooner get lightning out of incense smoke than true action or passion out of your modern English religion. ↗

— John Ruskin

#english #get #incense #lightning #might

It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#else #freely #living #more #more than anything

One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#avoid #beyond #goes #insofar #keep

The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#charming #differs #fact #feared #great

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#knowledge #much #pleasure #useless #useless knowledge

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#both #certain #certainty #dissipate #dogmatism

The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#fact #happiness #horrible #secret #world

The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#far #friendly #happiness #hostile #interest

I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its Churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#christian #christian religion #churches #deliberately #enemy

I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#convinced #discovery #every #every time #feel