Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.
When the intensity of emotional conviction subsides, a man who is in the habit of reasoning will search for logical grounds in favor of the belief which he finds in himself.
- Topic: Belief, Conviction, Habits
More Quotes from Bertrand Russell
The man who pursues happiness wisely will aim at the possession of a number of subsidiary interests in addition to those central ones upon which his life is built.
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.
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Do not hide your faith and your beliefs under a bushel basket, especially in this world that seems to have gone mad with political correctness.
Consensus: the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values, and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects; the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner: 'I stand for consensus?
I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.
Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
No man can afford to express, through words and acts, that which is not in harmony with his own beliefs, and if he does so, he may pay by the loss of his ability to influence others.
There are only two kinds of people, those who accept dogmas and know it, and those who accept dogmas and don't know it.
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen — not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
In the age-old contest between popularity and principle, only those willing to lose for their convictions are deserving of posterity’s approval.
That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.
Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.
The secret of success is conviction and persistence.
An irresistible passion that would induce me to believe in innate ideas and the truth of prophecy has decided my career. I have always loved liberty with the enthusiasm which actuates the religious man with the passion of a lover and with the conviction of a geometrician.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.
Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.
My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.
It is a hard thing to leave any deeply routined life, even if you hate it.
A very little key will open a very heavy door.
It is impossible, or not easy, to alter by argument what has long been absorbed by habit.
