The Wisdom Letter #192

5 quotes from Bertrand Russell (1872–1970)

✹ For today's Wisdom Letter, we have carefully curated five bite-sized quotes from the British philosopher and logician, Bertrand Russell (1872–1970).

Quote № 01:

“Man is a rational animal — so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life, I have looked diligently for evidence in favor of this statement, but so far I have not had the good fortune to come across it.”

— Bertrand Russell

Quote № 02:

“Knowledge, like other good things, is difficult, but not impossible; the dogmatist forgets the difficulty, the skeptic denies the possibility. Both are mistaken, and their errors, when widespread, produce social disaster.”

— Bertrand Russell

Quote № 03:

“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.”

— Bertrand Russell

Quote № 04:

“The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice.”

— Bertrand Russell

Quote № 05:

“One of the most interesting and harmful delusions to which men and nations can be subjected is that of imagining themselves special instruments of the Divine Will.”

— Bertrand Russell

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✺ Today’s Questions

Three philosophical questions to foster your curiosity:

Question № 01:

How should we navigate the tension between the dogmatist who clings to rigid certainties and the skeptic who doubts the possibility of knowledge? Can a society thrive without striking a balance between these extremes, and what does that balance look like?

Question № 02:

What is it about fear that undermines both humane behavior and rational thinking? Can the influence of fear be mitigated on an individual or societal level, and what strategies would help to maintain sanity and compassion in fearful times?

Question № 03:

What other intellectual vices, besides the demand for certainty, inhibit human progress? How can we identify and overcome these vices in our own thinking?

✽ Thank you for reading today’s Wisdom Letter.

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