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The Wisdom Series
The Wisdom of Bertrand Russell: A Selection
Citadel Press is proud to announce the newest titles in the Wisdom Library, a collection of books showcasing the thoughts and writings of diverse literary, philosophical, political, and scientific immortals. These books deserve a place on every home bookshelf and in every student's basic library.This Nobelist's contributions to mathematics, politics, history, science, and religion make him one of the most widely read intellectuals of the twentieth century. Here, some of his fundamental principles are conveniently extracted from a broad range of his writings.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
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About the author
Bertrand Russell
1,236 books7,312 followersBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, was a Welsh philosopher, historian, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, pacifist, and prominent rationalist. Although he was usually regarded as English, as he spent the majority of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."
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November 9, 2022
Bertrand Russell was one of the twentieth century’s greatest minds. Known primarily as a philosopher, he was also a brilliant mathematician, a tireless advocate for justice and peace, and the enemy of mealy-mouthed preachers, politicians, and pundits everywhere. He would have a had field day today, where a leading theorist of a certain political party came out in opposition of what he called the “reality-based community,” and in favor of the kind of magical thinking where you can create your own reality if you just believe it really really hard.
Russell had his critics, but he had many more devoted followers, and almost everything he wrote over his long life is still worth reading today. This book is a labor of love, an homage to him by people whose lives he touched. It gathers together some of his most trenchant, poignant, and insightful observations from 116 of his books, articles, speeches, and letters from 1900 to 1951, grouped together alphabetically by topic irrespective of where they appeared or when they were published.
Following are a few that made me pause my reading and consider them as commentaries on the human condition. Some are complete quotes as they appear in the book, and others are just a sentence or two from much longer entries. What they have in common is Russell’s ability to see past the surface effects of life and focus on the things that really matter.
Communism and Democracy
All history shows that government is always conducted in the interests of the governing class, except in so far as it is influenced by fear of losing its power.
Communism and Liberty
Communism restricts liberty, particularly intellectual liberty, more than any other system except Fascism. The complete unification of both economic and political power produces a terrifying engine of oppression, in which there are no loopholes for exceptions. Under such a system, progress would soon become impossible, since it is the nature of bureaucrats to object to all change except increase in their own power.
Contemplation
A life confined to what is personal is likely, sooner or later, to become unbearably painful; it is only by windows into a larger and less fretful cosmos that the more tragic parts of life become endurable.
Democracy, Teaching and the Survival Of
The thing, above all, that a teacher should endeavor to produce in his pupils, if democracy is to survive, is the kind of tolerance that springs from an endeavor to understand those who are different from ourselves.
Dictatorship
Cromwell’s rule of the Saints was in many ways similar to Lenin’s system: beginning with advocacy of democracy and freedom, it ended by establishing a hated military tyranny. The French Revolution, starting from the Rights of Man, produced first Robespierre and then Napoleon, neither of which had any very noticeable respect for human rights. In all these cases the trouble came from dogmatic belief in a panacea so splendid that any cruelty was thought permissible in bring about the desired end.
Education
Education should have two objects: first, to give definite knowledge – reading and writing, language and mathematics, and so on; secondly, to create those mental habits which will enable people to acquire knowledge and form sound judgments for themselves.
Education, Liberal
This is the task of a liberal education: to give a sense of the value of things other than domination, to help to create wise citizens of a free community, and through the combination of citizenship with liberty in individual creativeness to enable men to give to human life that splendor which some few have shown that it can achieve.
Eternity, Under the Aspect Of
Spinoza, who was one of the wisest men and who lived consistently in accordance with his own wisdom, advised men to view passing events “under the aspect of eternity.” Those who can learn to do this will find a painful present much more bearable than it would otherwise be.
Fascism
It is anti-democratic, it is nationalistic, it is capitalistic, and it appeals to those sections of the middle class which suffer through modern developments and expect to suffer still more if Socialism or Communism becomes established.
Fear and Religion
Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown, and partly...the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the basis of the whole thing – fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion go hand-in-hand.
Happiness
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.
History
The follies of our times are easier to bear when they are seen against the background of past follies.
Hope
And so, to the man tempted by despair, I say: Remind yourself that the world is what we make it, and that to the making of it each one of us can contribute something. This thought makes hope possible: and in this hope, though life will still be painful, it will no longer be purposeless.
Liberalism
This is the essential difference between the Liberal outlook and that of the totalitarian State, that the former regards the welfare of the State as residing ultimately in the welfare of the individual, while the latter regards the State as the end and individuals merely as indispensable ingredients, whose welfare must be subordinated to a mystical totality which is a cloak for the interests of the rulers.
Life, Man’s True
Man’s true life does not consist in the business of filling his belly and clothing his body, but in art and thought and love, in the creation and contemplation of beauty and in the scientific understanding of the world. If the world is to be regenerated, it is in these things not only in material goods, that all must be enabled to participate.
Passions, Collective
Men’s collective passions are mainly evil: far the strongest of them are hatred and rivalry directed toward other groups. Therefore at present all that gives men power to indulge their collective passions is bad. That is why science threatens to cause the destruction of civilization.
Perspective, Individual
For those to whom dogmatic religion can no longer bring comfort, there is a need of some substitute, if life is not to become dusty and harsh and filled with trivial self-assertion. The world at present is full of angry self-centered groups, each incapable of viewing human life as a whole, each willing to destroy civilization rather than yield an inch….The antidote, in so far as it is a matter of individual psychology, is to be found in history, biology, astronomy, and all those studies which, without destroying self-respect, enable the individual to see himself in his proper perspective.
Pessimism
From a scientific point of view, optimism and pessimism are alike objectionable: optimism assumes, or attempts to prove, that the universe exists to please us, and pessimism that it exists to displease us.
Philosophy
Philosophy, as I shall understand the word, is something intermediate between theology and science. Like theology, it consists of speculations on matters as to which definite knowledge has, so far, been unascertainable; but like science, it appeals to human reason rather than to authority, whether that of tradition or that of revelation. All definite knowledge – so I should contend – belongs to science; all dogma as to what surpasses definite knowledge belongs to theology.
Philosophy, Value Of
It can give a habit of exact and careful thought, not only in mathematics and science, but in questions of large practical import. It can give an impersonal breadth and scope to the conception of the ends of life. It can give to the individual a just measure of himself in relation to society, of man in the present to man in the past and in the future, and of the whole history of man in relation to the astronomical cosmos. By enlarging the objects of his thought it supplies an antidote to the anxieties and anguish of the present, and makes possible the nearest approach to serenity that is available to a sensitive mind in our tortured and uncertain world.
Power
The mere possession of power tends to produce a love of power, which is a very dangerous motive, because the only sure proof of power consists in preventing others from doing what they wish to do.
Religion
In origin, it was concerned with certain rites, inherited from a remote past, performed originally for some reason long since forgotten, and associated from time to time with various myths to account for their supposed importance. Much of this lingers still.
Religion, Organized
The immense majority of ministers of religion support war whenever it occurs, though in peace time they are often pacifists; in supporting war, they give emphatic utterance to the conviction that God is on their side, and lend religious support to the persecution of men who think wholesale slaughter unwise….While slavery existed, religious arguments were found in support it; now-a-days, similar arguments are found in support of capitalistic exploitation.
Religion, Psychology Of
It would seem, therefore, that the three human impulses embodied in religion are fear, conceit, and hatred. The purpose of religion, one may say, is to give an air of respectability to these passions provided they run in certain channels. It is because these passions make on the whole for human misery that religion is a force for evil, since it permits men to indulge these passions without restraint.
Romanticism
The earth-worm is useful, but not beautiful; the tiger is beautiful, but not useful. Darwin (who was not a romantic) praised the earth-worm; Blake praised the tiger.
War
The argument from history is very apt to be fallacious as applied to modern conditions. War is more serious matter than it used to be. War can still settle problems, but it can only settle them in the wrong way.
War, Changes in Technique of
There has been, since the beginning of organized fighting, an oscillation between superiority of the defensive and superiority of the offensive. Broadly speaking, when the defensive is strong civilization makes progress, and when the offensive is strong men revert towards barbarism.
Russell had his critics, but he had many more devoted followers, and almost everything he wrote over his long life is still worth reading today. This book is a labor of love, an homage to him by people whose lives he touched. It gathers together some of his most trenchant, poignant, and insightful observations from 116 of his books, articles, speeches, and letters from 1900 to 1951, grouped together alphabetically by topic irrespective of where they appeared or when they were published.
Following are a few that made me pause my reading and consider them as commentaries on the human condition. Some are complete quotes as they appear in the book, and others are just a sentence or two from much longer entries. What they have in common is Russell’s ability to see past the surface effects of life and focus on the things that really matter.
Communism and Democracy
All history shows that government is always conducted in the interests of the governing class, except in so far as it is influenced by fear of losing its power.
Communism and Liberty
Communism restricts liberty, particularly intellectual liberty, more than any other system except Fascism. The complete unification of both economic and political power produces a terrifying engine of oppression, in which there are no loopholes for exceptions. Under such a system, progress would soon become impossible, since it is the nature of bureaucrats to object to all change except increase in their own power.
Contemplation
A life confined to what is personal is likely, sooner or later, to become unbearably painful; it is only by windows into a larger and less fretful cosmos that the more tragic parts of life become endurable.
Democracy, Teaching and the Survival Of
The thing, above all, that a teacher should endeavor to produce in his pupils, if democracy is to survive, is the kind of tolerance that springs from an endeavor to understand those who are different from ourselves.
Dictatorship
Cromwell’s rule of the Saints was in many ways similar to Lenin’s system: beginning with advocacy of democracy and freedom, it ended by establishing a hated military tyranny. The French Revolution, starting from the Rights of Man, produced first Robespierre and then Napoleon, neither of which had any very noticeable respect for human rights. In all these cases the trouble came from dogmatic belief in a panacea so splendid that any cruelty was thought permissible in bring about the desired end.
Education
Education should have two objects: first, to give definite knowledge – reading and writing, language and mathematics, and so on; secondly, to create those mental habits which will enable people to acquire knowledge and form sound judgments for themselves.
Education, Liberal
This is the task of a liberal education: to give a sense of the value of things other than domination, to help to create wise citizens of a free community, and through the combination of citizenship with liberty in individual creativeness to enable men to give to human life that splendor which some few have shown that it can achieve.
Eternity, Under the Aspect Of
Spinoza, who was one of the wisest men and who lived consistently in accordance with his own wisdom, advised men to view passing events “under the aspect of eternity.” Those who can learn to do this will find a painful present much more bearable than it would otherwise be.
Fascism
It is anti-democratic, it is nationalistic, it is capitalistic, and it appeals to those sections of the middle class which suffer through modern developments and expect to suffer still more if Socialism or Communism becomes established.
Fear and Religion
Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown, and partly...the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the basis of the whole thing – fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion go hand-in-hand.
Happiness
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.
History
The follies of our times are easier to bear when they are seen against the background of past follies.
Hope
And so, to the man tempted by despair, I say: Remind yourself that the world is what we make it, and that to the making of it each one of us can contribute something. This thought makes hope possible: and in this hope, though life will still be painful, it will no longer be purposeless.
Liberalism
This is the essential difference between the Liberal outlook and that of the totalitarian State, that the former regards the welfare of the State as residing ultimately in the welfare of the individual, while the latter regards the State as the end and individuals merely as indispensable ingredients, whose welfare must be subordinated to a mystical totality which is a cloak for the interests of the rulers.
Life, Man’s True
Man’s true life does not consist in the business of filling his belly and clothing his body, but in art and thought and love, in the creation and contemplation of beauty and in the scientific understanding of the world. If the world is to be regenerated, it is in these things not only in material goods, that all must be enabled to participate.
Passions, Collective
Men’s collective passions are mainly evil: far the strongest of them are hatred and rivalry directed toward other groups. Therefore at present all that gives men power to indulge their collective passions is bad. That is why science threatens to cause the destruction of civilization.
Perspective, Individual
For those to whom dogmatic religion can no longer bring comfort, there is a need of some substitute, if life is not to become dusty and harsh and filled with trivial self-assertion. The world at present is full of angry self-centered groups, each incapable of viewing human life as a whole, each willing to destroy civilization rather than yield an inch….The antidote, in so far as it is a matter of individual psychology, is to be found in history, biology, astronomy, and all those studies which, without destroying self-respect, enable the individual to see himself in his proper perspective.
Pessimism
From a scientific point of view, optimism and pessimism are alike objectionable: optimism assumes, or attempts to prove, that the universe exists to please us, and pessimism that it exists to displease us.
Philosophy
Philosophy, as I shall understand the word, is something intermediate between theology and science. Like theology, it consists of speculations on matters as to which definite knowledge has, so far, been unascertainable; but like science, it appeals to human reason rather than to authority, whether that of tradition or that of revelation. All definite knowledge – so I should contend – belongs to science; all dogma as to what surpasses definite knowledge belongs to theology.
Philosophy, Value Of
It can give a habit of exact and careful thought, not only in mathematics and science, but in questions of large practical import. It can give an impersonal breadth and scope to the conception of the ends of life. It can give to the individual a just measure of himself in relation to society, of man in the present to man in the past and in the future, and of the whole history of man in relation to the astronomical cosmos. By enlarging the objects of his thought it supplies an antidote to the anxieties and anguish of the present, and makes possible the nearest approach to serenity that is available to a sensitive mind in our tortured and uncertain world.
Power
The mere possession of power tends to produce a love of power, which is a very dangerous motive, because the only sure proof of power consists in preventing others from doing what they wish to do.
Religion
In origin, it was concerned with certain rites, inherited from a remote past, performed originally for some reason long since forgotten, and associated from time to time with various myths to account for their supposed importance. Much of this lingers still.
Religion, Organized
The immense majority of ministers of religion support war whenever it occurs, though in peace time they are often pacifists; in supporting war, they give emphatic utterance to the conviction that God is on their side, and lend religious support to the persecution of men who think wholesale slaughter unwise….While slavery existed, religious arguments were found in support it; now-a-days, similar arguments are found in support of capitalistic exploitation.
Religion, Psychology Of
It would seem, therefore, that the three human impulses embodied in religion are fear, conceit, and hatred. The purpose of religion, one may say, is to give an air of respectability to these passions provided they run in certain channels. It is because these passions make on the whole for human misery that religion is a force for evil, since it permits men to indulge these passions without restraint.
Romanticism
The earth-worm is useful, but not beautiful; the tiger is beautiful, but not useful. Darwin (who was not a romantic) praised the earth-worm; Blake praised the tiger.
War
The argument from history is very apt to be fallacious as applied to modern conditions. War is more serious matter than it used to be. War can still settle problems, but it can only settle them in the wrong way.
War, Changes in Technique of
There has been, since the beginning of organized fighting, an oscillation between superiority of the defensive and superiority of the offensive. Broadly speaking, when the defensive is strong civilization makes progress, and when the offensive is strong men revert towards barbarism.
March 18, 2024
Donating 1968 paperback.
Short pithy paragraphs with subject titles.
Here, is in my opinion, where these brilliant minds from his generation went astray. I would include Ezra Pound in this. They came from a time of kings and queens, with a good mix of Anglo Saxon rascism. They found it hard to shake, big ego's.
ARISTOCRACY. Pg. 2
I shrink from the admission that what is best worth having can only be enjoyed by a cultural aristocracy.
This is followed by some very un-plain sentences where he throws in a gratuitous slam against Christianity. At least, I think so, he is so opaque.
I just dont like to take the time to read something three times just to get the idea.
Avoiding conflict with the mob
Rather raise its hostility in attempting to serve it
than secure its tolerance by concealing a contemptuous aloofness
may be wiser philosophically and practically
but the opposite attitude is a heritage of Christianity
and one which is essential to the survival of intelligence as a social force. (POS 474)
DARK AGES pg 19
Period 600-1000
Our undue concentration on Western Europe.
China had Tang Dynasty and greatest age of poetry.
From India to Spain the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished.
A Christian thing.
I read this in 2008, now I have decided to hold for further review, made easier by pencil underlining.
161 pithy pages.
Short pithy paragraphs with subject titles.
Here, is in my opinion, where these brilliant minds from his generation went astray. I would include Ezra Pound in this. They came from a time of kings and queens, with a good mix of Anglo Saxon rascism. They found it hard to shake, big ego's.
ARISTOCRACY. Pg. 2
I shrink from the admission that what is best worth having can only be enjoyed by a cultural aristocracy.
This is followed by some very un-plain sentences where he throws in a gratuitous slam against Christianity. At least, I think so, he is so opaque.
I just dont like to take the time to read something three times just to get the idea.
Avoiding conflict with the mob
Rather raise its hostility in attempting to serve it
than secure its tolerance by concealing a contemptuous aloofness
may be wiser philosophically and practically
but the opposite attitude is a heritage of Christianity
and one which is essential to the survival of intelligence as a social force. (POS 474)
DARK AGES pg 19
Period 600-1000
Our undue concentration on Western Europe.
China had Tang Dynasty and greatest age of poetry.
From India to Spain the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished.
A Christian thing.
I read this in 2008, now I have decided to hold for further review, made easier by pencil underlining.
161 pithy pages.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2023
Not an usual Bertrand Russell work. The book seems to be a concoction of misaligned thoughts - which we don't expect from Russell.
Pretty good but a bit disoriented.
Pretty good but a bit disoriented.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews