Bertrand Russell Quotes
I cannot escape from the conclusion that the great ages of progress have depended upon a small number of individuals of transcendent ability.
3rd Earl Russell of Kingston
Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, British Philosopher & Reformer, Western Civilization, 1935
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1st Earl of Beaconsfield
After declaring the independence of Rhodesia from British imperial rule:
This quotation illustrates the extreme naivety of some of the Muslim leaders. He and many Muslims actually believe that America and the West are out to assassinate Muslim scientists to prevent Islam from advancing. This is a convenient rationale for the poor scientific level of achievement in modern Islamic cultures. Bashar and other conspiracy theorists pay little attention to the many Muslim scientists who have been and are being trained in American, French, English and other country’s universities. Muslims attend the same classes and learn from the same professors as Western students. None get assassinated. Sectarian violence of Iraq Sunni and Shiite Muslims against each other has tragically taken the lives of some scientists. Almost 1000 years ago Islam and the Arabs had many of the great scientists of the world, but the intellectual stagnation brought about by extreme Islamic fundamentalism curtailed their technical development.
Darwin believed at the time that large populations were critical to national success and development. The next 100 years would prove that large population was a handicap to progress and real growth of standard of living.
The magnificent result of modern civilization has been to extend the average lifespan of humans by decades. What Galton called “weakly lives” are those that were eradicated by smallpox, bubonic plague, polio and hundreds of other diseases and risks where we have strengthened mankind and not simply succumbed to all the many natural dangers. At the same time however, civilization has added risks and dangers to human life. Automobile crashes, industrial accidents and the like. The balance has been well in favor of “civilization.”
Iqbal was an Islamic modernist and reformer who advocated democracy, and freedom of religion for Muslims and non-Muslims. Like Thomas Jefferson, he believed that each generation had the right and obligation to redefine its values and laws.
He was referring to the fact that many great men had early views that people find shocking because they are so unexpected based on their mature writings or speeches. But most great men develop personally and intellectually over their career. As an example, see {616330} for an early racist, prejudiced view of Negro laborers.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell OM FRS was a British polymath, philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, political activist, and Nobel laureate. Bertrand Russell was one of the most influential and widely known intellectual figures of the twentieth century. In 1950 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his extensive contributions to world literature and for his “rationality and humanity, as a fearless champion of free speech and free thought in the West.“
