Bertrand Russell Quotes

Good and evil exist only in terms of the happiness or suffering they create in ourselves and others

The moral cannibalism of all hedonist and altruist doctrines lies in the premise that the happiness of one man necessitates the injury of another.

It is in everybody's interest to seek those [actions] that lead to happiness and avoid those which lead to suffering. And because our interests are inextricably linked, we are compelled to accept ethics as the indispensable interface between my desire to be happy and yours.

Science, by itself, cannot supply us with an ethic. It can show us how to achieve a given end, and it may show us that some ends cannot be achieved. But among ends that can be achieved our choice must be decided by other than purely scientific considerations. If a man were to say, "I hate the human race, and I think it would be a good thing if it were exterminated," we could say, "Well, my dear sir, let us begin the process with you." But this is hardly argument, and no amount of science could prove such a man mistaken.

Ethical metaphysics is fundamentally an attempt, however disguised, to give legislative force to our own wishes.

Truth and right are above utility in all realms of thought and action.

No one has a right to happiness.

The true object of moral and political disquisition is pleasure or happiness.

I am a humanist.

That which is selfish is immoral, and that which is unselfish is moral.

My own view, which does not rely solely on religious faith or even on an original idea, but rather on ordinary common sense, is that establishing binding ethical principles is possible when we take as our starting point the observation that we all desire happiness and wish to avoid suffering.

What would our world be like if we ceased to worry about 'right' and 'wrong,' or 'good' and 'evil,' and simply acted so as to maximize well-being, our own and that of others? Would we lose anything important?

If I have a mission in life, it is to convince people that everyone is morally motivated - everyone except for psychopaths.

Human knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth.

To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do.

What is the real relation between happiness and goodness? It is only within a few generations that men have found courage to say that there is none.

He who would govern his actions by the laws of virtue must regulate his thoughts by those of reason.

I do not believe in the doctrine of the greatest good of the greatest number. The only real, dignified, human doctrine is the greatest good of all.

It is better to will the good than to know the truth.

Humanists try to behave decently and honorably without any expectation of rewards or punishments in an afterlife. The creator of the universe has been unknown to us so far. We serve as well as we can to the highest abstraction of which we have some understanding, which is our community.

Religion gets its morality from us. We don't get our morality from religion.

Most people affirm pleasure to be the good, but the finer sort of wits say it is knowledge.

There is no justice in the laws of nature, no term for fairness in the equations of motion. The Universe is neither evil, nor good, it simply does not care. The stars don't care, or the Sun, or the sky. But they don't have to! WE care! There IS light in the world, and it is US!

There must be a way of promoting human values without involving religion, based on common sense, experience and recent scientific findings.

If we make sacrifices in doing good or in doing ill, it does not alter the ultimate value of our actions; even if we stake our life in the cause, as martyrs do for the sake of our church : it is a sacrifice to our longing for power, or for the purpose of conserving our sense of power.