What Bertrand Russell thinks about humility
British philosopher and logician (1872 to 1970), also a social critic; co-author with Alfred North Whitehead of Principia Mathematica (1910 to 1913), author of The Problems of Philosophy (1912), awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.
Bertrand Russell did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Only Bertrand Russell on humility. See everyone on humility
6 dated positions, c. 1912 to c. 1930, in their own words. Our reading of what Bertrand Russell has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our readingAdmitting at least one painful truth to oneself every day is as useful as a daily kind action
Their wordsAdmit to yourself every day at least one painful truth; you will find this quite as useful as the Boy Scout’s daily kind action.
↗The Conquest of Happiness (1930)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsIt is a mistake to suppose that the majority is necessarily right. On every new question the majority is always wrong at first.
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Our readingDo not act on customary beliefs where the action is disastrous unless they are wholly true
Their wordsA good working maxim in such matters is this: Do not trust customary beliefs so far as to perform actions which must be disastrous unless the beliefs in question are wholly true.
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Their wordsThe value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty. The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason.
↗The Problems of Philosophygutenberg.org All 4 from this book
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Their wordsPhilosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom.
↗The Problems of Philosophygutenberg.org All 4 from this book
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Their wordsThus, to sum up our discussion of the value of philosophy; Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation; but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind also is rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good.
↗The Problems of Philosophygutenberg.org All 4 from this book