Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.
From Bertrand Russell
Reason is a harmonising, controlling force rather than a creative one.
The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals, or to savages, or even to most civilised men.
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.
Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.
There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.
Mathematics takes us into the region of absolute necessity, to which not only the actual word, but every possible word, must conform.
I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite.
None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
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