Metaphysics, or the attempt to conceive the world as a whole by means of thought, has been developed, from the first, by the union and conflict of two very different human impulses, the one urging men towards mysticism, the other urging them towards science.Bertrand Russell
In daily life, we assume as certain many things which, on a closer scrutiny, are found to be so full of apparent contradictions that only a great amount of thought enables us to know what it is that we really may believe.Bertrand Russell
All knowledge, we find, must be built up upon our instinctive beliefs, and if these are rejected, nothing is left.Bertrand Russell
What it is that we know, if anything, seems a very difficult question.Bertrand Russell
In philosophy, it seems, the truths that have been once discovered and are left aside always need to be rediscovered.Bertrand Russell
The philosophical errors of any generation, having once been refuted, are perpetually revived, and it constantly happens that the world is offered the old error in the guise of the latest discovery.Bertrand Russell
Philosophy arises from an unusually obstinate attempt to arrive at real knowledge.Bertrand Russell
Knowledge and power are both desirable, and together they are more desirable still.Bertrand Russell
Knowledge is our most certain possession, and also our most certain lack.Bertrand Russell
We need to believe that our instinctive beliefs are much less foolish than they seem, and this belief is needed in the interests of knowledge.Bertrand Russell
While all that we actually see or perceive is always particular, our thoughts, on the other hand, are general.Bertrand Russell
The business of philosophy is still much what it was in Socrates' time: to teach men to bring explicitness to their instincts, to understand their own minds, and to purify their own reactions.Bertrand Russell
Thought is not stagnant, nor yet capable of completion; and though it may always be enriched by new knowledge, it will not change its nature as thought or pass beyond thinking.Bertrand Russell
Language is always more or less vague; it is not capable of expressing exact thoughts.Bertrand Russell
One of the chief ways in which philosophy is to be made useful is by promoting the study of methods rather than of facts.Bertrand Russell