The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, and relations of frendship or affection.
Subject:
Friendship
Knowledge
Art
|
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so.
Subject:
Death
Thinking
|
Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.
Subject:
Love & Romance
Happiness
Source: Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 12
|
We have, in fact, two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice, and another which we practice but seldom preach.
Subject:
Wisdom
Morality
Virtue
|
Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man.
Subject:
Stupidity
Democracy
Honesty
|
Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.
Subject:
Belief
Men
Source: Unpopular Essays (1950), "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish
|
One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways.
Subject:
Happiness
Opinions
Source: Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 9
|
Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.
Subject:
Life
Crime
|
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
Subject:
Love & Romance
Source: Marriage and Morals (1929) ch. 19
|
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
Subject:
Mankind
Sensible
Opinions
Source: Marriage and Morals (1929) ch. 5
|
Too little liberty brings stagnation and too much brings chaos.
Subject:
Wisdom
Freedom
|
I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
Subject:
Belief
|
This is one of those views which are so absolutely absurd that only very learned men could possibly adopt them.
Subject:
Cynicism
Opinions
|
It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true.
Subject:
Belief
Truth
Source: Sceptical Essays (1928), "On the Value of Scepticism
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A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not be endured with patient resignation.
Subject:
Duty
Work
Source: Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 10
|
If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.
Subject:
Happiness
Source:
|
Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.
Subject:
Patriotism
|
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
Subject:
Wisdom
|
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
Subject:
Fear
|
Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.
Subject:
Happiness
Source: Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 1
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