Fear of death has been the greatest ally of tyranny past and present.
Students rarely disappoint teachers who assure them in advance that they are doomed to failure.
In contrast to totalitarianism, democracy can face and live with the truth about itself.
Nonetheless, it still remains true that as a set of cognitive beliefs, religious doctrines constitute a speculative hypothesis of an extremely low order of probability.
Before impugning an opponent’s motives, even when they legitimately may be impugned, answer his arguments.
Life has meaning for anyone who takes an interest in it.
Religious freedom in an open society has the best prospects of flourishing to the extent that it expresses itself as freedom of religious inquiry.
To deny me the right to err is therefore to deny me the right to believe.
Religious tolerance has developed more as a consequence of the impotence of religions to impose their dogmas on each other than as a consequence of spiritual humility in the quest for understanding first and last things.
Wisdom is an affair of values, and of value judgments. It is intelligent conduct of human affairs.
If one shoots at a king, one must not miss.
The mob that hails the man on horseback, the Caesars and conquering heroes, does not retain its freedoms for long.
A liberal education will impart an awareness of the amazing and precious complexity of human relationships. Since those relationships are violated more often out of insensitiveness than out of deliberate intent, whatever increases sensitiveness of perception and understanding humanizes life.
Noam Chomsky skittles and skithers all over the political landscape to distract the reader’s attention from the plain truth.
The easiest rationalization for the refusal to seek the truth is the denial that truth exists.
The next time anyone asks you “What is Bertrand Russell’s philosophy?” the correct answer is “What year, please?”
No one who accepts the sovereignty of truth can be a foot soldier in a party or movement. He will always find himself out of step.
Idealism, alas, does not protect one from ignorance, dogmatism, and foolishness.
Philosophy, most broadly viewed, is the critical survey of existence from the standpoint of value.
Stupidity is sometimes the greatest of historical forces.