Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
1950s, The Russell-Einstein Manifesto (1955)
"Tomorrow"
In Bluebeard's Castle (1971)
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
1950s, The Russell-Einstein Manifesto (1955)
“Is there beyond the silent night
An endless day?
Is death a door that leads to light?
We cannot say.”
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
"The Devil" (1899) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38804/38804-h/38804-h.htm Section IX, "Conclusion: Declaration of the Free" Compare: "the door of Darkness", The Rubaiyat, stanza 64.
J. B. Bury (1861–1927) Irish historian and freethinker
Introduction<!-- pp. 3-4 -->
The Idea of Progress: An Inquiry Into Its Origin and Growth (1921)
Context: Science has been advancing without interruption during the last three of four hundred years; every new discovery has led to new problems and new methods of solution, and opened up new fields for exploration. Hitherto men of science have not been compelled to halt, they have always found ways to advance further. But what assurance have we that they will not come up against impassable barriers?... Take biology or astronomy. How can we be sure that some day progress may not come to a dead pause, not because knowledge is exhausted, but because our resources for investigation are exhausted... It is an assumption, which cannot be verified, that we shall not reach a point in our knowledge of nature beyond which the human intellect is unqualified to pass.
Thomas Adam (1701–1784) clergyman, religious writer
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 582.
Antoni Tàpies (1923–2012) Catalan painter, sculptor and art theorist
Source: undated quotes, Tàpies, Werke auf Papier 1943 – 2003,' (2004), p. 30.
John Updike (1932–2009) American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic
Introduction to The Best American Short Stories of 1984 (1984)