“We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices. The opposite view involves some effort of thought, and most people would die sooner than think – in fact they do so.”

—  Bertrand Russell

The ABC of Relativity (1925), p. 166
1920s
Variant: "Most people would rather die than think; many do."

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices. The opposite view involves some effort o…" by Bertrand Russell?
Bertrand Russell photo
Bertrand Russell562
logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi… 1872–1970

Related quotes

Bertrand Russell photo

“Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

Miley Cyrus photo

“Some people think you have more privileges than other teenagers because of what you do, and that's not it at all. It's actually the opposite.”

Miley Cyrus (1992) American actor and singer-songwriter

OK! Magazine http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/4676 (February 20, 2008)

Terry Pratchett photo

“I tell you, commander, it's true that some of the most terrible things in the world are done by people who think, genuinely think, that they're doing it for the best, especially if there is some god involved.”

Terry Pratchett book Snuff

Source: Snuff

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg photo

“Prejudices are so to speak the mechanical instincts of men: through their prejudices they do without any effort many things they would find too difficult to think through to the point of resolving to do them.”

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) German scientist, satirist

A 58
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook A (1765-1770)

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo

“The fact that we will all die sooner or later is enough to prove that we are responsible for our sins.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Michael Dummett photo

“Philosophy can take us no further than enabling us to command a clear view of the concepts by means of which we think about the world, and, by so doing, to attain a firmer grasp of the way we represent the world in our thought. It is for this reason and in this sense that philosophy is about the world.”

Michael Dummett (1925–2011) British academic and philosopher

Dummett, M. A. E. The Logical Basis of Metaphysics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1991.

Bertrand Russell photo

“The tendency of our perceptions is to emphasise increasingly the objective elements in an impression, unless we have some special reason, as artists have, for doing the opposite.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

An Outline of Philosophy Ch.15 The Nature of our Knowledge of Physics (1927)
1920s

Aristotle photo

“… happiness does not consist in amusement. In fact, it would be strange if our end were amusement, and if we were to labor and suffer hardships all our life long merely to amuse ourselves…. The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with virtue. It is a life which involves effort and is not spent in amusement….”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

John Ralston Saul photo

“Because the managerial élites are now so large and have such a dominant effect on our educational system, we are actually teaching most people to manage, not to think. Not only do we not reward thought, we punish it as unprofessional.”

John Ralston Saul book The Unconscious Civilization

The Unconscious Civilization (1995)

Susan Sontag photo

“I believe that we think much more with the instruments provided by our culture than we do with our bodies, and hence the much greater diversity of thought in the world. Thinking is a form of feeling; feeling is a form of thinking.”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

"Susan Sontag: The Rolling Stone Interview" with Jonathan Cott (1978; published 4 October 1979)
Context: One of my oldest crusades is against the distinction between thought and feeling... which is really the basis of all anti-intellectual views: the heart and the head, thinking and feeling, fantasy and judgment. We have more or less the same bodies, but very different kinds of thoughts. I believe that we think much more with the instruments provided by our culture than we do with our bodies, and hence the much greater diversity of thought in the world. Thinking is a form of feeling; feeling is a form of thinking.

Related topics