I consider the official Catholic attitude on divorce, birth control, and censorship exceedingly dangerous to mankind. - Bertrand Russell

There are a number of purely theoretical questions, of perennial and passionate interest, which science is unable to answer, at any rate at present. Do we survive death in any sense, and if so, do we survive for a time or for ever? Can mind dominate matter, or does matter completely dominate mind, or has each, perhaps, a certain limited independence? Has the universe a purpose? Or is it driven by blind necessity? Or is it a mere chaos and jumble, in which the natural laws that we think we find are only a phantasy generated by our own love of order? If there is a cosmic scheme, has life more importance in it than astronomy would lead us to suppose, or is our emphasis upon life mere parochialism and self-importance? I do not know the answer to these questions, and I do not believe that anybody else does, but I think human life would be impoverished if they were forgotten, or if definite answers were accepted without adequate evidence. To keep alive the interest in such questions, and to scrutinize suggested answers, is one of the functions of philosophy.

Whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities.

The facts of science, as they appeared to him <nowiki>[</nowiki>Heraclitus<nowiki>]</nowiki>, fed the flame in his soul, and in its light, he saw into the depths of the world.