“I must, before I die, find some way to say the essential thing that is in me, that I have never said yet -- a thing that is not love or hate or pity or scorn, but the very breath of life, fierce and coming from far away, bringing into human life the vastness and the fearful passionless force of non-human things.”
Explore This Quote Further
Quote Analysis
In this quote by Bertrand Russell, the author expresses a deep desire to convey an essential truth that has been within them but has never been articulated before. The quote highlights the struggle of expressing a profound and powerful idea that goes beyond typical human emotions such as love, hate, pity, or scorn. Instead, Russell seeks to communicate a truth that embodies the very essence of life itself, tapping into the vastness and impassive force of the non-human world. This quote conveys the existential yearning to articulate something transcendent and universal that lies at the core of human existence.
Bertrand Russell on Expressing the Inexpressible
“I must, before I die, find some way to say the essential thing that is in me, that I have never said yet -- a thing that is not love or hate or pity or scorn, but the very breath of life, fierce and coming from far away, bringing into human life the vastness and the fearful passionless force of non-human things.”
Modern Relevance of Bertrand Russell's Quote
In today's fast-paced world filled with constant noise and distractions, the search for authenticity and genuine expression is more important than ever. Bertrand Russell's words about the need to convey the essential truth within oneself resonate strongly in a society that often values superficiality and conformity. As individuals strive to find their voice and share their unique perspective, Russell's message serves as a reminder to dig deep and communicate the raw, primal essence of human experience.
Reflection Questions:
Reflecting on this quote by Bertrand Russell, consider the following questions:
What do you think Russell is trying to convey with the idea of expressing the "very breath of life" that is within him?
Have you ever felt a deep, primal urge to express something that goes beyond typical human emotions like love or hate? If so, what was it and how did you convey it?
How can we tap into the "vastness and fearful passionless force of non-human things" in our own lives and expressions?
In what ways do you feel connected to the natural world and how does this connection influence your ability to express yourself authentically?
Similar quotes
“Love is wise; hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don't like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.”
“I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting. Many a man has borne himself proudly on the scaffold; surely the same pride should teach us to think truly about man's place in the world. Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cosy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigour, and the great spaces have a splendour of their own.”
“I hate the world and almost all the people in it. I hate the Labour Congress and the journalists who send men to be slaughtered, and the fathers who feel a smug pride when their sons are killed, and even the pacifists who keep saying human nature is essentially good, in spite of all the daily proofs to the contrary. I hate the planet and the human race—I am ashamed to belong to such a species.”
“Understanding human nature must be the basis of any real improvement in human life. Science has done wonders in mastering the laws of the physical world, but our own nature is much less understood, as yet, than the nature of stars and electrons. When science learns to understand human nature, it will be able to bring a happiness into our lives which machines and the physical sciences have failed to create.”
“When you come to look into this argument from design, it is a most astonishing thing that people can believe that this world, with all the things that are in it, with all its defects, should be the best that omnipotence and omniscience have been able to produce in millions of years. I really cannot believe it. Do you think that, if you were granted omnipotence and omniscience and millions of years in which to perfect your world, you could produce nothing better than the Ku Klux Klan or the Fascists? Moreover, if you accept the ordinary laws of science, you have to suppose that human life and life in general on this planet will die out in due course: it is a stage in the decay of the solar system; at a certain stage of decay you get the sort of conditions of temperature and so forth which are suitable to protoplasm, and there is life for a short time in the life of the whole solar system. You see in the moon the sort of thing to which the earth is tending -- something dead, cold, and lifeless.”
“Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.”