The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows:
1: Do not
feel absolutely certain of anything.
2: Do not
think it worthwhile to produce belief by concealing evidence, for the evidence
is sure to come to light.
3: Never
try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.
4: When
you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your
children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a
victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5: Have
no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary
authorities to be found.
6: Do not
use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions
will suppress you.
7: Do not
fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once
eccentric.
8: Find
more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you
value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than
the latter.
9: Be
scrupulously truthful, even when truth is inconvenient, for it is more
inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. Do
not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for
only a fool will think that it is happiness.
*Bertrand
Russell, “The Best Answer to Fanaticism -
Liberalism; Its calm search for truth, viewed as dangerous in many places,
remains the hope of humanity”, published in The New York Times Magazine, Dec.
16, 1951, p. 183.