 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
Not all desires are egoistic, and the belief that they are has caused needless difficulties for a whole school of ethical philosophers. There is no limit to the remoteness of what a man may desire, though a desire will not influence action unless there is thought to be some means of achieving it. You may wish that Hannibal had won the Second Punic War, or hope that there is life in some of the remoter nebulae, but there is nothing that you can do about it, and therefore such desires are without practical importance. .
Source: Bertrand Russell: Human Society in Ethics and Politics, (1954), chapter 5
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