We do not want our world to perish. But in our quest for knowledge, century by century, we have placed all our trust in a cold, impartial intellect which only brings us nearer to destruction.
Dora RussellI read recently in an article by G.K. Chesterton, that sex without gestation and parturition is like blowing the trumpets and waving the flags without doing any of the fighting. From a woman such words, though displaying inexperience, might come with dignity; from a man they are an unforgivable, intolerable insult. What is man's part in sex but a perpetual waving of flags and blowing of trumpets and avoidance of the fighting?
Dora RussellBecause men have so long ruled the world, it does not follow that the philosophy by which they have ruled it is the correct one.
Dora RussellAnimals we are, and animals we remain, and the path to our regeneration and happiness, if there be such a path, lies through our animal nature.
Dora RussellIndustrialism is the religion with 'the machine' as the god going to answer all the prayers. Communism and capitalism were just competing sects.
Dora Russellanybody who has anything abusive to say of women, whether ancient or modern, can command a vast public in the popular press and a ready agreement from the average publisher.
Dora RussellWe have never yet had a labor Government that knew what taking power really means; they always act like second-class citizens.
Dora RussellThere is no instinct that has been so maligned, suppressed, abused, and distorted by religious teaching as the instinct of sex.
Dora RussellMarie Stopes had established the first birth control clinic in Britain; the whole question of informing women, especially those who were poor, about methods of contraception, began to be discussed.
Dora RussellWe have heeded no wisdom offering guidance. Only by learning to love one another can our world be saved. Only love can conquer all.
Dora RussellFeminists have emphasized for a long time the importance of each woman's individual entity and the necessity of economic independence. Perhaps it was necessary. But now I think we need some emphasis on the instinctive side of life, sex and motherhood.... Life isn't all earning your living. Unfortunately we fall in love and Feminism must take that into consideration.
Dora RussellMeasures of self-government and a school council, especially for such young children, were a great innovation.
Dora RussellThe origin of the stupid ideal of womanhood against which men as well as women to-day are still fighting was the asceticism of the Christian religion; and, unless St. Paul was a woman in disguise, I fail to see how woman is to be blamed for a conception of her place and duty from which she has suffered more than anybody else.
Dora RussellOne of the problems with industrialism is that it's based on the premise of more and more. It has to keep expanding to keep going. More and more television sets. More and more cars. More and more steel, and more and more pollution. We don't question whether we need any more or what we'll do with them. We just have to keep on making more and more if we are to keep going. Sooner or later it's going to collapse. ... Look what we have done already with the principle of more and more when it comes to nuclear weapons.
Dora RussellI am filled with hatred for money, for battleships, for industry, for factories, for the grind, grind, grind of the machine on all our creative instincts.
Dora RussellHumanity will ever seek but never attain perfection. Let us at least survive and go on trying.
Dora RussellIf an adult uses violence on a child, the child will naturally assume that he too, has the right to use it on one smaller or weaker.
Dora RussellFollowing the rise of the Labour Party it seemed reasonable, in 1927, to expect, or at least hope, that co-operation for the common good might gradually replace the competitiveness of capitalism.
Dora Russell