Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].
Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.
Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.
This has been my life; I found it worth living.
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell was born in 1872, the grandson of John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, who was Prime Minister in the 1840's and 1860's. He was a philosopher, a logician, a mathematician and a campaigner for social reform. He was a dynamic writer and commentated on many subjects. For most of his life he was a well known anti-war activist, campaigning for nuclear disarmament, and he tried to champion fair trade between countries. In 1931, he became 3rd Earl Russell. He is one of the world's best known intellects. In 1950 he was made a Nobel Laureate, "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."