--- title: "13 Biology Quotes By Thomas Henry Huxley" description: "13 Biology quotes by Thomas Henry Huxley. Plus more from Thomas Henry Huxley and more Biology sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88e/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_there-can-be-no-doubt-that-the-existing_320890.jpg" --- > [“There can be no doubt that the existing Fauna and Flora is but the last term of a long series of equally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/there-can-be-no-doubt-that-the-existing-fauna-and-flora-is-but-the/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88e/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_there-can-be-no-doubt-that-the-existing_320890.jpg) > [“For these two years I have been gravitating towards your doctrines, and since the publication of your primula paper with accelerated velocity.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/for-these-two-years-i-have-been-gravitating-towards-your-doctrines-2/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/828/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_for-these-two-years-i-have-been-gravitat_540056.jpg) > [“That which struck the present writer most forcibly on his first perusal of the 'Origin of Species' was the conviction that Teleology,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/that-which-struck-the-present-writer-most-forcibly-on-his-first/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4c9/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_that-which-struck-the-present-writer-mos_2167282.jpg) > [“The question of the position of man, as an animal, has given rise to much disputation, with the result of proving that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/the-question-of-the-position-of-man-as-an-animal-has-given-rise-to/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_anatomy_the-question-of-the-position-of-man-as-a_724977.jpg) > [“Wherever sufficiently numerous series of the remains of any given group, which has endured for a long space of time, are carefully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/wherever-sufficiently-numerous-series-of-the-remains-of-any-given/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c3/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_wherever-sufficiently-numerous-series-of_2233821.jpg) > [“The tendency to variation in living beings, which all admitted as a matter of fact; the selective influence of conditions, which no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/the-tendency-to-variation-in-living-beings-which-all-admitted-as-a/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/306/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_the-tendency-to-variation-in-living-bein_2119706.jpg) > [“According to Teleology, each organism is like a rifle bullet fired straight at a mark; according to Darwin , organisms are like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/according-to-teleology-each-organism-is-like-a-rifle-bullet-fired/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c42/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_analogy_according-to-teleology-each-organism-is_840901.jpg) > [“The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/the-known-is-finite-the-unknown-infinite-intellectually-we-stand-on-2/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_analogy_the-known-is-finite-the-unknown-infinite_1595942.jpg) > [ “In the beginning of the eighteenth century, De Maillet made the first serious attempt to apply the doctrine \[ of evolution \]… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/in-the-beginning-of-the-eighteenth-century-de-maillet-made-the-first/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d37/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biological-evolution_in-the-beginning-of-the-eighteenth-centu_2375328.jpg) > [“The publication of the Darwin and Wallace papers in 1858, and still more that of the 'Origin' in 1859, had the effect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/the-publication-of-the-darwin-and-wallace-papers-in-1858-and-still/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27d/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_alfred-russel-wallac_the-publication-of-the-darwin-and-wallac_571652.jpg) > [“It was badly received by the generation to which it was first addressed, and the outpouring of angry nonsense to which it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/it-was-badly-received-by-the-generation-to-which-it-was-first/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c37/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_ancients_it-was-badly-received-by-the-generation_1424347.jpg) > [“All organisms vary. It is in the highest degree improbable that any given variety should have exactly the same relations to surrounding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/all-organisms-vary-it-is-in-the-highest-degree-improbable-that-any/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/421/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_all-organisms-vary-it-is-in-the-highest_762543.jpg) > [“Cats catch mice, small birds and the like, very well. Teleology tells us that they do so because they were expressly constructed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/cats-catch-mice-small-birds-and-the-like-very-well-teleology-tells-us/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8f/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_cats-catch-mice-small-birds-and-the-like_2816892.jpg) ## Other authors on Biology - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-richard-dawkins-78503.jpg) Richard Dawkins 67 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/richard-dawkins/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-stephen-jay-gould-87041.jpg) Stephen Jay Gould 40 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/stephen-jay-gould/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-e-o-wilson-31102.jpg) E. O. Wilson 29 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/e-o-wilson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-yuval-noah-harari-100.jpg) Yuval Noah Harari 26 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/yuval-noah-harari/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-siddhartha-mukherjee-85288.jpg) Siddhartha Mukherjee 25 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/siddhartha-mukherjee/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b006/author-carl-sagan-20994.jpg) Carl Sagan 21 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/carl-sagan/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-pierre-teilhard-de-chardin-75655.jpg) Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 20 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/pierre-teilhard-de-chardin/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b002/author-frances-arnold-5774.jpg) Frances Arnold 20 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/frances-arnold/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-neil-degrasse-tyson-70683.jpg) Neil deGrasse Tyson 19 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/neil-degrasse-tyson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-bill-nye-18005.jpg) Bill Nye 18 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/bill-nye/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-steven-pinker-87519.jpg) Steven Pinker 17 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/steven-pinker/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b009/author-ernst-mayr-33893.jpg) Ernst Mayr 16 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/ernst-mayr/) ## More by Thomas Henry Huxley > [“In Paley's famous illustration, the adaptation of all the parts of the watch to the function, or purpose, of showing the time, is held…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/in-paley-s-famous-illustration-the-adaptation-of-all-the-parts-of-the/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“It is my conviction that, with the spread of true scientific culture, whatever may be the medium, historical, philological, philosophical, or physical, through which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/it-is-my-conviction-that-with-the-spread-of-true-scientific-culture/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, whether you like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/perhaps-the-most-valuable-result-of-all-education-is-the-ability-to/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [It is because the body is a machine that education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a super inducing of an artificial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/it-is-because-the-body-is-a-machine-that-education-is-possible/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“There can be no doubt that the existing Fauna and Flora is but the last term of a long series of equally numerous contemporary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/there-can-be-no-doubt-that-the-existing-fauna-and-flora-is-but-the/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“When I reached intellectual maturity, and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/when-i-reached-intellectual-maturity-and-began-to-ask-myself-whether/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“For these two years I have been gravitating towards your doctrines, and since the publication of your primula paper with accelerated velocity. By about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/for-these-two-years-i-have-been-gravitating-towards-your-doctrines-2/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“The publication of the Darwin and Wallace papers in 1858, and still more that of the 'Origin' in 1859, had the effect upon them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/the-publication-of-the-darwin-and-wallace-papers-in-1858-and-still/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle. That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/agnosticism-in-fact-is-not-a-creed-but-a-method-the-essence-of-which-2/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“Those who are ignorant of Geology, find no difficulty in believing that the world was made as it is; and the shepherd, untutored in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/those-who-are-ignorant-of-geology-find-no-difficulty-in-believing/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [Logical consequences are the scare-crows of fools and the beacons of wise men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/logical-consequences-are-the-scare-crows-of-fools-and-the-beacons-of/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“The question of the position of man, as an animal, has given rise to much disputation, with the result of proving that there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/the-question-of-the-position-of-man-as-an-animal-has-given-rise-to/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“Very few, even among those who have taken the keenest interest in the progress of the revolution in natural knowledge set afoot by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/very-few-even-among-those-who-have-taken-the-keenest-interest-in-the/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“All organisms vary. It is in the highest degree improbable that any given variety should have exactly the same relations to surrounding conditions as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/all-organisms-vary-it-is-in-the-highest-degree-improbable-that-any/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“And those who will carefully study the so-called 'Mosaic code' contained in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, will see that, though Jahveh's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/and-those-who-will-carefully-study-the-so-called-mosaic-code/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/thomas-henry-huxley/#itemlist", "name": "13 Biology Quotes By Thomas Henry Huxley", "numberOfItems": 13, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There can be no doubt that the existing Fauna and Flora is but the last term of a long series of equally numerous contemporary species, which have succeeded one another, by the slow and gradual substitution of species for species, in the vast interval of time which has elapsed between the deposition of the earliest fossiliferous strata and the present day.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/there-can-be-no-doubt-that-the-existing-fauna-and-flora-is-but-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88e/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_there-can-be-no-doubt-that-the-existing_320890.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88e/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_there-can-be-no-doubt-that-the-existing_320890.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88e/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_there-can-be-no-doubt-that-the-existing_320890.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There can be no doubt that the existing Fauna and Flora is but the last term of a long series of equally…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“For these two years I have been gravitating towards your doctrines, and since the publication of your primula paper with accelerated velocity. By about this time next year I expect to have shot past you, and to find you pitching into me for being more Darwinian than yourself. However, you have set me going, and must just take the consequences, for I warn you I will stop at no point so long as clear reasoning will take me further. { Letter of support to Charles Darwin on his theory of evolution }”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/for-these-two-years-i-have-been-gravitating-towards-your-doctrines-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/828/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_for-these-two-years-i-have-been-gravitat_540056.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/828/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_for-these-two-years-i-have-been-gravitat_540056.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/828/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_for-these-two-years-i-have-been-gravitat_540056.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For these two years I have been gravitating towards your doctrines, and since the publication of your…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“That which struck the present writer most forcibly on his first perusal of the 'Origin of Species' was the conviction that Teleology, as commonly understood, had received its deathblow at Mr. Darwin 's hands. For the teleological argument runs thus: an organ or organism (A) is precisely fitted to perform a function or purpose (B); therefore it was specially constructed to perform that function.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/that-which-struck-the-present-writer-most-forcibly-on-his-first/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4c9/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_that-which-struck-the-present-writer-mos_2167282.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4c9/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_that-which-struck-the-present-writer-mos_2167282.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4c9/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_that-which-struck-the-present-writer-mos_2167282.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“That which struck the present writer most forcibly on his first perusal of the 'Origin of Species' was the…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The question of the position of man, as an animal, has given rise to much disputation, with the result of proving that there is no anatomical or developmental character by which he is more widely distinguished from the group of animals most nearly allied to him, than they are from one another.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/the-question-of-the-position-of-man-as-an-animal-has-given-rise-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_anatomy_the-question-of-the-position-of-man-as-a_724977.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_anatomy_the-question-of-the-position-of-man-as-a_724977.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_anatomy_the-question-of-the-position-of-man-as-a_724977.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The question of the position of man, as an animal, has given rise to much disputation, with the result of…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Wherever sufficiently numerous series of the remains of any given group, which has endured for a long space of time, are carefully examined, their morphological relations are never in discordance with the requirements of the doctrine of evolution, and often afford convincing evidence of it. At the same time, it has been shown that certain forms persist with very little change, from the oldest to the newest fossiliferous formations; and thus show that progressive development is a contingent, and not a necessary result, of the nature of living matter.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/wherever-sufficiently-numerous-series-of-the-remains-of-any-given/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c3/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_wherever-sufficiently-numerous-series-of_2233821.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c3/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_wherever-sufficiently-numerous-series-of_2233821.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c3/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_wherever-sufficiently-numerous-series-of_2233821.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Wherever sufficiently numerous series of the remains of any given group, which has endured for a long space…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The tendency to variation in living beings, which all admitted as a matter of fact; the selective influence of conditions, which no one could deny to be a matter of fact, when his attention was drawn to the evidence; and the occurrence of great geological changes which also was matter of fact; could be used as the only necessary postulates of a theory of the evolution of plants and animals which, even if not at once, competent to explain all the known facts of biological science, could not be shown to be inconsistent with any.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/the-tendency-to-variation-in-living-beings-which-all-admitted-as-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/306/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_the-tendency-to-variation-in-living-bein_2119706.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/306/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_the-tendency-to-variation-in-living-bein_2119706.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/306/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_the-tendency-to-variation-in-living-bein_2119706.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The tendency to variation in living beings, which all admitted as a matter of fact; the selective influence…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“According to Teleology, each organism is like a rifle bullet fired straight at a mark; according to Darwin , organisms are like grapeshot of which one hits something and the rest fall wide. For the teleologist an organism exists because it was made for the conditions in which it is found; for the Darwinian an organism exists because, out of many of its kind, it is the only one which has been able to persist in the conditions in which it is found. Teleology implies that the organs of every organism are perfect and cannot be improved; the Darwinian theory simply affirms that they work well enough to enable the organism to hold its own against such competitors as it has met with, but admits the possibility of indefinite improvement.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/according-to-teleology-each-organism-is-like-a-rifle-bullet-fired/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c42/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_analogy_according-to-teleology-each-organism-is_840901.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c42/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_analogy_according-to-teleology-each-organism-is_840901.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c42/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_analogy_according-to-teleology-each-organism-is_840901.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“According to Teleology, each organism is like a rifle bullet fired straight at a mark; according to Darwin…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land, to add something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions. And even a cursory glance at the history of the biological sciences during the last quarter of a century is sufficient to justify the assertion, that the most potent instrument for the extension of the realm of natural knowledge which has come into men's hands, since the publication of Newton 's ‘Principia’, is Darwin 's ‘Origin of Species.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/the-known-is-finite-the-unknown-infinite-intellectually-we-stand-on-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_analogy_the-known-is-finite-the-unknown-infinite_1595942.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_analogy_the-known-is-finite-the-unknown-infinite_1595942.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_analogy_the-known-is-finite-the-unknown-infinite_1595942.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In the beginning of the eighteenth century, De Maillet made the first serious attempt to apply the doctrine [ of evolution ] to the living world. In the latter part of it, Erasmus Darwin , Goethe , and Lamarck took up the work more vigorously and with better qualifications. The question of special creation, or evolution, lay at the bottom of the fierce disputes which broke out in the French Academy between Cuvier and St.-Hilaire ; and, for a time, the supporters of biological evolution were silenced, if not answered, by the alliance of the greatest naturalist of the age with their ecclesiastical opponents. Catastrophism, a short-sighted teleology, and a still more short-sighted orthodoxy, joined forces to crush evolution.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/in-the-beginning-of-the-eighteenth-century-de-maillet-made-the-first/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d37/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biological-evolution_in-the-beginning-of-the-eighteenth-centu_2375328.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d37/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biological-evolution_in-the-beginning-of-the-eighteenth-centu_2375328.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d37/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biological-evolution_in-the-beginning-of-the-eighteenth-centu_2375328.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In the beginning of the eighteenth century, De Maillet made the first serious attempt to apply the doctrine…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The publication of the Darwin and Wallace papers in 1858, and still more that of the 'Origin' in 1859, had the effect upon them of the flash of light, which to a man who has lost himself in a dark night, suddenly reveals a road which, whether it takes him straight home or not, certainly goes his way. That which we were looking for, and could not find, was a hypothesis respecting the origin of known organic forms, which assumed the operation of no causes but such as could be proved to be actually at work. We wanted, not to pin our faith to that or any other speculation, but to get hold of clear and definite conceptions which could be brought face to face with facts and have their validity tested. The 'Origin' provided us with the working hypothesis we sought.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/the-publication-of-the-darwin-and-wallace-papers-in-1858-and-still/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27d/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_alfred-russel-wallac_the-publication-of-the-darwin-and-wallac_571652.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27d/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_alfred-russel-wallac_the-publication-of-the-darwin-and-wallac_571652.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27d/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_alfred-russel-wallac_the-publication-of-the-darwin-and-wallac_571652.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The publication of the Darwin and Wallace papers in 1858, and still more that of the 'Origin' in 1859, had…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It was badly received by the generation to which it was first addressed, and the outpouring of angry nonsense to which it gave rise is sad to think upon. But the present generation will probably behave just as badly if another Darwin should arise, and inflict upon them that which the generality of mankind most hate—the necessity of revising their convictions. Let them, then, be charitable to us ancients; and if they behave no better than the men of my day to some new benefactor, let them recollect that, after all, our wrath did not come to much, and vented itself chiefly in the bad language of sanctimonious scolds. Let them as speedily perform a strategic right-about-face, and follow the truth wherever it leads.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/it-was-badly-received-by-the-generation-to-which-it-was-first/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c37/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_ancients_it-was-badly-received-by-the-generation_1424347.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c37/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_ancients_it-was-badly-received-by-the-generation_1424347.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c37/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_ancients_it-was-badly-received-by-the-generation_1424347.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It was badly received by the generation to which it was first addressed, and the outpouring of angry…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“All organisms vary. It is in the highest degree improbable that any given variety should have exactly the same relations to surrounding conditions as the parent stock. In that case it is either better fitted (when the variation may be called useful), or worse fitted, to cope with them. If better, it will tend to supplant the parent stock; if worse, it will tend to be extinguished by the parent stock. If (as is hardly conceivable) the new variety is so perfectly adapted to the conditions that no improvement upon it is possible,—it will persist, because, though it does not cease to vary, the varieties will be inferior to itself. If, as is more probable, the new variety is by no means perfectly adapted to its conditions, but only fairly well adapted to them, it will persist, so long as none of the varieties which it throws off are better adapted than itself. On the other hand, as soon as it varies in a useful way, i.e. when the variation is such as to adapt it more perfectly to its conditions, the fresh variety will tend to supplant the former.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/all-organisms-vary-it-is-in-the-highest-degree-improbable-that-any/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/421/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_all-organisms-vary-it-is-in-the-highest_762543.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/421/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_all-organisms-vary-it-is-in-the-highest_762543.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/421/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_all-organisms-vary-it-is-in-the-highest_762543.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“All organisms vary. It is in the highest degree improbable that any given variety should have exactly the…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Cats catch mice, small birds and the like, very well. Teleology tells us that they do so because they were expressly constructed for so doing—that they are perfect mousing apparatuses, so perfect and so delicately adjusted that no one of their organs could be altered, without the change involving the alteration of all the rest. Darwinism affirms on the contrary, that there was no express construction concerned in the matter; but that among the multitudinous variations of the Feline stock, many of which died out from want of power to resist opposing influences, some, the cats, were better fitted to catch mice than others, whence they throve and persisted, in proportion to the advantage over their fellows thus offered to them. Far from imagining that cats exist 'in order' to catch mice well, Darwinism supposes that cats exist 'because' they catch mice well—mousing being not the end, but the condition, of their existence . And if the cat type has long persisted as we know it, the interpretation of the fact upon Darwinian principles would be, not that the cats have remained invariable, but that such varieties as have incessantly occurred have been, on the whole, less fitted to get on in the world than the existing stock.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/cats-catch-mice-small-birds-and-the-like-very-well-teleology-tells-us/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8f/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_cats-catch-mice-small-birds-and-the-like_2816892.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8f/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_cats-catch-mice-small-birds-and-the-like_2816892.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8f/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_cats-catch-mice-small-birds-and-the-like_2816892.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Cats catch mice, small birds and the like, very well. Teleology tells us that they do so because they were…” — Thomas Henry Huxley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/thomas-henry-huxley/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/thomas-henry-huxley/", "name": "Biology Quotes by Thomas Henry Huxley", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/thomas-henry-huxley/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88e/thomas-henry-huxley-14414_biology_there-can-be-no-doubt-that-the-existing_320890.jpg" }, "description": "13 Biology quotes by Thomas Henry Huxley. Plus more from Thomas Henry Huxley and more Biology sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/thomas-henry-huxley/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/thomas-henry-huxley/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Biology", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Thomas Henry Huxley", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/thomas-henry-huxley/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```