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Men Quotes by Thomas Huxley

59 Men quotes by Thomas Huxley

All Men quotes Thomas Huxley’s page

Huxley tells us not to claim certainty when evidence is missing, calling it an agnostic faith. He explains that knowledge must be organized for action, because too much raw information can make people heavy and confused. He also remarks that the world stays fresh for anyone who looks closely, and that the best people are those who make the fewest mistakes.

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Man's Place in Nature.

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A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes.

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Logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men.

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What men of science want is only a fair day's wages for more than a fair day's work.

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I would rather be the offspring of two apes than be a man and afraid to face the truth.

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That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who has been so trained in youth that his body is the ready…

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What men need is as much knowledge as they can organize for action; give them more and it may become injurious. Some…

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Teach a man to read and write, and you have put into his hands the great keys of the wisdom-box.

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The man who is all morality and intellect, although he may be good and even great, is, after all, only half a…

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Only one absolute certainty is possible to man, namely that at any given moment the feeling which he has exists.

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The most considerable difference I note among men is not in their readiness to fall into error, but in their readiness to…

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Nothing great in science has ever been done by men, whatever their powers, in whom the divine afflatus of the truth-seeker was…

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The doctrine that all men are, in any sense, or have been, at any time, free and equal, is an utterly baseless…

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Mix salt and sand, and it shall puzzle the wisest of men, with his mere natural appliances, to separate all the grains…

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Whatever part of the animal fabric whatever series of muscles, whatever viscera might be selected for comparison the result would be the…

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The question of all questions for humanity, the problem which lies behind all others and is more interesting than any of them,…

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The doctrine of transmigrationÂ… was a means of constructing a plausible vindication of the ways of the cosmos to man; Â… none…

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Surely it must be plain that an ingenious man could speculate without end on both sides, and find analogies for all his…

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If then, said I, the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a…

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The saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing is, to my mind, a very dangerous adage. If knowledge is real…

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It is given to few to add the store of knowledge, to strike new springs of thought, or to shape new forms…

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The whole analogy of natural operations furnishes so complete and crushing an argument against the intervention of any but what are termed…

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I know no study which is so unutterably saddening as that of the evolution of humanity, as it is set forth in…

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Cosmic evolution may teach us how the good and evil tendencies of man may have come about; but, in itself, it is…

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The supernatural is being swept out of the universe in the flood of new knowledge of what is natural. It will soon…

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Our reverence for the nobility of manhood will not be lessened by the knowledge that man is in substance and in structure,…

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The besetting sin of able men is impatience of contradiction and of criticism. Even those who do their best to resist the…

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Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this [step by step, from humans to…

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It may be quite true that some negroes are better than some white men; but no rational man, cognisant of the facts,…

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For every man the world is as fresh as it was at the first day, and as full of untold novelties for…

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I take it that the good of mankind means the attainment, by every man, of all the happiness which he can enjoy…

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It is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can…

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Of the few innocent pleasures left to men past middle life, the jamming of common sense down the throats of fools is…

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Agnosticism simply means that a man shall not say that he knows or believes that for which he has no grounds for…

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If a man cannot see a church, it is preposterous to take his opinion about its altar-piece or painted window.

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The best men of the best epochs are simply those who make the fewest blunders and commit the fewest sins.

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I wish you would let an old man, who has had his share of fighting, remind you that battles, like hypotheses, are…

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That which lies before the human race is a constant struggle to maintain and improve, in opposition to State of Nature, the…

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A man has no reason to be ashamed of having an ape for his grandfather. If there were an ancestor whom I…

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There is assuredly no more effectual method of clearing up one's own mind on any subject than by talking it over, so…

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More by Thomas Huxley

Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this [step by step, from humans to apes to…

There is nothing of permanent value (putting aside a few human affections) nothing that satisfies quiet reflection--except the sense of having worked according to…

Economy does not lie in sparing money, but in spending it wisely.

It is not to be forgotten that what we call rational grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our instincts.

Only a scientific people can survive in a scientific future.

Our reverence for the nobility of manhood will not be lessened by the knowledge that man is in substance and in structure, one with…

In science, as in art, and, as I believe, in every other sphere of human activity, there may be wisdom in a multitude of…

Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.

Oh devil! truth is better than much profit. I have searched over the grounds of my belief, and if wife and child and name…

Let us have "sweet girl graduates" by all means. They will be none the less sweet for a little wisdom; and the "golden hair"…

In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. That I take to be the…

And you very soon find out, if you have not found it out before, that patience and tenacity of purpose are worth more than…

No one who has lived in the world as long as you & I have, can entertain the pious delusion that it is engineered…

Mix salt and sand, and it shall puzzle the wisest of men, with his mere natural appliances, to separate all the grains of sand…

What are the moral convictions most fondly held by barbarous and semi-barbarous people? They are the convictions that authority is the soundest basis of…