Francis Galton

The cat is the only non-gregarious domestic animal. It is retained by its extra-ordinary adhesion to the comforts of the house in…

— Francis Galton

The publication in 1859 of the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin made a marked epoch in my own mental development, as…

— Francis Galton

What nature does blindly, slowly and ruthlessly, man may do providently, quickly, and kindly. As it lies within his power, so it…

— Francis Galton

A really intelligent nation might be held together by far stronger forces than are derived from the purely gregarious instincts. A nation…

— Francis Galton

“Poor humanity! I often feel that the tableland of sanity upon which most of us dwell, is small in area, with unfenced…

— Francis Galton

Characteristics cling to families.

— Francis Galton

Exercising the right of occasional suppression and slight modification, it is truly absurd to see how plastic a limited number of observations…

— Francis Galton

Well-washed and well-combed domestic pets grow dull; they miss the stimulus of fleas.

— Francis Galton

Englishmen Francis Galton to describe the "science" of bettering human stock and the elimination of unwanted characteristics... and individuals. Galton proposed societal…

— Francis Galton

[Statistics are] the only tools by which an opening can be cut through the formidable thicket of difficulties that bars the path…

— Francis Galton

The conditions that direct the order of . . . the living world . . . are marked by their persistence in improving the birthright of successive generations.

— Francis Galton

We greatly want a brief word to express the science of improving stock, which is by no means confined to questions of…

— Francis Galton

Whenever you can, count.

— Francis Galton

It is always the case with the best work, that it is misrepresented, and disparaged at first, for it takes a curiously…

— Francis Galton

The inferiority of photographs to the best works of artists, so far as resemblance is concerned, lies in their catching no more…

— Francis Galton

Life is a republic where the individuals are for the most part unconscious that while they are working for themselves they are…

— Francis Galton

The aim of eugenics is to represent each class or sect by its best specimens; that done, to leave them to work…

— Francis Galton

It is notorious that the same discovery is frequently made simultaneously and quite independently, by different persons. Thus, to speak of only…

— Francis Galton

“Some mechanism ought to be devised for shaking elderly people in a healthful way, and in many directions.”

— Francis Galton

It is difficult to understand why statisticians commonly limit their inquiries to Averages, and do not revel in more comprehensive views. Their…

— Francis Galton

I do not so easily think in words.... after being hard at work having arrived at results that are perfectly clear... I…

— Francis Galton

I HAVE no patience with the hypothesis occasionally expressed, and often implied, especially in tales written to teach children to be good,…

— Francis Galton

Some people hate the very name of statistics, but I find them full of beauty and interest. Whenever they are not brutalized,…

— Francis Galton

We shall therefore take an appropriately correct view of the origin of our life, if we consider our own embryos to have…

— Francis Galton

There is a steady check in an old civilisation upon the fertility of the abler classes: the improvident and unambitious are those…

— Francis Galton