Thomas Huxley Quotes - Page 6

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True science and true religion are twin sisters, and the separation of either from the other is sure to prove the death of both. Science prospers exactly in proportion as it is religious; and religion flourishes in exact proportion to the scientific depth and firmness of its basis.

Thomas Huxley

Religious, Depth, Twins

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It is better to read a little and thoroughly than cram a crude undigested mass into my head, though it be great in quantity.

Thomas Huxley

Inspiring, Education, Littles

Leonard Huxley, Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.17, Cambridge University Press

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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, is that of the determination of man's place in nature and his relation to the cosmos.

Thomas Huxley

Determination, Lying, Men

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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 without diminishing the happiness of his fellow men

Thomas Huxley

Mean, Men, Fellow Man

Thomas Henry Huxley (1872). “More Criticisms on Darwin, and Administrative Nihilism”, p.79

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Of moral purpose I see no trace in Nature. That is an article of exclusively human manufacture and very much to our credit.

Thomas Huxley

Purpose, Credit, Moral

Thomas Henry Huxley (1920). “Readings from Huxley”

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If every man possessed everything he wanted, and no one had the power to interfere with such possession; or if no man desired thatwhich could damage his fellow-man, justice would have no part to play in the universe.

Thomas Huxley

Men, Play, Justice

Thomas Henry Huxley (1908). “Aphorisms and Reflections from the Works of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.159, Library of Alexandria

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Man's Place in Nature.

Thomas Huxley

Nature, Science, Men

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[Scientists] have learned to respect nothing but evidence, and to believe that their highest duty lies in submitting to it however it may jar against their inclinations.

Thomas Huxley

Lying, Believe, Science

Thomas Henry Huxley (1997). “The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.106, University of Georgia Press

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Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.

Thomas Huxley

Truth, Lying, Science

'Science and Culture and Other Essays' (1881) 'The Coming of Age of the Origin of Species'

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There is no absurdity in theology so great that you cannot parallel it by a greater absurdity in Nature.

Thomas Huxley

Nature, Science, Natural

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Let us have "sweet girl graduates" by all means. They will be none the less sweet for a little wisdom; and the "golden hair" will not curl less gracefully outside the head by reason of there being brains within.

Thomas Huxley

Girl, Wisdom, Sweet

Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Collected Essays”, p.73, Cambridge University Press

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The ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment... not authority.

Thomas Huxley

Thinking, Authority, Appeals

"\Rhetoric and Incommensurability". Book by Randy Allen Harris (p. 228), 2005.

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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 of beauty. But so sure as it is that men live not by bread, but by ideas, so sure is it that the future of the world lies in the hands of those who are able to carry the interpretation of nature a step further than their predecessors.

Thomas Huxley

Lying, Spring, Knowledge

Thomas Henry Huxley (1908). “Aphorisms and Reflections from the Works of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.109, Library of Alexandria

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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 man.

Thomas Huxley

Men, Half, May

Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Collected Essays”, p.205, Cambridge University Press

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It is one of the most saddening things in life that, try as we may, we can never be certain of making people happy, whereas we can almost always be certain of making them unhappy.

Thomas Huxley

Things In Life, People, Unhappy

Thomas Henry Huxley, Leonard Huxley (1900). “Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley”

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Of all the senseless babble I have ever had occasion to read, the demonstrations of these philosophers who undertake to tell us all about the nature of God would be the worst, if they were not surpassed by the still greater absurdities of the philosophers who try to prove that there is no God.

Thomas Huxley

God, Philosophical, Trying

"On the Hypothesis that Animals Are Automata, and Its History". Essay by Thomas Henry Huxley, mathcs.clarku.edu. 1874.

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There are savages without God in any proper sense of the word, but none without ghosts.

Thomas Huxley

Savages, Ghost, Without God

Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Collected Essays”, p.318, Cambridge University Press

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To a clear eye the smallest fact is a window through which the infinite may be seen.

Thomas Huxley

Eye, May, Facts

"The Study of Zoology" (1861)

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The great thing in the world is not so much to seek happiness as to earn peace and self-respect.

Thomas Huxley

Respect, Self, World

Leonard Huxley, Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.261, Cambridge University Press

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My fundamental axiom of speculative philosophy is that materialism and spiritualism are opposite poles of the same absurdity-the absurdity of imagining that we know anything about either spirit or matter.

Thomas Huxley

Philosophy, Opposites, Fundamentals

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As if to demonstrate, by a striking example, the impossibility of erecting any cerebral barrier between man and the apes, Nature has provided us, in the latter animals, with an almost complete series of gradations from brains little higher than that of a Rodent, to brains little lower than that of Man.

Thomas Huxley

Animal, Men, Brain

Thomas H. Huxley (2013). “Man's Place in Nature”, p.115, Courier Corporation

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From the dawn of exact knowledge to the present day, observation, experiment, and speculation have gone hand in hand; and, whenever science has halted or strayed from the right path, it has been, either because its votaries have been content with mere unverified or unverifiable speculation (and this is the commonest case, because observation and experiment are hard work, while speculation is amusing); or it has been, because the accumulation of details of observation has for a time excluded speculation.

Thomas Huxley

Hard Work, Hands, Dawn

Thomas Henry Huxley (1967). “The Essence of T. H. Huxley: Selections Form His Writings”

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I do not say think as I think, but think in my way. Fear no shadows, least of all in that great spectre of personal unhappiness which binds half the world to orthodoxy.

Thomas Huxley

Thinking, Shadow, Half

"Huxley: From Devil's Disciple to Evolution's High Priest". Book by Adrian Desmond (p. 169), 1997.

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It is an error to imagine that evolution signifies a constant tendency to increased perfection. That process undoubtedly involves a constant remodeling of the organism in adaptation to new conditions; but it depends on the nature of those conditions whether the direction of the modifications effected shall be upward or downward.

Thomas Huxley

Science, Errors, Perfection

Thomas Henry Huxley (2004). “Evolution And Ethics”, p.247, 1st World Publishing

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My experience of the world is that things left to themselves don't get right.

Thomas Huxley

World, Left

Thomas Henry Huxley (1887*). “Address Delivered by Professor Huxley at a Meeting Held in the Town Hall, Manchester, Nov. 29th, 1887 ...”

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Born: May 4, 1825
Died: June 29, 1895
Occupation: Biologist
Cite this Page: Citation

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