Quotes from Thomas Huxley

The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.

Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.

Man's Place in Nature.

In science, as in art, and, as I believe, in every other sphere of human activity, there may be wisdom in a multitude of counsellors, but it is only in one or two of them.

[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.

Life is too short to occupy oneself with the slaying of the slain more than once.

Proclaim human equality as loudly as you like, Witless will serve his brother.

Science reckons many prophets, but there is not even a promise of a Messiah.

Size is not grandeur, and territory does not make a nation.

God give me strength to face a fact though it slay me.

The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into maturity.

There is the greatest practical benefit in making a few failures early in life.

No delusion is greater than the notion that method and industry can make up for lack of mother-wit, either in science or in practical life.

Rome is the one great spiritual organisation which is able to resist and must, as a matter of life and death, the progress of science and modern civilization

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.

The foundation of morality is to have done, once and for all, with lying.

Science has fulfilled her function when she has ascertained and enunciated truth.

Life is like walking along a crowded street--there always seem to be fewer obstacles to getting along on the opposite pavement--and yet, if one crosses over, matters are rarely mended.

It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.

Teach a child what is wise, that is morality. Teach him what is wise and beautiful, that is religion!

I am content with nothing, restless and ambitious... and I despise myself for the vanity, which formed half the stimulus to my exertions. Oh would that I were one of those plodding wise fools who having once set their hand to the plough go on nothing doubting.

The world is neither wise nor just, but it makes up for all its folly and injustice by being damnably sentimental.

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

The scientific imagination always restrains itself within the limits of probability.