Quotes from Herbert Spencer

A jury is composed of twelve men of average ignorance.

Never educate a child to be a gentleman or lady alone, but to be a man, a woman.

Our lives are universally shortened by our ignorance.

Education has for its object the formation of character.

Pervading all nature we may see at work a stern discipline , which is a little cruel that it may be very kind.

When a man's knowledge is not in order, the more of it he has the greater will be his confusion.

Music ministers to human welfare more than any other art.

Aggression which is flagitious when committed by one, is not sanctioned when committed by a host.

Civilization is a progress from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity toward a definite, coherent heterogeneity.

The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future.

A stern discipline pervades all nature, which is a little cruel that it may be very kind.

Time is that which a man is always trying to kill, but which ends in killing him.

A manís liberties are none the less aggressed upon because those who coerce him do so in the belief that he will be benefited

The poverty of the incapable, the distresses that come upon the imprudent, the starvation of the idle, and those shoulderings aside of the weak by the strong, which leave so many "in shallows and in miseries," are the decrees of a large, farseeing be.

The tyrant is nothing but a slave turned inside out.

In science the important thing is to modify and change one's ideas as science advances.

Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom.

The poverty of the incapable, the distresses that come upon the imprudent, the starvation of the idle, and those shoulderings aside of the weak by the strong, which leave so many "in shallows and in miseries," are the decrees of a large, farseeing benevolence.

Society exists for the benefit of its members, not the members for the benefit of society.

We do not commonly see in a tax a diminution of freedom, and yet it clearly is one.

When a man's knowledge is not in order, the more of it he has the greater will be his confusion.

We have unmistakable proof that throughout all past time, there has been a ceaseless devouring of the weak by the strong.

Objects we ardently pursue bring little happiness when gained most of our pleasures come from unexpected sources.

Music must take rank as the highest of the fine arts - as the one which, more than any other, ministers to the human spirit.