Herbert Spencer Quotes

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• There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation.

  Herbert Spencer

  Wisdom, Ignorance, Science

  233 Copy quote

• The law is the survival of the fittest.... The law is not the survival of the 'better' or the 'stronger,' if we give to those words any thing like their ordinary meanings. It is the survival of those which are constitutionally fittest to thrive under the conditions in which they are placed; and very often that which, humanly speaking, is inferiority, causes the survival.

  Herbert Spencer

  Law, Giving, Survival

  "Mr. Martineau on Evolution" (1872) See Darwin 7; Philander Johnson 1; Herbert Spencer 5

  137 Copy quote

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

  Herbert Spencer

  Life, Inspiring, Wise

  Herbert Spencer (1865). “First Principles of a New System of Philosophy”, p.123

  107 Copy quote

• The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.

  Herbert Spencer

  Inspirational, Education, Learning

  116 Copy quote

• The society exists for the benefit of its members; not its members for the benefit of the society.

  Herbert Spencer

  Liberty, Benefits, Libertarian

  "The Principles of Sociology".

  105 Copy quote

• No one can be perfectly free till all are free; no one can be perfectly moral till all are moral; no one can be perfectly happy till all are happy.

  Herbert Spencer

  Wise, Wisdom, Diversity

  'Social Statics' (1850) pt. 4, ch. 30, 16

  94 Copy quote

• This survival of the fittest which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called "natural selection", or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.

  Herbert Spencer

  Life, Struggle, Race

  The Principles of Biology pt. 3, ch. 12 (1865) See Darwin 7; Philander Johnson 1; Herbert Spencer 6

  74 Copy quote

• Mother, when your children are irritable, do not make them more so by scolding and fault-finding, but correct their irritability by good nature and mirthfulness. Irritability comes from errors in food, bad air, too little sleep, a necessity for change of scene and surroundings; from confinement in close rooms, and lack of sunshine.

  Herbert Spencer

  Mother, Children, Sleep

  66 Copy quote

• The belief, not only of the socialist but of those so-called liberals who are diligently preparing the way for them is that by due skill an ill working humanity may be framed into well-working initiations. It is delusion. The defective natures of citizens will show themselves in bad acting of whatever social structure they are arranged into. There is no political alchemy by which you can get golden conduct out of laden instincts.

  Herbert Spencer

  Skills, Political, Humanity

  49 Copy quote

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

  Herbert Spencer

  Civilization, Progress, Definite

  "First Principles", Chapter XVI. Par. 138; also Chapter XVII. Par. 145, as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations, p. 241-42, 1922.

  56 Copy quote

• All socialism involves slavery.

  Herbert Spencer

  Liberty, Slavery, Libertarian

  Herbert Spencer, John Offer (1994). “Spencer: Political Writings”, p.95, Cambridge University Press

  76 Copy quote

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

  Herbert Spencer

  Hero, Political, Atheism

  Herbert Spencer (1873). “Social Statics; Or, The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness Specified, & the First of Them Developed”, p.461

  72 Copy quote

• The most important attribute of man as a moral being is the faculty of self-control.

  Herbert Spencer

  Motivational, Men, Self

  Herbert Spencer (1873). “Social Statics; Or, The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness Specified, & the First of Them Developed”, p.206

  31 Copy quote

• Opinion is ultimately determined by the feelings, and not by the intellect.

  Herbert Spencer

  Feelings, Intuition, Determined

  'Social Statics' (1850) pt. 4, ch. 30, 8

  47 Copy quote

• How often misused words generate misleading thoughts.

  Herbert Spencer

  Ideas, Misuse, Mislead

  'Principles of Ethics' bk. 1 (1879) pt. 2, ch. 8, 152

  54 Copy quote

• The pursuit of individual happiness within those limits prescribed by social conditions, is the first requisite to the attainment of the greatest general happiness.

  Herbert Spencer

  Individual Happiness, Limits, Firsts

  Herbert Spencer (2016). “The Data of Ethics: Great Essays”, p.169, VM eBooks

  26 Copy quote

• If men use their liberty in such a way as to surrender their liberty, are they thereafter any the less slaves? If people by a plebiscite elect a man despot over them, do they remain free because the despotism was of their own making?

  Herbert Spencer

  Freedom, Men, People

  Herbert Spencer, John Offer (1994). “Spencer: Political Writings”, p.76, Cambridge University Press

  41 Copy quote

• This survival of the fittest implies multiplication of the fittest.

  Herbert Spencer

  Science, Survival, Evolution

  'Principles of Biology' (1865) pt. 3, ch. 12, 164.

  60 Copy quote

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

  Herbert Spencer

  Happiness, Laughter, Joy

  35 Copy quote

• All socialism involves slavery.... That which fundamentally distinguishes the slave is that he labors under coercion to satisfy another's desires. The relation admits of many gradations. Oppressive taxation is a form of slavery of the individual to the community as a whole. The essential question is -- How much is he compelled to labor for other benefit than his own, and how much can he labor for his own benefit?

  Herbert Spencer

  Responsibility, Community, Desire

  1 Copy quote

• Truth generally lies in the coordination of antagonistic opinions.

  Herbert Spencer

  Truth, Lying, Opinion

  16 Copy quote

• A man's liberties are none the less aggressed upon because those who coerce him do so in the belief that he will be benefited.

  Herbert Spencer

  Freedom, Men, Liberty

  Herbert Spencer (1978). “The Principles of Ethics”

  52 Copy quote

• If every man has freedom to do all that he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man, then he is free to drop connection with the state-to relinquish its protection, and to refuse paying toward its support.

  Herbert Spencer

  Men, Support, Connections

  Herbert Spencer (2014). “The Right to Ignore the State”, p.5, The Floating Press

  61 Copy quote

• Education is preparation to live completely.

  Herbert Spencer

  Education, Preparation

  41 Copy quote

• Education has for its object the formation of character. To curb restive propensities, to awaken dormant sentiments, to strengthen the perceptions, and cultivate the tastes, to encourage this feeling and repress that, so as finally to develop the child into a man of well proportioned and harmonious nature, this is alike the aim of parent and teacher.

  Herbert Spencer

  Teacher, Children, Character

  Herbert Spencer (1873). “Social Statics; Or, The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness Specified, & the First of Them Developed”, p.201

  55 Copy quote

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