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

  237 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

  138 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

  109 Copy quote

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

  Herbert Spencer

  Inspirational, Education, Learning

  121 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".

  107 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

  95 Copy quote

• The tyrant is nothing but a slave turned inside out.

  Herbert Spencer

  Tyrants, Perspective, Slave

  Herbert Spencer (1873). “Social Statics; Or, The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness Specified, & the First of Them Developed”, p.118

  2 Copy quote

• The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.

  Herbert Spencer

  Silly, Humor, Men

  'Essays' (1891) vol. 3 'State Tamperings with Money and Banks'

  5 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

• What, then, do they want a government for? Not to regulate commerce; not to educate the people; not to teach religion, not to administer charity; not to make roads and railways; but simply to defend the natural rights of man -- to protect person and property -- to prevent the aggressions of the powerful upon the weak -- in a word, to administer justice. This is the natural, the original, office of a government. It was not intended to do less: it ought not to be allowed to do more.

  Herbert Spencer

  Powerful, Men, Rights

  Herbert Spencer (2016). “The Man versus the State: Great Essays”, p.125, VM eBooks

  4 Copy quote

• Morality knows nothing of geographical boundaries, or distinctions of race.

  Herbert Spencer

  Race, Morality, Boundaries

  Herbert Spencer (2016). “Social Statics: Great Essays”, p.249, VM eBooks

  3 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

  50 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

  74 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

  34 Copy quote

• All socialism involves slavery.

  Herbert Spencer

  Liberty, Slavery, Libertarian

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

  78 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

• 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

• Education is preparation to live completely.

  Herbert Spencer

  Education, Preparation

  41 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

• Government is essentially immoral.

  Herbert Spencer

  Government, Immoral

  Herbert Spencer (2014). “The Right to Ignore the State”, p.6, The Floating Press

  5 Copy quote

• Marriage: A word which should be pronounced "mirage".

  Herbert Spencer

  Funny, Relationship, Marriage

  10 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

• How often misused words generate misleading thoughts.

  Herbert Spencer

  Ideas, Misuse, Mislead

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

  55 Copy quote

• The home is the most important factor in civilization, and that civilization is to be measured at different stages largely by the development in the home.

  Herbert Spencer

  Home, Civilization, Important

  7 Copy quote

• The preservation of health is a duty. Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical morality.

  Herbert Spencer

  Health, Exercise, Atheism

  1861 Education, ch.4.

  33 Copy quote

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