Thomas Huxley Quotes - Page 10

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It is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty. This is what Agnosticism asserts; and, in my opinion, it is all that is essential to Agnosticism. That which Agnostics deny and repudiate, as immoral, is the contrary doctrine, that there are propositions which men ought to believe without logically satisfactory evidence; and that reprobation ought to attach to the profession of disbelief in such inadequately supported propositions.

Thomas Huxley

Believe, Men, Atheism

Thomas Henry Huxley (2012). “Lectures and Essays”, p.247, tredition

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Mathematics may be compared to a mill of exquisite workmanship, which grinds you stuff of any degree of fineness; but, nevertheless, what you get out depends upon what you put in; and as the grandest mill in the world will not extract wheat-flour from peascods, so pages of formulae will not get a definite result out of loose data.

Thomas Huxley

Work, Data, May

"Geological Reform". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Volume 25, 1869.

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I am too much of a sceptic to deny the possibility of anything...

Thomas Huxley

Science, Too Much, Possibility

Letter to Herbert Spencer, March 22, 1886.

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The whole analogy of natural operations furnishes so complete and crushing an argument against the intervention of any but what are termed secondary causes, in the production of all the phenomena of the universe; that, in view of the intimate relations between Man and the rest of the living world; and between the forces exerted by the latter and all other forces, I can see no excuse for doubting that all are co-ordinated terms of Nature's great progression, from the formless to the formed from the inorganic to the organic from blind force to conscious intellect and will.

Thomas Huxley

Crush, Men, Views

"Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature". Book by Thomas Henry Huxley. Chapter 1, p. 28, 1884.

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It may be quite true that some negroes are better than some white men; but no rational man, cognisant of the facts, believes that the average negro is the equal, still less the superior, of the average white man. And, if this be true, it is simply incredible that, when all his disabilities are removed, and our prognathous relative has a fair field and no favour, as well as no oppressor, he will be able to compete successfully with his bigger-brained and smaller-jawed rival, in a contest which is to be carried on by thoughts and not by bites.

Thomas Huxley

Believe, Men, Thinking

"Emancipation – Black and White". Essay by Thomas Henry Huxley, mathcs.clarku.edu. 1865.

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Agnosticism simply means that a man shall not say that he knows or believes that for which he has no grounds for professing to believe.

Thomas Huxley

Believe, Mean, Men

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Whatever part of the animal fabric whatever series of muscles, whatever viscera might be selected for comparison the result would be the same the lower Apes and the Gorilla would differ more than the Gorilla and the Man.

Thomas Huxley

Animal, Men, Would Be

Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Collected Essays”, p.116, Cambridge University Press

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Even in the important matter of cranial capacity, Men differ more widely from one another than they do from the Apes; while the lowest Apes differ as much, in proportion, from the highest, as the latter does from Man.

Thomas Huxley

Men, Important, Doe

Thomas Henry Huxley (1997). “The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.83, University of Georgia Press

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I have never had the least sympathy with the a priori reasons against orthodoxy, and I have by nature and disposition the greatest possible antipathy to all the atheistic and infidel school. Nevertheless I know that I am, in spite of myself, exactly what the Christian would call, and, so far as I can see, is justified in calling, atheist and infidel.

Thomas Huxley

Christian, Atheist, School

Letter to Charles Kingsley, mathcs.clarku.edu. May 05, 1863.

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Living things have no inertia, and tend to no equilibrium.

Thomas Huxley

Life, Science, Equilibrium

Thomas Henry Huxley (1872). “Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews”, p.73

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Within the last fifty years, the extraordinary growth of every department of physical science has spread among us mental food of so nutritious and stimulating a character that a new ecdysis seems imminent.

Thomas Huxley

Character, Years, Growth

Thomas Henry Huxley (1997). “The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.66, University of Georgia Press

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Each such answer to the great question, invariably asserted by the followers of its propounder, if not by himself, to be complete and final, remains in high authority and esteem, it may be for one century, or it may be for twenty: but, as invariably, Time proves each reply to have been a mere approximation to the truth tolerable chiefly on account of the ignorance of those by whom it was accepted, and wholly intolerable when tested by the larger knowledge of their successors.

Thomas Huxley

Ignorance, Twenties, Finals

Thomas Henry Huxley (1997). “The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.66, University of Georgia Press

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The sceptics end in the infidelity which asserts the problem to be insoluble, or in the atheism which denies the existence of any orderly progress and governance of things: the men of genius propound solutions which grow into systems of Theology or of Philosophy, or veiled in musical language which suggests more than it asserts, take the shape of the Poetry of an epoch.

Thomas Huxley

Philosophy, Men, Infidelity

Thomas Henry Huxley (1997). “The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.66, University of Georgia Press

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If the hypothesis of evolution is true, living matter must have arisen from non-living matter; for by the hypothesis the condition of the globe was at one time such, that living matter could not have existed in it, life being entirely incompatible with the gaseous state.

Thomas Huxley

Matter, Evolution, States

"Biology, with Preludes on Current Events". Book by Joseph Cook, p. 39, 1878.

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It seems safe to look forward to the time when the conception of attractive and repulsive forces, having served its purpose as a useful piece of scientific scaffolding, will be replaced by the deduction of the phenomena known as attraction and repulsion, from the general laws of motion.

Thomas Huxley

Law, Looks, Purpose

"The Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century" by Thomas Henry Huxley, 1889.

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Science is nothing but trained and organized common sense differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw recruit: and its methods differ from those of common sense only as far as the guardsman's cut and thrust differ from the manner in which a savage wields his club.

Thomas Huxley

Cutting, Science, Common Sense

"On the Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences" (1854)

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Oh devil! truth is better than much profit. I have searched over the grounds of my belief, and if wife and child and name and fame were all to be lost to me one after the other as the penalty, still I will not lie.

Thomas Huxley

Children, Lying, Names

Thomas Henry Huxley (1997). “The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.357, University of Georgia Press

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

Thomas Huxley

Wise, World, Sentimental

Leonard Huxley, Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.128, Cambridge University Press

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It is a popular delusion that the scientific enquirer is under an obligation not to go beyond generalisation of observed facts...but anyone who is practically acquainted with scientific work is aware that those who refuse to go beyond the facts, rarely get as far.

Thomas Huxley

Science, Facts, Delusion

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I cannot say that I am in the slightest degree impressed by your bigness, or your material resources, as such. Size is not grandeur, and territory does not make a nation. The great issue, about which hangs true sublimity, and the terror of overhanging fate, is what are you going to do with all these things?

Thomas Huxley

Fate, Issues, Degrees

Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Collected Essays”, p.260, Cambridge University Press

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Only a scientific people can survive in a scientific future.

Thomas Huxley

People

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As to sagacity, I should say that his judgement respecting the warmest place and the softest cushion in a room is infallible, his punctuality at meal times is admirable, and his pertinacity in jumping on people's shoulders till they give him some of the best of what is going, indicates great firmness.

Thomas Huxley

Cat, Jumping, People

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

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It is not to be forgotten that what we call rational grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our instincts.

Thomas Huxley

Belief, Forgotten, Instinct

Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Collected Essays”, p.310, Cambridge University Press

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It ought not to be unpleasant to say that which one honestly believes or disbelieves. That it so constantly is painful to do so, is quite enough obstacle to the progress of mankind in that most valuable of all qualities, honesty of word or of deed.

Thomas Huxley

Honesty, Believe, Religion

Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Collected Essays”, p.241, Cambridge University Press

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Every living creature commences its existence under a form different from, and simpler than, that which it eventually attains.

Thomas Huxley

Different, Form, Existence

Thomas H. Huxley (2013). “Man's Place in Nature”, p.74, Courier Corporation

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

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