Thomas Huxley Quotes - Page 11

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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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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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The only question which any wise man can ask himself, and which any honest man will ask himself, is whether a doctrine is true or false.

Thomas Huxley

Wise, Men, True Or False

Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Collected Essays”, p.244, Cambridge University Press

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I really see no harm which can come of giving our children a little knowledge of physiology. ... The instruction must be real, based upon observation, eked out by good explanatory diagrams and models, and conveyed by a teacher whose own knowledge has been acquired by a study of the facts; and not the mere catechismal parrot-work which too often usurps the place of elementary teaching.

Thomas Huxley

Education, Teacher, Children

Thomas Henry Huxley (1882). “Science and Culture: And Other Essays”

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The more rapidly truth is spread among mankind the better it will be for them. Only let us be sure that it is the truth.

Thomas Huxley

Truth Is, Mankind, Spread

Leonard Huxley, Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.266, Cambridge University 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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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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No mistake is so commonly made by clever people as that of assuming a cause to be bad because the arguments of its supporters are, to a great extent, nonsensical

Thomas Huxley

Clever, Mistake, People

Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Collected Essays”, p.70, 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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The mathematician starts with a few propositions, the proof of which is so obvious that they are called self-evident, and the rest of his work consists of subtle deductions from them. The teaching of languages, at any rate as ordinarily practiced, is of the same general nature authority and tradition furnish the data, and the mental operations are deductive.

Thomas Huxley

Nature, Work, Teaching

Thomas Henry Huxley (1872). “Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews”, p.66

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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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The Bible has been the Magna Charta of the poor and of the oppressed.

Thomas Huxley

Poor, Magna Carta, Has Beens

"The Essence of T. H. Huxley: Selections Form His Writings".

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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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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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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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There is no alleviation for the sufferings of mankind except veracity of thought and of action, and the resolute facing of the world as it is when the garment of make-believe by which pious hands have hidden its uglier features is stripped off.

Thomas Huxley

Integrity, Believe, Hands

Thomas Henry Huxley (1908). “Aphorisms and Reflections from the Works of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.1, Library of Alexandria

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Misery is a match that never goes out.

Thomas Huxley

Misery

Leonard Huxley, Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.53, Cambridge University Press

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Mathematics may be compared to a mill of exquisite workmanship, which grinds your stuff to any degree of fineness.

Thomas Huxley

Math, Stuff, Degrees

Thomas Henry Huxley, Henrietta A. Huxley (1908). “Aphorisms and reflections”

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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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In truth, the laboratory is the forecourt of the temple of philosophy, and whoso has not offered sacrifices and undergone purification there has little chance of admission into the sanctuary.

Thomas Huxley

Philosophy, Sacrifice, Temples

Thomas Henry Huxley, Cyril Bibby (1971). “T. H. Huxley on Education”, p.166, Cambridge University Press

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The very existence of society depends on the fact that every member of it tacitly admits he is not the exclusive possessor of himself, and that he admits the claim of the polity of which he forms a part, to act, to some extent, as his master.

Thomas Huxley

Government, Society, Facts

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That which endures is not one or another association of living forms, but the process of which the cosmos is the product, and of which these are among the transitory expressions.

Thomas Huxley

Expression, Survival, Cosmos

Thomas Henry Huxley (1997). “The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.286, University of Georgia Press

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Though under-instruction is a bad thing, it is not impossible that over-instruction may be worse.

Thomas Huxley

Education, May, Impossible

Leonard Huxley, Thomas Henry Huxley (2011). “Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.220, Cambridge University Press

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As a natural process, of the same character as the development of a tree from its seed, or of a fowl from its egg, evolution excludes creation and all other kinds of supernatural intervention.

Thomas Huxley

Character, Eggs, Tree

Thomas Henry Huxley (1997). “The Major Prose of Thomas Henry Huxley”, p.287, University of Georgia Press

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

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