Thomas Huxley Quotes & Sayings

It is one of the most saddening things in life that, try as we may, we can never be certain of making people happy, whereas we can almost always be certain of making them unhappy. — Thomas Huxley

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

Veracity is the heart of morality. — Thomas Huxley

The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin. — Thomas Huxley

In scientific work, those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact. — Thomas Huxley

Some experience of popular lecturing had convinced me that the necessity of making things plain to uninstructed people, was one of the very best means of clearing up the obscure corners in one's own mind. — Thomas Huxley

Unfortunately, it is much easier to shut one's eyes to good than to evil. Pain and sorrow knock at our doors more loudly than pleasure and happiness; and the prints of their heavy footsteps are less easily effaced. — Thomas Huxley

No rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average Negro is the equal, still less the superior, of the white man ... it is simply incredible to think that ... 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

Cosmic evolution may teach us how the good and evil tendencies of man may have come about; but, in itself, it is incompetent to furnish any better reason why what we call good is preferable to what we call evil than we had before. Some day, I doubt not, we shall arrive at an understanding of the evolution of the aesthetic faculty; but all the understanding in the world will neither increase nor diminish the force of the intuition that this is beautiful and that is ugly. — Thomas Huxley

Friendship involves many things but, above all the power of going outside oneself and appreciating what is noble and loving in another. — Thomas Huxley

Education is the instruction of the intellect in the laws of Nature. — Thomas Huxley

Regarded anatomically, the resemblances between the foot of Man and the foot of the Gorilla are far more striking and important than the differences ... be the differences between the hand and foot of Man and those of the Gorilla what they may the differences between those of the Gorilla and those of the lower Apes are much greater. — Thomas Huxley

The child who has been taught to make an accurate elevation, plan, and section of a pint pot has had an admirable training in accuracy of eye and hand. — Thomas Huxley

If there is anything in the world which I do firmly believe in, it is the universal validity of the law of causation. — Thomas Huxley

A good man: body serves his will and enjoys hard work, clear intellect that understands the truths of nature, full of passion for life but controlled by his will, well-developed conscience, loves beauty in art and nature, despises inferior morality, respects himself and others. — Thomas Huxley

There is no absurdity in theology so great that you cannot parallel it by a greater absurdity in Nature. — Thomas Huxley

There is no sea more dangerous than the ocean of practical politics none in which there is more need of good pilotage and of a single, unfaltering purpose when the waves rise high. — Thomas Huxley

It sounds paradoxical to say the attainment of scientific truth has been effected, to a great extent, by the help of scientific errors. — Thomas Huxley

No man is any the worse off because another acquires wealth by trade, or by the exercise of a profession; on the contrary, he cannot have acquired his wealth except by benefiting others to the extent of what they considered to be its value. — Thomas Huxley

Ecclesiasticism in science is only unfaithfulness to truth. — Thomas Huxley

No slavery can be abolished without a double emancipation, and the master will benefit by freedom more than the freed-man. — Thomas Huxley

The ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment ... not authority. — Thomas Huxley

Deduction, which takes us from the general proposition to facts again-teaches us, if I may so say, to anticipate from the ticket what is inside the bundle. — Thomas Huxley

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

My belief is that no human being or society composed of human beings ever did or ever will come to much unless their conduct was governed and guided by the love of some ethical ideal. — Thomas Huxley

I know no study which is so unutterably saddening as that of the evolution of humanity, as it is set forth in the annals of history. Out of the darkness of prehistoric ages man emerges with the marks of his lowly origin strong upon him. He is a brute, only more intelligent than the other brutes, a blind prey to impulses, which as often as not led him to destruction; a victim to endless illusions, which make his mental existence a terror and a burden, and fill his physical life with barren toil and battle. — Thomas Huxley

What are the moral convictions most fondly held by barbarous and semi-barbarous people? They are the convictions that authority is the soundest basis of belief; that merit attaches to readiness to believe; that the doubting disposition is a bad one, and skepticism is a sin. — Thomas Huxley

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

It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance. — Thomas Huxley

The great thing in the world is not so much to seek happiness as to earn peace and self-respect. — Thomas Huxley

Of the few innocent pleasures left to men past middle life, the jamming of common sense down the throats of fools is perhaps the keenest. — Thomas Huxley

The population question is the real riddle of the sphinx, to which no political Oedipus has as yet found the answer. In view of the ravages of the terrible monster over-multiplication, all other riddle sink into insignificance. — Thomas Huxley

If then, said I, the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessing great means and influence and yet who employs those faculties for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion-I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape. — Thomas Huxley

In matters of intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard for any other consideration. — Thomas Huxley

I have always been, am, and propose to remain a mere scholar. All that I have ever proposed to myself is to say, this and this I have learned; thus and thus have I learned it; go thou and learn better; but do not thrust on my shoulders the responsibility for your own laziness if you elect to take, on my authority, conclusions the value of which you ought to have tested for yourself. — Thomas Huxley

That which lies before the human race is a constant struggle to maintain and improve, in opposition to State of Nature, the State of Art of an organized polity; in which, and by which, man may develop a worthy civilization — Thomas Huxley

My fundamental axiom of speculative philosophy is that materialism and spiritualism are opposite poles of the same absurdity-the absurdity of imagining that we know anything about either spirit or matter. — Thomas Huxley

In science, as in art, and, as I believe, in every other sphere of human activity, there may be wisdom in a multitude of counsellors, but it is only in one or two of them. — Thomas Huxley

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

Creation,' in the ordinary sense of the word, is perfectly conceivable. I find no difficulty in conceiving that, at some former period, this universe was not in existence, and that it made its appearance in six days (or instantaneously, if that is preferred), in consequence of the volition of some preexisting Being. — Thomas Huxley

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

Science reckons many prophets, but there is not even a promise of a Messiah. — Thomas Huxley

What men need is as much knowledge as they can organize for action; give them more and it may become injurious. Some men are heavy and stupid from undigested learning. — Thomas Huxley

Science is organized common sense where many a beautiful theory was killed by an ugly fact. — Thomas Huxley

For myself I say deliberately, it is better to have a millstone tied round the neck and be thrown into the sea than to share the enterprises of those to whom the world has turned, and will turn, because they minister to its weaknesses and cover up the awful realities which it shudders to look at. — Thomas Huxley

Fact I know; and Law I know; but what is this Necessity, save an empty shadow of my own mind's throwing? — Thomas Huxley

The doctrine of transmigration... was a means of constructing a plausible vindication of the ways of the cosmos to man; ... none but very hasty thinkers will reject it on the grounds of inherent absurdity. — Thomas Huxley

Men can intoxicate themselves with ideas as effectually as with alcohol or with bang and produce, be dint of serious thinking, mental conditions hardly distinguishable from monomania. — Thomas Huxley

The antagonism between science and religion, about which we hear so much, appears to me to be purely factitiousfabricated, on the one hand, by short-sighted religious people who confound a certain branch of science, theology, with religion; and, on the other, by equally short-sighted scientific people who forget that science takes for its province only that which is susceptible of clear intellectual comprehension; and that, outside the boundaries of that province, they must be content with imagination, with hope, and with ignorance — Thomas Huxley

It does not matter how many tumbles you have in this life, so long as you do not get dirty when you tumble; it is only the people who have to stop to be washed and made clean, who must necessarily lose the race. And I can assure you that there is the greatest practical benefit in making a few failures early in life. You learn that which is of inestimable importance — Thomas Huxley

There is nothing of permanent value (putting aside a few human affections) nothing that satisfies quiet reflection
except the sense of having worked according to one's capacity and light to make things clear and get rid of cant and shams of all sorts. — Thomas Huxley

The besetting sin of able men is impatience of contradiction and of criticism. Even those who do their best to resist the temptation, yield to it almost unconsciously and become the tools of toadies and flatterers. "Authorities," "disciples," and "schools" are the curse of science and do more to interfere with the work of the scientific spirit than all its enemies. — Thomas Huxley

Freedom and order are not incompatible ... truth is strength ... free discussion is the very life of truth. — Thomas Huxley

I doubt the fact, to begin with, but if it be so even, what is this but in grand words asking me to believe a thing because I like it. — Thomas Huxley

There is no sadder sight in the world than to see a beautiful theory killed by a brutal fact. — Thomas Huxley

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

The only people, scientific or other, who never make mistakes are those who do nothing. — Thomas Huxley

Economy does not lie in sparing money, but in spending it wisely. — Thomas Huxley

It is better to read a little and thoroughly than cram a crude undigested mass into my head, though it be great in quantity. — Thomas Huxley

I hated tobacco. I could have almost lent my support to any institution that had for its object the putting of tobacco smokers to death ... I now feel that smoking in moderation is a comfortable and laudable practice, and is productive of good. There is no more harm in a pipe than in a cup of tea. You may poison yourself by drinking too much green tea, and kill yourself by eating too many beefsteaks. For my part, I consider that tobacco, in moderation, is a sweetener and equalizer of the temper. — Thomas Huxley

I know of no department of natural science more likely to reward a man who goes into it thoroughly than anthropology. There is an immense deal to be done in the science pure and simple, and it is one of those branches of inquiry which brings one into contact with the great problems of humanity in every direction. — Thomas Huxley

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

To say that an idea is necessary is simply to affirm that we cannot conceive the contrary; and the fact that we cannot conceive the contrary of any belief may be a presumption, but is certainly no proof, of its truth. — Thomas Huxley

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

A world of facts lies outside and beyond the world of words. — Thomas Huxley

It is given to few to add the store of knowledge, to strike new springs of thought, or to shape new forms of beauty. But so sure as it is that men live not by bread, but by ideas, so sure is it that the future of the world lies in the hands of those who are able to carry the interpretation of nature a step further than their predecessors. — Thomas Huxley

'Infidel' is a term of reproach, which Christians and Mohammedans, in their modesty, agree to apply to those who differ from them. — Thomas Huxley

I cannot but think that he who finds a certain proportion of pain and evil inseparably woven up in the life of the very worms, will bear his own share with more courage and submission. — Thomas Huxley

Give unqualified assent to no propositions but those the truth of which is so clear and distinct that they cannot be doubted. The enunciation of this first great commandment of science consecrated doubt. — Thomas Huxley

Not only does every animal live at the expense of some other animal or plant, but the very plants are at war ... The individuals of a species are like the crew of a foundered ship, and none but good swimmers have a chance of reaching the land. — Thomas Huxley

And when you cannot prove that people are wrong, but only that they are absurd, the best course is to let them alone. — Thomas Huxley

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

Mr. Darwin's hypothesis is not, so far as I am aware, inconsistent with any known biological fact; on the contrary, if admitted, the facts of Development, of Comparative Anatomy, of Geographical Distribution, and of Palaeontology, become connected together, and exhibit a meaning such as they never possessed before; and I, for one, am fully convinced that if not precisely true, that hypothesis is as near an approximation to the truth as, for example, the Copernican hypothesis was to the true theory of the planetary motions. — Thomas Huxley

A man who speaks out honestly and fearlessly that which he knows, and that which he believes, will always enlist the good will and the respect, however much he may fail in winning the assent, of his fellow men. — Thomas Huxley

Of all the senseless babble I have ever had occasion to read, the demonstrations of these philosophers who undertake to tell us all about the nature of God would be the worst, if they were not surpassed by the still greater absurdities of the philosophers who try to prove that there is no God. — Thomas Huxley

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

Missionaries, whether of philosophy or religion, rarely make rapid way, unless their preachings fall in with the prepossessions ofthe multitude of shallow thinkers, or can be made to serve as a stalking-horse for the promotion of the practical aims of the still larger multitude, who do not profess to think much, but are quite certain they want a great deal. — Thomas Huxley

The Bible has been the Magna Carta of the poor and of the oppressed. — Thomas Huxley

That mysterious independent variable of political calculation, Public Opinion. — Thomas Huxley

The scientific imagination always restrains itself within the limits of probability. — Thomas Huxley

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

I believe that history might be, and ought to be, taught in a new fashion so as to make the meaning of it as a process of evolution intelligible to the young. — Thomas Huxley

The struggle for existence holds as much in the intellectual as in the physical world. A theory is a species of thinking, and its right to exist is coextensive with its power of resisting extinction by its rivals. — Thomas Huxley

Patience and tenacity are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness. — Thomas Huxley

The student of Nature wonders the more and is astonished the less, the more conversant he becomes with her operations; but of all the perennial miracles she offers to his inspection, perhaps the most worthy of admiration is the development of a plant or of an animal from its embryo. — Thomas Huxley

People never will recollect that mere learning and mere cleverness are of next to no value in life, while energy and intellectual grip, the things that are inborn and cannot be taught, are everything. — Thomas Huxley

I care not what subject is taught, if only it be taught well. — Thomas Huxley

A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes. — Thomas Huxley

Tolerably early in life I discovered that one of the unpardonable sins, in the eyes of most people, is for a man to go about unlabeled. The world regards such a person as the police do an unmuzzled dog. — Thomas Huxley

Natural knowledge, seeking to satisfy natural wants, has found the ideas which can alone still spiritual cravings. I say that natural knowledge, in desiring to ascertain the laws of comfort, has been driven to discover those of conduct, and to lay the foundations of a new morality. — Thomas Huxley

No delusion is greater than the notion that method and industry can make up for lack of mother-wit, either in science or in practical life. — Thomas Huxley

Thoughtfulness for others, generosity, modesty, and self-respect are the qualities which make a real gentleman or lady. — Thomas Huxley

Next to being right in this world, the best of all things is to be clearly and definitely wrong, because you will come out somewhere. If you go buzzing about between right and wrong, vibrating and fluctuating, you come out nowhere; but if you are absolutely and thoroughly and persistently wrong, you must, some of these days, have the extreme good fortune of knocking your head against a fact, and that sets you all straight again. — Thomas Huxley

If a man cannot see a church, it is preposterous to take his opinion about its altar-piece or painted window. — Thomas Huxley

I am too much of a sceptic to deny the possibility of anything especially as I am now so much occupied with theology but I don't see my way to your conclusion. — Thomas Huxley

Science and literature are not two things, but two sides of one thing. — Thomas Huxley

There is but one right, and the possibilities of wrong are infinite. — Thomas Huxley

Protoplasm, simple or nucleated, is the formal basis of all life. It is the clay of the potter: which, bake it and paint it as hewill, remains clay, separated by artifice, and not by nature from the commonest brick or sun-dried clod. — Thomas Huxley

Nothing can be more incorrect than the assumption one sometimes meets with, that physics has one method, chemistry another, and biology a third. — Thomas Huxley

To quarrel with the uncertainty that besets us in intellectual affairs would be about as reasonable as to object to live one's life with due thought for the morrow because no man can be sure he will alive an hour hence. — Thomas Huxley