History warns us that it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions. Thomas Huxley More Quotes by Thomas Huxley More Quotes From 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 passionhard-workart Elohim was, in logical terminology, the genus of which ghosts, Chemosh, Dagon, Baal, and Jahveh were species. The Israelite believed Jahveh to be immeasurably superior to all other kinds of Elohim. The inscription on the Moabite stone shows that King Mesa held Chemosh to be, as unquestionably, the superior of Jahveh. Thomas Huxley elohimkingsstones A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes. Thomas Huxley ablefreedommen We live in a world which is full of misery and ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat less ignorant than it was before he entered. Thomas Huxley ignorantignorancepeace We are prone to see what lies behind our eyes, rather than what apprears before them. Thomas Huxley behindseyelying Action is the catalyst that creates accomplishments. It is the path that takes us from uncrafted hopes to realized dreams. Thomas Huxley accomplishmentpathdream Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority. Thomas Huxley authority-and-powereducationknowledge 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 supportpracticedrinking 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 governmentbelievepeople I protest that if some great Power would agree to make me always think what is true and do what is right, on condition of being turned into a sort of clock and would up every morning before I got out of bed, I should instantly close with the offer. Thomas Huxley freedommorningscience I am not afraid of the priests in the long-run. Scientific method is the white ant which will slowly but surely destroy their fortifications. And the importance of scientific method in modern practical life--always growing and increasing--is the guarantee for the gradual emancipation of the ignorant upper and lower classes, the former of whom especially are the strength of the priests. Thomas Huxley whiteclassrunning 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 fundamentalsoppositesphilosophy I am content with nothing, restless and ambitious... and I despise myself for the vanity, which formed half the stimulus to my exertions. Oh would that I were one of those plodding wise fools who having once set their hand to the plough go on nothing doubting. Thomas Huxley vanitywisethinking In matters of intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard for any other consideration. Thomas Huxley considerationmatterreason The only people, scientific or other, who never make mistakes are those who do nothing. Thomas Huxley making-mistakesmistakepeople Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules; and history records that whenever science and orthodoxy have been fairly opposed, the latter has been forced to retire from the lists, bleeding and crushed if not annihilated; scotched, if not slain. Thomas Huxley snakesrecordslying [Scientists] have learned to respect nothing but evidence, and to believe that their highest duty lies in submitting to it however it may jar against their inclinations. Thomas Huxley sciencebelievelying 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 winningmenbelieve There is but one right, and the possibilities of wrong are infinite. Thomas Huxley possibilityinfinite I'd rather have an ape for an ancestor than a bishop. Thomas Huxley ancestorbishopsapes
