I have never been able to understand why pigeon-shooting at Hurlingham should be refined and polite, while a rat-killing match in Whitechapel is low. Thomas Huxley More Quotes by Thomas Huxley More Quotes From Thomas Huxley The method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of the necessary mode of working of the human mind. Thomas Huxley scientific-methodexpressionmind The vast results obtained by Science are won by no mystical faculties, by no mental processes other than those which are practicedby every one of us, in the humblest and meanest affairs of life. A detective policeman discovers a burglar from the marks made by his shoe, by a mental process identical with that by which Cuvier restored the extinct animals of Montmartre from fragments of their bones. Thomas Huxley scientific-methodshoesanimal 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 yieldmenschool Matter and force are the two names of the one artist who fashions the living as well as the lifeless. Thomas Huxley fashionartistnames Mathematics may be compared to a mill of exquisite workmanship, which grinds your stuff to any degree of fineness. Thomas Huxley degreesmathstuff Genius, as an explosive power, beats gunpowder hollow. Thomas Huxley gunpowdergeniuspower That mysterious independent variable of political calculation, Public Opinion. Thomas Huxley independenceindependentpolitical What would become of the garden if the gardener treated all the weeds and slugs and birds and trespassers as he would like to be treated, if he were in their place? Thomas Huxley weedgardencompassion There are some men who are counted great because they represent the actuality of their own age, and mirror it as it is. Such an one was Voltaire, of whom it was epigrammatically said: "he expressed everybody's thoughts better than anyone." But there are other men who attain greatness because they embody the potentiality of their own day and magically reflect the future. They express the thoughts which will be everybody's two or three centuries after them. Such as one was Descartes. Thomas Huxley greatnessmenscience 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-isspreadmankind 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 naturelyingart That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who has been so trained in youth that his body is the ready servant of his will. Thomas Huxley teachingeducationmen It is the first duty of a hypothesis to be intelligible. Thomas Huxley statisticsmathfirsts Nothing great in science has ever been done by men, whatever their powers, in whom the divine afflatus of the truth-seeker was wanting. Thomas Huxley donetruthmen 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. Thomas Huxley objective-truthproducemen A world of facts lies outside and beyond the world of words. Thomas Huxley lyingfactsworld The known is finite, the unknown infinite; spiritually we find ourselves on a tiny island in the middle of a boundless ocean of the inexplicable. It is our task, from generation to generation, to drain a small amount of additional land. Thomas Huxley tasksoceanislands 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 evilbeautifulmen I care not what subject is taught, if only it be taught well. Thomas Huxley careteachingeducation 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 instinctbeliefforgotten
