The foundation of all morality is to have done, once and for all, with lying; to give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibilities of knowledge. Thomas Huxley More Quotes by Thomas Huxley More Quotes From 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 grandfather men mean The dogma of the infallibility of the Bible is no more self-evident than is that of the infallibility of the popes. Thomas Huxley dogma self bible Learn what is true in order to do what is right. Thomas Huxley order Though under-instruction is a bad thing, it is not impossible that over-instruction may be worse. Thomas Huxley impossible education may 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 cosmos survival expression 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 learning responsibility education As I have already urged, the practice of that which is ethically best - what we call goodness or virtue - involves a course of conduct which, in all respects, is opposed to that which leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of ruthless selfassertion it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside, or treading down, all competitors, it requires that the individual shall not merely respect , but shall help his fellows. It repudiates the gladiatorial theory of existence. Laws and moral precepts are directed to the end of curbing the cosmic process. Thomas Huxley struggle self science 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 truth may ideas 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 atheism men believe Life is too short to occupy oneself with the slaying of the slain more than once. Thomas Huxley slaying life-is-too-short oneself It is because the body is a machine that education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial organization upon the natural organization of the body. Thomas Huxley body organization education The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land, to add something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions. Thomas Huxley generations ocean land In fact a favourite problem of Tyndall is-Given the molecular forces in a mutton chop, deduce Hamlet or Faust therefrom. He is confident that the Physics of the Future will solve this easily. Thomas Huxley literature science facts I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of 'agnostic'. Thomas Huxley appropriate agnostic titles Only one absolute certainty is possible to man, namely that at any given moment the feeling which he has exists. Thomas Huxley absolute-certainty feelings men 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 possibility too-much way As if to demonstrate, by a striking example, the impossibility of erecting any cerebral barrier between man and the apes, Nature has provided us, in the latter animals, with an almost complete series of gradations from brains little higher than that of a Rodent, to brains little lower than that of Man. Thomas Huxley brain animal men Only a scientific people can survive in a scientific future. Thomas Huxley people Every philosophical thinker hails it [The Origin of Species] as a veritable Whitworth gun in the armoury of liberalism. Thomas Huxley philosopher philosophical gun 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 teaching work
