The great end of life is not knowledge but action. Thomas Huxley More Quotes by Thomas Huxley More Quotes From Thomas Huxley There is assuredly no more effectual method of clearing up one's own mind on any subject than by talking it over, so to speak, with men of real power and grasp, who have considered it from a totally different point of view. Thomas Huxley realtalkingmen When I reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist, or an idealist; a Christian, or a freethinker; I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer; until, at last, I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations, except the last. Thomas Huxley atheistchristianart It is not what we believe, but why we believe it. Moral responsibility lies in diligently weighing the evidence. We must actively doubt; we have to scrutinize our views, not take them on trust. No virtue attached to blindly accepting orthodoxy, however 'venerable'. Thomas Huxley responsibilitybelievelying . . . I fail to find a trace [in Protestantism] of any desire to set reason free. The most that can be discovered is a proposal to change masters. From being a slave of the papacy, the intellect was to become the serf of the Bible. Thomas Huxley failingdesirereligion 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 errorssoundhelping Without seeing any reason to believe that women are, on the average, so strong physically, intellectually, or morally, as men, I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that many women are much better endowed in all these respects than many men, and I am at a loss to understand on what grounds of justice or public policy a career which is open to the weakest and most foolish of the male sex should be forcibly closed to women of vigor and capacity. Thomas Huxley womenstrongsex Our reverence for the nobility of manhood will not be lessened by the knowledge that man is in substance and in structure, one with the brutes; for he alone possesses the marvellous endowment of intelligible and rational speech whereby he has slowly accumulated and organized the experience which is almost wholly lost with the cessation of individual life in other animals; so that he now stands raised above it as on a mountain-top, far above the level of his humble fellows, and transfigured from his grosser nature by reflecting, here and there, a ray from the infinite source of truth. Thomas Huxley humbleanimalmen 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 menideasthinking Not far from the invention of fire we must rank the invention of doubt. Thomas Huxley atheismfiredoubt 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 lawsciencebelieve 'Infidel' is a term of reproach, which Christians and Mohammedans, in their modesty, agree to apply to those who differ from them. Thomas Huxley modestyinfidelitychristian In scientific work, those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact. Thomas Huxley worksciencefacts Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this [step by step, from humans to apes to monkeys to lemurs] - leading us insensibly from the crown and summit of the animal creation down to creatures, from which there is but a step, as it seems, to the lowest, smallest, and least intelligent of the placental Mammalia. It is as if nature herself had forseen the arrogance of man, and with Roman severity had provided that his intellect, by its very triumphs, should call into prominence the slaves, admonishing the conqueror that he is but dust. Thomas Huxley intelligentanimalmen If a man cannot do brain work without stimulants of any kind, he had better turn to hand work it is an indication on Nature's part that she did not mean him to be a head worker. Thomas Huxley menmeanhands The doctrine that all men are, in any sense, or have been, at any time, free and equal, is an utterly baseless fiction. Thomas Huxley doctrinehumanitymen The chess-board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. Thomas Huxley playergameslife Surely there is a time to submit to guidance and a time to take one's own way at all hazards. Thomas Huxley hazardsguidanceway Economy does not lie in sparing money, but in spending it wisely. Thomas Huxley moneydoelying The question of all questions for humanity, the problem which lies behind all others and is more interesting than any of them, is that of the determination of man's place in nature and his relation to the cosmos. Thomas Huxley determinationmenlying Friendship involves many things but, above all the power of going outside oneself and appreciating what is noble and loving in another. Thomas Huxley appreciatenoblefriendship
