Thomas Huxley Quotes

A British biologist and prominent defender of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. He was a critic of organized religion.
(1825 - 1895)

Act decidedly and take the consequences. No good is ever done by hesitation.

Agnosticism is not properly described as a "negative" creed, nor indeed as a creed of any kind, except in so far as it expresses absolute faith in the validity of a principle which is as much ethical as intellectual. This principle may be stated in various ways, but they all amount to this: that 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.
[Agnosticism]

All truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified.

Books are the money of Literature, but only the counters of Science.

Ecclesiasticism in science is only unfaithfulness to truth.

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

Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority. [Knowledge]

Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules.

For every man the world is as fresh as it was at the first day, and as full of untold novelties for him who has the eyes to see them.

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.

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

God give me strength to face a fact though it slay me.

History warns us, however, that it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions; and, as matters now stand, it is hardly rash to anticipate that, in another twenty years, the new generation, educated under the influences of the present day, will be in danger of accepting the main doctrines of the 'Origin of Species' with as little reflection, and it may be with as little justification, as so many of our contemporaries, twenty years ago, rejected them. Against any such a consummation let us all devoutly pray; for the scientific spirit is of more value than its products, and irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.
[Begin]

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.

I am too much of a skeptic 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.

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.

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 - that there are a great many people in the world who are just as clever as you are. You learn to put your trust, by and by, in an economy and frugality of the exercise of your powers, both moral and intellectual; and you very soon find out, if you have not found it out before, that patience and tenacity of purpose are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.

I do not mean to suggest that scientific differences should be settled by universal suffrage, but I do conceive that solid proofs must be met by something more than empty and unsupported assertions.

I do not say think as I think, but think in my way. Fear no shadows, least of all in that great specter of personal unhappiness which binds half the world to orthodoxy.

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.