101 quotes
The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification.
On the advisableness of improving natural knowledge (1866)
Life is too short to occupy oneself with the slaying of the slain more than once.
The method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of the necessary mode of working of the human mind.
Our Knowledge of the Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature (1863)
Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.
The great end of life is not knowledge but action.
Technical Education (1877)
The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, scepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.
On the advisableness of improving natural knowledge (1866)
In an ideal University, as I conceive it, a man should be able to obtain instruction in all forms of knowledge, and discipline in the use of all the methods by which knowledge is obtained.
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.
The saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing is, to my mind, a very dangerous adage.
On Elementary Instruction in Physiology (1877)
A man has no reason to be ashamed of having an ape for his grandfather.
The great tragedy of Science — the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
But orthodoxy is the Bourbon of the world of thought.
Darwiniana: the Origin of Species (1860)
The man who is all morality and intellect, although he may be good and even great, is, after all, only half a man.
The doctrine that all men are, in any sense, or have been, at any time, free and equal, is an utterly baseless fiction.
Every living creature commences its existence under a form different from, and simpler than, that which it eventually attains.
Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature (1863)
Size is not grandeur, and territory does not make a nation.
Address on University Education (1876)
I would rather be the offspring of two apes than be a man and afraid to face the truth.
The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom.
A Liberal Education and Where to Find It (1868)
There is the greatest practical benefit in making a few failures early in life.
That mysterious independent variable of political calculation, Public Opinion.