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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 Henry Huxley On the Reception of the Origin of Species (1887)

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More quotes by Thomas Henry Huxley

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)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Thomas Henry Huxley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.