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We have repeatedly observed that while any whole is evolving, there is always going on an evolution of the parts into which it divides itself; but we have not observed that this equally holds of the totality of things, which is made up of parts within parts from the greatest down to the smallest.

— Herbert Spencer

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More quotes by Herbert Spencer

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.

Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative (1891)

Every man is free to do that which he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man.

The Principles of Ethics (1897)

All evil results from the non-adaptation of constitution to conditions. This is true of everything that lives.

Social Statics (1851)

The truth is, that those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded.

Every man may claim the fullest liberty to exercise his faculties compatible with the possession of like liberties by every other man.

Social Statics (1851)

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