Quotes by Thomas Huxley

I take it that the good of mankind means the attainment, by every man, of all the happiness which he can enjoy without diminishing the happiness of his fellow men.

Time, whose tooth gnaws away everything else, is powerless against truth.

If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?

The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.

Learn what is true in order to do what is right.

The scientific imagination always restrains itself within the limits of probability.

It is one of the most saddening things in life that, try as we may, we can never be certain of making people happy, whereas we can almost always be certain of making them unhappy.

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

The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all other woes of mankind, is wisdom. Teach a man to read and write, and you have put into his hands the great keys of the wisdom box. But it is quite another thing to open the box.

It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.

In science, as in art, and, as I believe, in every other sphere of human activity, there may be wisdom in a multitude of counsellors, but it is only in one or two of them.

No slavery can be abolished without a double emancipation, and the master will benefit by freedom more than the freed-man.

“Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. I have only begun to learn content and peace of mind since I have resolved at all risks to do this.”

“Science is nothing but trained and organized common sense, differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw recruit: and its methods differ from those of common sense only as far as the guardsmans cut and thrust differ from the manner in which a savage wields his club.”

“For once reality and his brains came into contact and the result was fatal.”