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There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation.

Herbert Spencer

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Herbert Spencer
Born: 1824
Born: April 27
Anthropologist
Botanist
Economist
Journalist
Philosopher
Psychologist
Sociologist
Writer
Derby
Derbyshire
Spencert
Gerbert Spencer
Principles
Investigation
Information
Contempt
Wisdom
Bars
Science
Resistance
Contradicting
Keep
Principle
Theorists
Cannot
Fail
Prior
Men
Ignorance
Condemnation
Failing
Everlasting

More quotes by Herbert Spencer

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Time: That which man is always trying to kill, but which ends in killing him.
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So long as selfishness makes government needful at all, it must make every government corrupt, save one in which all men are represented.
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Never educate a child to be a gentleman or lady alone, but to be a man, a woman.
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This survival of the fittest implies multiplication of the fittest.
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Absolute morality is the regulation of conduct in such a way that pain shall not be inflicted.
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Ethical ideas and sentiments have to be considered as parts of the phenomena of life at large. We have to deal with man as a product of evolution, with society as a product of evolution, and with moral phenomena as products of evolution.
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Our lives are universally shortened by our ignorance.
Herbert Spencer
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The idea of disembodied spirits is wholly unsupported by evidence, and I cannot accept it.
Herbert Spencer
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The forces which are working out the great scheme of perfect happiness, taking no account of incidental suffering, exterminate such sections of mankind as stand in their way, with the same sternness that they exterminate beasts of prey and herds of useless ruminants.
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We too often forget that not only is there 'a soul of goodness in things evil,' but very generally also, a soul of truth in things erroneous.
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A jury is composed of twelve men of average ignorance.
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Life is not for learning nor is life for working, but learning and working are for life.
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Strong as it looks at the outset, State-agency perpetually disappoints every one. Puny as are its first stages, private efforts daily achieve results that astound the world.
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The question of questions for the politicians should ever be-What type of social structure am I tending to produce? But this is a question he never entertains.
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The freest form of government is only the least objectionable form. The rule of the many by the few we call tyranny: the rule of the few by the many is tyranny also only of a less intense kind.
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It is the function of parents to see that their children habitually experience the true consequences of their conduct.
Herbert Spencer
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Mother, when your children are irritable, do not make them more so by scolding and fault-finding, but correct their irritability by good nature and mirthfulness. Irritability comes from errors in food, bad air, too little sleep, a necessity for change of scene and surroundings from confinement in close rooms, and lack of sunshine.
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Every man is free to do that which he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man.
Herbert Spencer
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Progress is not an accident, not a thing within human control, but a beneficent necessity ... due to the working of a universal law. So surely must the things we call evil and immorality disappear so surely must man become perfect.
Herbert Spencer
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If on one day we find the fast-spreading recognition of popular rights accompanied by a silent, growing perception of the rights of women, we also find it accompanied by a tendency towards a system of non-coercive education--that is, towards a practical illustration of the rights of children.
Herbert Spencer