A biography for Thomas Huxleyhasn’t been written yet.
“I believe that history might be, and ought to be, taught in a new fashion so as to make the meaning of it as a process of evolution intelligible to the young.”
“The results of political changes are hardly ever those which their friends hope or their foes fear.”
“The ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment... not authority.”
“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.”
“It is not to be forgotten that what we call rational grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our instincts.”
“My business is to teach my aspirations to confirm themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonize with my aspirations.”
“If a man cannot do brain work without stimulants of any kind, he had better turn to hand work it is an indication on Nature's part that she did not mean him to be a head worker.”
“Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.”
“There is no sea more dangerous than the ocean of practical politics none in which there is more need of good pilotage and of a single, unfaltering purpose when the waves rise high.”
“Freedom and order are not incompatible... truth is strength... free discussion is the very life of truth.”
“History warns us that it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.”
“The chess-board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us.”
“Science reckons many prophets, but there is not even a promise of a Messiah.”
“Patience and tenacity are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.”
“Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.”
“Logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men.”
“The only freedom I care about is the freedom to do right; the freedom to do wrong I am ready to part with on the cheapest terms to anyone who will take it of me.”
“It is the customary fate of new truths, to begin as heresies, and to end as superstitions.”
“All truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified.”
“Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.”