Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencerwas an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth27 April 1820
men law evil
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.
teacher children men
Education has for its object to develop the child into a man of well proportioned and harmonious nature-this is alike the aim of parent and teacher.
truth lying opinion
Truth generally lies in the coordination of antagonistic opinions.
men feelings social
Sundry manifestations of nature in men and women, are greatly perverted by existing social conventions upheld by both. There are feelings which, under our predatory régime, with its adapted standard of propriety, it is not considered manly to show; but which, contrariwise, are considered admirable in women. Hence repressed manifestations in the one case, and exaggerated manifestations in the other; leading to mistaken estimates.
home civilization important
The home is the most important factor in civilization, and that civilization is to be measured at different stages largely by the development in the home.
generosity envy mountain
There is a story of some mountains of salt in Cumana, which never diminished, though carried away in much abundance by merchants; but when once they were monopolized to the benefit of a private purse, then the salt decreased; till afterward all were allowed to take of it, when it had a new access and increase. The truth of this story may be uncertain, but the application is true; he that envies others the use of his gifts decays then, but he thrives most that is most diffusive.
numbers gains opinion
The presumption that any current opinion is not wholly false, gains in strength according to the number of its adherents.
exercise men liberty
Every man may claim the fullest liberty to exercise his faculties compatible with the possession of like liberties by every other man.
hate feelings impossible
That feelings of love and hate make rational judgments impossible in public affairs, as in private affairs, we can clearly enough see in others, though not so clearly in ourselves.
politics politician social
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.
adversity distress hard
Much dearer be the things which come through hard distress.
children knowledge race
If there be an order in which the human race has mastered its various kinds of knowledge, there will arise in every child an aptitude to acquire these kinds of knowledge in the same order. So that even were the order intrinsically indifferent, it would facilitate education to lead the individual mind through the steps traversed by the general mind. But the order is not intrinsically indifferent; and hence the fundamental reason why education should be a repetition of civilization in little.
mother children sleep
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.
art humanity progress
During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.