Quotes by Herbert Spencer

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When we will know how to better use the powers of nature, when the means of production will be perfected, when human labor will be well protected, when education will be well organized, when training for the most essential functions of human activity, and when, therefore, man will have more leisure, then the beautiful in art and in nature will rightfully take a large place in all spirits.

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You must tend, as far as possible, to reduce the parental authority, replacing it, in the understanding of the child, with that autonomy that is born from foreseeing the consequences of one act or another.

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Hero worship is more developed where respect for human freedom is less developed.

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By the time we are ready with the preparations for the attainment of happiness - behold, happiness has already passed.

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The concept of happiness is infinitely varied. In all centuries, in all peoples, in all social classes, happiness has been understood in a different way... If we compare the sand castles of the peasant with those of the philosopher, surely the architecture is different.

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Usually we don't do the right thing just because of a lack of will, and not because of ignorance.

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Progress is not an accident, but a necessity.

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Thorough results are obtained only when prepared little by little

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Self-mastery, like all qualities, is developed through practice. He who wants to control his passions at a mature age must learn this from his youth.

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Mind power cannot have its source in an ill-nourished brain.

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The ability to control oneself is the main difference between man and animal.

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The jury is composed of twelve men of average ignorance.

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The judgment that beauty is superficial is a superficial judgment.

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Happiness is the ultimate goal of our pursuits.

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Only in a strong and healthy body does the spirit keep its balance and the character develops in all its greatness.

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The purpose of education is to form a being capable of leading himself, and not a being that can only be led by others.

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Mankind has evolved only on the path of self-education, and in order to achieve the best results, each individual mind must develop on the same path: this state of affairs is constantly demonstrated by the extraordinary successes of self-educated people.

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Evolution cannot end except by the attainment of supreme perfection and complete happiness.

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Patriotism, on a national level, is the same thing as selfishness, on an individual level; both, in essence, come from the same source and bring identical misfortunes. Respecting society means respecting yourself.

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My opposition to socialism is the result of the certainty that socialism would stop progress towards such a higher social state and return us to a lower state. Only a slow transformation of human nature with the help of a social life could effect thorough transformations for the better.

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The common belief that science and poetry are at odds is a fallacy of proportion. People who have dedicated themselves to scientific research prove to us not only that they are human like others, but that they are much more receptive to the poetry of the objects they study.

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And gratitude and humanity have their primary root in sympathy.

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Everyone should live in such a way that he does not burden others with his problems and does not cause them any harm.

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A time will come when we will wonder that there were once men able to enjoy themselves without working, at the expense of those who worked without enjoying themselves.

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Science is knowledge in organized form.

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Our lives are shortened because of ignorance.

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Injustice is just as bad even if it is committed by one person or by several.

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No century is able to write its own history.

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No one can be fully moral unless all are moral. No one can be fully happy unless everyone is happy. No one can be fully free unless all are free.

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Architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and poetry may rightly be called the light of civilized life.

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Unconditional morality is a regularization of behavior so that all suffering is avoided.

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In education, the process of self-education must be given the most important place. Humanity evolves more successfully through self-education.

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If the goods of men of high qualities, goods created by them, will be taken away, so that men endowed with mediocre qualities can use these goods, not created by them, and the positions of some and others will be equalized, then all impulse to acquiring high qualities.

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If man's knowledge is in an unsystematized form, then the more numerous it is, the more his judgment is disturbed.

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Cruelty begets cruelty, and gentleness begets gentleness.

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Knowledge of the laws of life is incomparably more important than other knowledge, and the knowledge that leads us to self-realization is the most important knowledge.

"You cannot say that the existing laws regarding the possession of land are lawful. Violence, crime, and power have their source in these laws."

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The great goal of education is not knowledge, but action.

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Before anyone can reshape society, society must shape him.