Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.

Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.

Society knows perfectly well how to kill a man and has methods more subtle than death

Society knows perfectly well how to kill a man and has methods more subtle than death

The theory of evolution must be considered as a scientific theory, as theory, that is, proposed to explain or systemize read more

The theory of evolution must be considered as a scientific theory, as theory, that is, proposed to explain or systemize a set of facts, and that no one has any claim to be considered as a serious rival to Darwin in the "discovery" of this theory who did not conduct his evolutionary studies upon a reasonably wide basis of facts. To have ideas, apercus, is not enough, and it is the overevalutation of such clever but uncontrolled guesses which is apt to produce the ludicrous fallacy of combination, in which fragments of the final theory are collected from widely scattered sources and are combined in such a way as to impugn the originality of him who was the first to see how such a synthesis was possible.

Without speculation there is no good and original observation.

Without speculation there is no good and original observation.

Peace is a natural effect of trade.

Peace is a natural effect of trade.

It is only because the majority opinion will always be opposed by some that our knowledge and understanding progress. In read more

It is only because the majority opinion will always be opposed by some that our knowledge and understanding progress. In the process by which opinion is formed, it is very probable that, by the time any view becomes a majority view, it is no longer the best view: somebody will already have advanced beyond the point which the majority have reached. It is because we do not yet which of the many competing new opinions will prove itself the best that we wait until it has gained sufficient support.

Morality, thou deadly bane,Thy tens o' thousands thou has slain!

Morality, thou deadly bane,Thy tens o' thousands thou has slain!

Progress cannot be organized.

Progress cannot be organized.

We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something read more

We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something going on in a small minority, perpetually beleaguered in a few walled towns. Now and then the horde of barbarians outside breaks through, and we have an armed effort to halt the process. That is, we have a Reformation, a French Revolution, a war for democracy, a Great Awakening. The minority is decimated and driven to cover. But a few survive- and a few are enough to carry on.