Quote #43

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation. (quote attributed to Spencer is from the second appendix to the fourth edition of the Alcoholics Anonymous book.)

More from Herbert Spencer

  1. Every man is free to do that which he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man.
  2. Those who cavalierly reject the Theory of Evolution, as not adequately supported by facts, seem quite to forget that their own theory is su…
  3. As there must be moderation in other things, so there must be moderation in self-criticism. Perpetual contemplation of our own actions prod…
  4. Time: That which man is always trying to kill, but which ends in killing him.
  5. 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 evo…
  6. We have unmistakable proof that throughout all past time, there has been a ceaseless devouring of the weak by the strong.
  7. How often misused words generate misleading thoughts!
  8. Evil perpetually tends to disappear.

All Herbert Spencer quotes