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Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous Herbert Spencer Quotes

“If men were wise they would see that the affection that God has implanted in us is amply sufficient, when not weakened by artificial aid, to ensure permanence of union; and if they would have more faith in this all would go well. To tie together by human law what God has tied together by passion, is about as wise as it would be to chain the moon to the earth lest the natural attraction existing between them should not be sufficient to prevent them flying asunder.”

IfsMenShouldHumansWellsWould BeEarthTogetherLawPassionNaturalMarriageWiseMoonUnionsAffectionAttractionAidsFlyingChainsTiesSufficientArtificialTiedPermanence
Book:An Autobiography: By Herbert Spencer
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“Is it stupidity or is it moral cowardice which leads men to continue professing a creed that makes self-sacrifice a cardinal principle, while they urge the sacrificing of others, even to the death, when they trespass against us? Is it blindness, or is it an insance inconsistency, which makes them regard as most admirable the bearing of evil for the benefit of others, while they lavish admiration on those who, out of revenge, inflict great evils in return for small ones suffered? Surely our barbarian code of right needs revision, and our barbarian standard of honour should be somewhat changed.”

MenNeedsShouldSelfEvilMoralPrinciplesSacrificeChangedReturnBenefitsStandardsRegardStupidityRevengeCodeUrgesAdmirationHonourCowardiceCreedsBlindnessAdmirableSelf SacrificeBarbariansCardinalsRevisionInconsistency
Book:Works: The study of sociology
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“People ... become so preoccupied with the means by which an end is achieved, as eventually to mistake it for the end. Just as money, which is a means of satisfying wants, comes to be regarded by a miser as the sole thing to be worked for, leaving the wants unsatisfied; so the conduct men have found preferable because most conducive to happiness, has come to be thought of as intrinsically preferable: not only to be made a proximate end (which it should be), but to be made an ultimate end, to the exclusion of the true ultimate end.”

PeopleMenWantShouldMeanMadeEndsFoundMistakeUltimateLeavingSatisfyingSoleWant UExclusionMisersUnsatisfied
Author:Herbert Spencer
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“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.”

IfsShouldMindHumansKindChildrenLittlesReasonScienceOrderIndividualRaceStepsKnowledgeCivilizationFundamentalsVariousAriseReason WhyIndifferenceHuman RaceAcquireIndifferentRepetitionFacilitateAptitudeLittle Knowledge
Book:Essays on education and kindred subjects Repr
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“For what is meant by saying that a government ought to educate the people? Why should they be educated? What is the education for? Clearly, to fit the people for social life - to make them good citizens. And who is to say what are good citizens? The government: there is no other judge. And who is to say how these good citizens may be made? The government: there is no other judge. Hence the proposition is convertible into this - a government ought to mold children into good citizens, using its own discretion in settling what a good citizen is and how the child may be molded into one.”

PeopleShouldMayChildrenMadeGovernmentSocialJudgingOughtCitizensFitEducatedSettlingEducateCitizenshipPropositionsMoldDiscretionSocial LifeGood CitizenCompulsory Education
Author:Herbert Spencer
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