We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universes, to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to be created at once by special act.
There is no fundamental difference between man and animals in their ability to feel pleasure and pain, happiness, and misery.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.
The fact of evolution is the backbone of biology, and biology is thus in the peculiar position of being a science founded on an improved theory, is it then a science or faith.
False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness.
If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.
A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affections, - a mere heart of stone.
Man tends to increase at a greater rate than his means of subsistence.
Intelligence is based on how efficient a species became at doing the things they need to survive.
The mind is a chaos of delight, out of which a world of future & more quiet pleasure will arise.
A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science.
An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men.
A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and their motives—of approving of some and disapproving of others.
In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.
Great is the power of steady misrepresentation
To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact.
Even in the worm that crawls in the earth there glows a divine spark. When you slaughter a creature, you slaughter God.
