Thomas Henry Huxley

"The only justification for our concepts and systems is that they serve to interpret the collection of our experiences."

"Better the reign of a tyrant than the reign of a mob."

"Science is simply common sense at its best."

"Men believe what they wish to believe."

"The terrible truths which may be hidden beneath the most attractive theories."

"Veracity is the heart of morality."

"What is the primary function of a citizen? It is to be responsible."

"The reward of the general is not a bigger tent, but command."

"A man who will speak his opinion is in perpetual danger."

"The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or politics, but it is not compatible with the pursuit of knowledge."

"What is the worth of anything but for its actions?"

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that very existence is an act of rebellion."

"Certainty is the privilege of the uneducated."

"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty."

"Agnosticism is not a creed but a method."

"Before learning any new ideas one should remove all preconceptions."

"The question which has no meaning is unanswerable."

"The more I think of it the more I am convinced that we are wrong to do more than refuse to teach what we know to be false."

"Every variety of philosophical and theological opinion was represented there."

"The fundamental principle of theology is that God is a being of infinite and boundless benevolence."

"The known is finite, the unknown infinite."

"A man of science wishes to get at truth; a man of the Church wishes to get at men."

"It is the duty of men and women to speak uncomfortable truths."

"The science-educated person is doubly advantaged."

"You can't have a scientific civilization without a scientific philosophy."

"The history of science shows us that many of our present notions will be discarded."

"Scepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin."

"To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child."

"The most valuable knowledge is self-knowledge."

"An unjust peace is better than a just war."