“It is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance.”

What a book a devil’s chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering, low, and horribly cruel work of nature!

It is impossible to concieve of this immense and wonderful universe as the result of blind chance or necessity.

There is a grandeur in this view of life, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful are being evolved

To suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree

A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affections, – a mere heart of stone.

We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence.

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.

Man scans with scrupulous care the character and pedigree of his horses, cattle, and dogs before he matches them; but when he comes to his own marriage he rarely, or never, takes any such care.

One general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.

We are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps

What wretched doings come from the ardor of fame; the love of truth alone would never make one man attack another bitterly.

The more one thinks, the more one feels the hopeless immensity of man’s ignorance.

Sympathy beyond the confines of man, that is, humanity to the lower animals, seems to be one of the latest moral acquisitions.

Blushing is the most peculiar and most human of all expressions.

Free will is to mind what chance is to matter.

Even when we are quite alone, how often do we think with pleasure or pain of what others think of us – of their imagined approbation or disapprobation.

The West would be well advised to change its approach towards failing states. At present, no major power can find the correct ways and means – and the numbers of failing states are increasing.

Law without penalty is only advise.

They first condemn that first advised the ill.

Never advise anyone to go to war or to get married.

Your career, interests and relationships are important, but they are only important insofar as they lead you toward a deeper understanding of yourself. Otherwise, they are irrelevant.

Anyone who is concerned about his dignity would be well advised to keep away from horses.

Unless you know the individual, it’s very difficult to advise that individual as to what he needs to do.

You will be better advised to watch what we do instead of what we say.