Thomas Huxley Quotes

We should all be troubled when science is treated as if it were an ideology rather than a discipline.

We need a world where the values of science are celebrated: free inquiry, free speech and a healthy skepticism, all coupled with a sense of wonder, a respect for truth and an ability to reason.

Truth in science can be defined as the working hypothesis best suited to open the way to the next better one.

We don't regard any scientific theory as the absolute truth.

In science, all facts, no matter how trivial or banal, enjoy democratic equality.

As scientists, we need to not be afraid of the truth.

Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church is often labeled today as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, look like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards.

Until every soul is freely permitted to investigate every book and creed and dogma for itself, the world cannot be free.

Only science and the spirit of seeking truth from facts can save China. I firmly believe in this.

Ecclesiasticism in science is only unfaithfulness to truth.

The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought.

I think the main lesson that I have learned is that a good scientist is a humble scientist who is open-minded to listen to other scientists when they discover something.

Science is bound, by the everlasting vow of honor, to face fearlessly every problem which can be fairly presented to it.

I do not want chemistry to degenerate into a religion; I do not want the chemist to believe in the existence of atoms as the Christian believes in the existence of Christ in the communion wafer.

Seek the company of those who are looking for the truth, but run from those who have found it.

In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion

But whereas skepticism and uncertainty have always been the heart and soul of science, confidence and certainty are the coin of the realm in much of today’s public discourse. Unquestioning confidence is deeply troubling for the scientific community because it is not the currency we trade in, and it has led people in America and around the world to question scientific enterprise itself. We should all be troubled when science is treated as if it were an ideology rather than a discipline.

To the scientist, failure to flip-flop in the face of contradictory evidence is irrational and dangerous behavior. And scientists will often flip-flop at almost light speed. Often it takes only a single observation to flip-flop thousands of scientifically learned people.

There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors.

People tend not to want to question dogma. But I'm afraid of dogma.

Most Christians are afraid that people will think for themselves; most atheists are afraid that they won’t.

Our belief is not a belief. Our principles are not a faith. We do not rely soley upon science and reason, because these are necessary rather than sufficient factors, but we distrust anything that contradicts science or outrages reason. We may differ on many things, but what we respect is free inquiry, openmindedness, and the pursuit of ideas for their own sake.

No country or people who are slaves to dogma and dogmatic mentality can progress.

The enemy of science is not religion... . The true enemy is the substitution of thought, reflection, and curiosity with dogma.

"True science has no belief," says Dr. Fenwick, in Bulwer-Lytton's 'Strange Story;' "true science knows but three states of mind: denial, conviction, and the vast interval between the two, which is not belief, but the suspension of judgment." Such, perhaps, was true science in Dr. Fenwick's days. But the true science of our modern times proceeds otherwise; it either denies point-blank, without any preliminary investigation, or sits in the interim, between denial and conviction, and, dictionary in hand, invents new Graeco-Latin appellations for non-existing kinds of hysteria!