...most scientific problems are far better understood by studying their history than their logic.

...most scientific problems are far better understood by studying their history than their logic.

Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals read more

Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.

Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer read more

Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because read more

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die out, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Spiritual stagnation ensues when man's environment becomes unpredictable or when his inner life is made wholly predictable.

Spiritual stagnation ensues when man's environment becomes unpredictable or when his inner life is made wholly predictable.

Disapproval is a very important factor in all progress. There has really never been any progress without it.

Disapproval is a very important factor in all progress. There has really never been any progress without it.

Society is one vast conspiracy for carving one into the kind of statue likes, and then placing it in the read more

Society is one vast conspiracy for carving one into the kind of statue likes, and then placing it in the most convenient niche it has.

Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.

Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.

Every politician, clergyman, educator, or physician, in short, anyone dealing with human individuals, is bound to make grave mistakes if read more

Every politician, clergyman, educator, or physician, in short, anyone dealing with human individuals, is bound to make grave mistakes if he ignores these two great truths of population zoology: (1) no two individuals are alike, and (2) both environment and genetic endowment make a contribution to nearly every trait.