Herbert Spencer
British philosopher who applied evolutionary theory to society, coining 'survival of the fittest' to describe social progress.
Most quoted
"Evolution is an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion; during which the matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity; and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transformation."
— from First Principles, 1862
"The poverty of the incapable, the distresses that come upon the imprudent, the starvation of the idle, and those shoulderings aside of the weak by the strong... are the decrees of a large, far-seeing benevolence."
— from Social Statics, 1851
"The fact disclosed by a survey of the past that majorities have usually been wrong, must not blind us to the complementary fact that majorities have usually not been entirely wrong."
— from The Man Versus The State, 1884
All quotes by Herbert Spencer (101)
Every man is free to do that which he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man.
The child should be led to make its own investigations and to draw its own inferences.
The only possible way of arriving at a true sociology is to study the facts of society, not to invent theories about them.
The highest function of the State is to secure to each citizen the free exercise of his faculties.
The ultimate end of all education is to make a man a complete man.
The more complex the organism, the more complex its environment.
The law of evolution is the law of the universe.
The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.
The study of sociology is the study of society as an organism.
The only true education is self-education.
The ultimate aim of all social arrangements is the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
The highest form of government is that which governs least.
The progress of society is from the simple to the complex.
The more things a man is interested in, the more opportunities he has for happiness.
The ultimate end of all science is to reduce the complex to the simple.
The only way to make a man moral is to make him free.
The function of the State is not to make men good, but to make them free.
The greatest evil is not suffering, but the fear of suffering.
The more we know, the more we are able to know.
The ultimate goal of all social development is the establishment of a state of perfect equilibrium.
Contemporaries of Herbert Spencer
Other Sociologys born within 50 years of Herbert Spencer (1820–1903).