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)
The end of all effort is rest.
Contemporaries of Herbert Spencer
Other Sociologys born within 50 years of Herbert Spencer (1820–1903).