Agnosticism is not properly described as a "negative" creed, nor indeed as a creed of any kind, except in so far as it expresses absolute faith in the validity of a principle which is as much ethical as intellectual. This principle may be stated in various ways, but they all amount to this: that it is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty. This is what agnosticism asserts; and, in my opinion, it is all that is essential to agnosticism.
¶ "Agnosticism and Christianity," The Nineteenth Century (Jun 1889)
If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?
¶ "On Elemental Instruction in Physiology" (1877)
To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or seaside stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall.
¶ "On the Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences" (1854)
The great end of life is not knowledge but action.
¶ "Technical Education" (1877)
History warns us, however, that it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions; and, as matters now stand, it is hardly rash to anticipate that, in another twenty years, the new generation, educated under the influences of the present day, will be in danger of accepting the main doctrines of the 'Origin of Species' with as little reflection, and it may be with as little justification, as so many of our contemporaries, twenty years ago, rejected them. Against any such a consummation let us all devoutly pray; for the scientific spirit is of more value than its products, and irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.
¶ "The Coming of Age of The Origin of Species" (1880)
The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, scepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin. And it cannot be otherwise, for every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority, the cherishing of the keenest scepticism, the annihilation of the spirit of blind faith; and the most ardent votary of science holds his firmest convictions, not because the men he most venerates hold them; not because their verity is testified by portents and wonders; but because his experience teaches him that whenever he chooses to bring these convictions into contact with their primary source, Nature — whenever he thinks fit to test them by appealing to experiment and to observation — Nature will confirm them. The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification.
¶ On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge (1866)
It is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.
¶ The Coming of Age of The Origin of Species (1890)
This may not be the best of all possible worlds, but to say that it is the worst is mere petulant nonsense.
¶ The Struggle for Existence in Human Society
Truth is better than much profit. I have searched over the grounds of my belief, and if wife and child and name and fame were all to be lost to me one after the other as the penalty, still I will not lie.
¶ Letter to Charles Kingsley (23 Sep 1860)
My business is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonise with my aspirations.
¶ Letter to Charles Kingsley (23 Sep 1860)
I am too much of a sceptic to deny the possibility of anything — especially as I am now so much occupied with theology — but I don't see my way to your conclusion.
¶ Letter to Herbert Spencer (22 Mar 1886)
The great tragedy of Science -- the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
¶ Presidential Address at the British Association, "Biogenesis and Abiogenesis" (1870)
