The law is the survival of the fittest . . . . The law is not the survival of the “better” or the “stronger,” if we give to those words any thing like their ordinary meanings. It is the survival of those which are constitutionally fittest to thrive under the conditions in which they are placed; and very often that which, humanly speaking, is inferiority, causes the survival.

Progress . . . is not an accident, but a necessity. Instead of civilization being artificial, it is a part of nature.

Every active force produces more than one change—every cause produces more than one effect.

The truth is, that those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded.

The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.

Opinion is ultimately determined by the feelings, and not by the intellect.

Education has for its object the formation of character.

A ceremony in which rings are put on the finger of the lady and through the nose of the gentleman.

Marriage: A word which should be pronounced “mirage.”

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.