22+ William Kingdon Clifford Quotes On Slavery, Education And Colonialism

William Kingdon Clifford was an English mathematician and philosopher who worked in the fields of differential geometry and algebra. He is best known for his work on the theory of gravitation, which was later developed by Albert Einstein. Clifford was also a strong advocate of ethical principles in science, and his essay "The Ethics of Belief" is still widely read today. Following is our collection on famous quotes by William Kingdon Clifford on slavery, education, colonialism.

Top 10 William Kingdon Clifford Quotes

1. Every rustic who delivers in the village alehouse his slow, infrequent sentences, may help to kill or keep alive the fatal superstitions which clog his race.
2. This sense of power is the highest and best of pleasures when the belief on which it is founded is a true belief, and has been fairly earned by investigation.
3. No simplicity of mind, no obscurity of station, can escape the universal duty of questioning all that we believe.
4. He who truly believes that which prompts him to an action has looked upon the action to lust after it, he has committed it already in his heart.
5. The harm which is done by credulity in a man is not confined to the fostering of a credulous character in others, and consequent support of false beliefs.
6. An atmosphere of beliefs and conceptions has been formed by the labours and struggles of our forefathers, which enables us to breathe amid the various and complex circumstances of our life.
7. If a belief is not realized immediately in open deeds, it is stored up for the guidance of the future.
8. Thought is powerless, except it make something outside of itself: the thought which conquers the world is not contemplative but active.
9. All our liberties are due to men who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land.
10. There is one thing in the world more wicked than the desire to command, and that is the will to obey.

William Kingdon Clifford Famous Quotes And Sayings

scientific thought does not mean thought about scientific subjects with long names. There are no scientific subjects. The subject of science is the human universe; that is to say, everything that is, or has been, or may be related to man. — William Kingdon Clifford

Remember that [scientific thought] is the guide of action; that the truth which it arrives at is not that which we can ideally contemplate without error, but that which we may act upon without fear; and you cannot fail to see that scientific thought is not an accompaniment or condition of human progress, but human progress itself. — William Kingdon Clifford

An atom must be at least as complex as a grand piano. — William Kingdon Clifford

There is no scientific discoverer, no poet, no painter, no musician, who will not tell you that he found ready made his discovery or poem or picture — that it came to him from outside, and that he did not consciously create it from within. — William Kingdon Clifford

The scientific discovery appears first as the hypothesis of an analogy; and science tends to become independent of the hypothesis. — William Kingdon Clifford

The aim of scientific thought, then, is to apply past experience to new circumstances; the instrument is an observed uniformity in the course of events. By the use of this instrument it gives us information transcending our experience, it enables us to infer things that we have not seen from things that we have seen; and the evidence for the truth of that information depends on our supposing that the uniformity holds good beyond our experience. — William Kingdon Clifford

To know all about anything is to know how to deal with it under all circumstances. — William Kingdon Clifford

We may always depend on it that algebra, which cannot be translated into good English and sound common sense, is bad algebra. — William Kingdon Clifford

We feel much happier and more secure when we think we know precisely what to do, no matter what happens, then when we have lost our way and do not know where to turn. — William Kingdon Clifford

Our lives our guided by that general conception of the course of things which has been created by society for social purposes. — William Kingdon Clifford

Namely, we have no right to believe a thing true because everybody says so unless there are good grounds for believing that some one person at least has the means of knowing what is true, and is speaking the truth so far as he knows it. — William Kingdon Clifford

If a man, holding a belief which he was taught in childhood or persuaded of afterwards, keeps down and pushes away any doubts which arise about it in his mind, purposely avoids the reading of books and the company of men that call in question or discuss it, and regards as impious those questions which cannot easily be asked without disturbing it - the life of that man is one long sin against mankind. — William Kingdon Clifford

Life Lessons by William Kingdon Clifford

1. William Kingdon Clifford's work highlights the importance of ethical considerations in scientific research, emphasizing the need for scientists to be honest and responsible in their investigations.
2. Clifford's work also demonstrates the power of mathematics to uncover hidden truths and explore the natural world in a deeper and more meaningful way.
3. Finally, Clifford's work serves as a reminder that science is a human endeavor and must be conducted with integrity and respect for the natural world.