Quote#Nature
Government being simply an agent employed in common by a number of…
Quote byHerbert Spencer · 1820–1903
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Social Statics (1851), Pt. III, Ch. 19 : The Right to Ignore the State, § 1.
English (original)
Government being simply an agent employed in common by a number of individuals to secure to them certain advantages, the very nature of the connection implies that it is for each to say whether he will employ such an agent or not.
— Herbert Spencer
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Man needed one moral constitution to fit him for his original state; he needs another to fit him for his present state; and he has been, is, and will long continue to be, in process of adaptation.
Evil perpetually tends to disappear.
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 current opinion that science and poetry are opposed is a delusion.
All evil results from the non-adaptation of constitution to conditions. This is true of everything that lives. Does a shrub dwindle in poor soil, or become sickly when deprived of light, or die outright if removed to a cold climate? it is …
Progress, therefore, is not an accident, but a necessity.