Quote#Speech
We have a priori reasons for believing that in every sentence there…
Quote byHerbert Spencer · 1820–1903
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Philosophy of Style (1852), Pt. I, sec. 3, "The Principle of Economy Applied to Sentences".
English (original)
We have a priori reasons for believing that in every sentence there is some one order of words more effective than any other; and that this order is the one which presents the elements of the proposition in the succession in which they may be most readily put together.
— Herbert Spencer
More from Herbert Spencer
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 current opinion that science and poetry are opposed is a delusion.
The truth is, that those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded.
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.