Quote#Wisdom
There is a steady check in an old civilisation upon the fertility of…
Quote byFrancis Galton · 1822–1911
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Hereditary Genius (1869), p. 414.
English (original)
There is a steady check in an old civilisation upon the fertility of the abler classes: the improvident and unambitious are those who chiefly keep up the breed. So the race gradually deteriorates, becoming in each successive generation less fit for a high civilisation.
— Francis Galton
More from Francis Galton
One of the effects of civilization is to diminish the rigour of the application of the law of natural selection. It preserves weakly lives that would have perished in barbarous lands.
What nature does blindly, slowly, and ruthlessly, man may do providently, quickly, and kindly. As it lies within his power, so it becomes his duty to work in that direction.
I do not plead guilty to a shallow view of human nature, when I propose to apply, as it were, a foot-rule to its heights and depths.
Count wherever you can.
Anthropology teaches us to sympathise with other races, and to regard them as kinsmen rather than aliens.
it showed the repressive effect of White civilization upon the Negroes