Quote#Work
Under the natural course of things each citizen tends towards his…
Quote byHerbert Spencer · 1820–1903
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative (1891), Vol. 3, Ch. VII, Over-Legislation.
English (original)
Under the natural course of things each citizen tends towards his fittest function. Those who are competent to the kind of work they undertake, succeed, and, in the average of cases, are advanced in proportion to their efficiency; while the incompetent, society soon finds out, ceases to employ, forces to try something easier, and eventually turns to use.
— 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 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.