Quote#World
In regard, then, to the sacred tradition of humanity, we learn that…
Quote byWilliam Kingdon Clifford · 1845–1879
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Weight Of Authority.
English (original)
In regard, then, to the sacred tradition of humanity, we learn that it consists, not in propositions or statements which are to be accepted and believed on the authority of the tradition, but in questions rightly asked, in conceptions which enable us to ask further questions, and in methods of answering questions. The value of all these things depends on their being tested day by day.
— William Kingdon Clifford
More from William Kingdon Clifford
We ought not to teach to little children, as a known fact, that which is not a known fact.
If God holds all mankind guilty for the sin of Adam, if he has visited upon the innocent the punishment of the guilty, if he is to torture any single soul for ever, then it is wrong to worship him.
depends on the position of surrounding bodies, and may be described as the change of momentum of a body
Do I seem to say, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die?" Far from it; on the contrary, I say, "Let us take hands and help, for this day we are alive together."
It is a very serious thing to consider that not only the earth itself and all that beautiful face of Nature we see, but also the living things upon it, and all the consciousness of men, and the ideas of society, which have grown up upon …
There is in the true man of science a desire stronger than the wish to have his beliefs upheld; namely, the desire to have them true.