Quote#World
Strong as it looks at the outset, State-agency perpetually…
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)
Strong as it looks at the outset, State-agency perpetually disappoints every one. Puny as are its first stages, private efforts daily achieve results that astound the world.
— 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.