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Authors:
William Kingdon Clifford Quotes

William Kingdon Clifford quotes

English Mathematician May 4, 1845 – March 3, 1879

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Quotes

An atmosphere of beliefs and conceptions has been formed by the labours and struggles of our forefathers, which enables us to breathe amid the various and complex circumstances of our life. William Kingdon Clifford
In like manner, if I let myself believe anything on insufficient evidence, there may be no great harm done by the mere belief; it may be true after all, or I may never have occasion to exhibit it in outward acts. But I cannot help doing this great wrong towards Man, that I make myself credulous. The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them;... William Kingdon Clifford
The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them; for then it must sink back into savagery. William Kingdon Clifford
This sense of power is the highest and best of pleasures when the belief on which it is founded is a true belief, and has been fairly earned by investigation. William Kingdon Clifford
If I steal money from any person, there may be no harm done from the mere transfer of possession; he may not feel the loss, or it may prevent him from using the money badly. But I cannot help doing this great wrong towards Man, that I make myself dishonest. William Kingdon Clifford
We may always depend on it that algebra, which cannot be translated into good English and sound common sense, is bad algebra. William Kingdon Clifford
Namely, we have no right to believe a thing true because everybody says so unless there are good grounds for believing that some one person at least has the means of knowing what is true, and is speaking the truth so far as he knows it. William Kingdon Clifford
When an action is once done, it is right or wrong for ever; no accidental failure of its good or evil fruits can possibly alter that. William Kingdon Clifford
Into this, for good or ill, is woven every belief of every man who has speech of his fellows. A awful privilege, and an awful responsibility, that we should help to create the world in which posterity will live. William Kingdon Clifford
He who truly believes that which prompts him to an action has looked upon the action to lust after it, he has committed it already in his heart. William Kingdon Clifford
There is no scientific discoverer, no poet, no painter, no musician, who will not tell you that he found ready made his discovery or poem or picture - that it came to him from outside, and that he did not consciously create it from within. William Kingdon Clifford
William Kingdon Clifford quote: "No simplicity of mind, no obscurity of station, can escape the..."
No simplicity of mind, no obscurity of station, can escape the universal duty of questioning all that we believe. William Kingdon Clifford
We feel much happier and more secure when we think we know precisely what to do, no matter what happens, then when we have lost our way and do not know where to turn. William Kingdon Clifford
In like manner, if I let myself believe anything on insufficient evidence, there may be no great harm done by the mere belief; it may be true after all, or I may never have occasion to exhibit it in outward acts. William Kingdon Clifford
A little reflection will show us that every belief, even the simplest and most fundamental, goes beyond experience when regarded as a guide to our actions. William Kingdon Clifford

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