APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 



CCCLXXXII 



Those who wish to attain to some clear and 

 definite solution of the great problems which Mr. 

 Darwin was the first person to set before us in later 

 times must base themselves upon the facts which are 

 stated in his great work, and, still more, must 

 pursue their inquiries by the methods of which he 

 was so brilliant an exemplar throughout the whole 

 of his life. You must have his sagacity, his untiring 

 search after the knowledge of fact, his readiness 

 always to give up a preconceived opinion to that 

 which was demonstrably true, before you can hope 

 to carry his doctrines to their ultimate issue ; and 

 whether the particular form in which he has put 

 them before us may be such as is finally destined to 

 survive or not is more, I venture to think, than any- 

 body is capable at this present moment of saying. 

 But this one thing is perfectly certain that it is only 

 by pursuing his methods, by that wonderful single- 

 mindedness, devotion to truth, readiness to sacrifice 

 all things for the advance of definite knowledge, 

 that we can hope to come any nearer than we are at 

 " present to the truths which he struggled to attain. 



CCCLXXXIII 



Dean Stanley told me he thought being made a 

 bishop destroyed a man's moral courage. I am 

 inclined to think that the practice of the methods of 

 political leaders destroys their intellect for all serious 

 purposes. 



CCCLXXXIV 



It is one of the most saddening things in life 

 that, try as we may, we can never be certain of 

 making people happy, whereas we can almost 

 always be certain of making them unhappy. 



