“I do not advocate burning your ship to get rid of the cockroaches.”

—  Thomas Henry Huxley

Said in reference to those who wished to abolish all religious teaching, rather than freeing state education from Church controls, in Critiques and Addresses (1873) p. 90
1870s

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I do not advocate burning your ship to get rid of the cockroaches." by Thomas Henry Huxley?
Thomas Henry Huxley photo
Thomas Henry Huxley 127
English biologist and comparative anatomist 1825–1895

Related quotes

Harry Emerson Fosdick photo

“Hating people is like burning down your own home to get rid of a rat.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American pastor

As I See Religion (1932)
Variant: Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat.

Jan van Riebeeck photo

“You shall also keep your fires burning if the ships are blown back by contrary winds, but if the ships are foreign or not Dutch (onduitsch) you shall at once extinguish your fire.”

Jan van Riebeeck (1619–1677) Dutch colonial governor

Precis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope, January 1656 - December 1658, Riebeeck's Journal, H. C. V. Leibrandt, Cape Town 1897, p. 117

On the 3rd of May 1658 Jan van Riebeeck gave further instructions to the men on Robben Island;

Richard Rohr photo

“I do not think you should get rid of your sin until you have learned what it has to teach you.”

Richard Rohr (1943) American spiritual writer, speaker, teacher, Catholic Franciscan priest

Variant: Do not get rid of your hurts until you have learned all that they have to teach you.
Source: Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

Daniel Kahneman photo

“The psychologist, Paul Rozin, an expert on disgust, observed that a single cockroach will completely wreck the appeal of a bowl of cherries, but a cherry will do nothing at all for a bowl of cockroaches.”

Daniel Kahneman book Thinking, Fast and Slow

Source: Thinking, Fast and Slow

Carlos Ruiz Zafón photo

“A good friend once told me that the problems are like cockroaches. If drawn to light, they'll get scared.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book Marina

Source: Marina

Edward I of England photo

“When you get rid of a turd, you do a good job.”

Edward I of England (1239–1307) King of England

Remark upon appointing John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey as Guardian of Scotland (1296), attributed to Edward in the Scalacronica, quoted in Michael Prestwich, Edward I (Yale University Press, 1997), p. 477

“God himself has made it possible for you to live without the dark place and the pains that rush out and flood out and take you over. Your choice of wanting to see and work is essential to you if you want to get rid of your feeling of emptiness, of futility. You've lied to yourself and said, 'I know what to do to get rid of the pain.' You've never gotten rid of the pain and that's evidence of self-deceit. You have to stop playing cruel tricks on yourself. So stop. Now.”

Vernon Howard (1918–1992) American writer

Your Power of Natural Knowing

Benjamin Creme photo

“It's obvious that the number one thing we have to do is to get rid of war.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

Source: The State of the World 2010, public lecture in New York City, USA, (July 2010)

“Hale!' Kat cried, but the boy only stared at her. 'Fine,' she conceded. 'I love your boat.'

'Ship.'

'Ship… Your ship is beautiful.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Related topics