"Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing"
About this Quote
The line’s engine is its absolutism. “Be prepared to give up every conceived notion” isn’t a gentle nudge toward flexibility; it’s a demand to treat your favorite theories as disposable. Huxley, Darwin’s bulldog in the era’s evolution wars, is implicitly taking aim at the comfortable metaphysics of his day: doctrines insulated from falsification, social beliefs dressed up as natural law, moral certainty masquerading as evidence. “Follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads” is a masterstroke of rhetoric: nature doesn’t merely “teach,” it drags. The “abysses” hint at conclusions that feel morally vertiginous - the dethroning of humans, the indifference of natural processes, the possibility that meaning is not built into the cosmos.
The threat at the end - “or you will learn nothing” - lands like a verdict. Huxley frames science not as a set of answers but as a discipline of self-erasure: the willingness to be corrected, even destabilized. The subtext is social as much as epistemic: if you want truth, stop auditioning for righteousness.
Quote Details
| Topic | Learning |
|---|---|
| Source | Verified source: Letters and Diary of Thomas H. Huxley: 1860 (Thomas Huxley, 1860)
Evidence: Science seems to me to teach in the highest and strongest manner the great truth which is embodied in the Christian conception of entire surrender to the will of God. Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. I have only begun to learn content and peace of mind since I have resolved at all risks to do this. (Letter dated September 23, 1860 (To Charles Kingsley)). This wording appears in Thomas Henry Huxley’s own letter to Charles Kingsley dated September 23, 1860. Your version (“every conceived notion… wherever and whatever… or you will learn nothing”) is a common paraphrase/variant; the primary-source wording is “preconceived notion,” “wherever and to whatever,” and “or you shall learn nothing.” A later secondary publication that prints the letter is Leonard Huxley (ed.), The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, Vol. 1 (1900/1903 editions exist), commonly cited at p. 316, but the FIRST occurrence is the 1860 letter itself. Other candidates (1) Inspirational Quotes For All Occasions (Bangambiki Habyarimana, 2013) compilation98.1% ... Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and... |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Huxley, Thomas. (2026, February 9). Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/sit-down-before-fact-as-a-little-child-be-18018/
Chicago Style
Huxley, Thomas. "Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing." FixQuotes. February 9, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/sit-down-before-fact-as-a-little-child-be-18018/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing." FixQuotes, 9 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/sit-down-before-fact-as-a-little-child-be-18018/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.
