Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) was a renowned philosopher and writer of essays and novels born in Godalming, England. Author of dystopian works of great value to the social critics of his time, he achieved international popularity with A Happy World. He also has other books to his credit such as The Doors of Perception or The Island, equally acclaimed works.

In his tender youth, when he was only 16, Huxley suffered a sudden illness and became practically blind. With remarkable determination and willpower, Huxley learned to read Braille. Fortunately, he was able to regain much of his vision over the years.

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Phrases and famous quotes from Aldous Huxley

Tireless traveler, Huxley discovers a world in which the forces of power dominate at will the masses, submissive and entertaining .

In this post we’ll get to know some of Aldous Huxley’s best quotes. They are famous quotes that have gone down in history for their depth.

1. A lie with interest can be uncovered by a boring truth.

About the power of manipulation, especially in the media.

2. To see ourselves as others see us is an extremely convenient gift.

The vision that others have of us and the gift of knowing how to recognize us in those external glances.

3. All men are gods to their dog. That’s why some people love their dogs more than men.

Controversial phrase about the affection between man and dog.

4. A real orgy is never as exciting as a pornographic book.

In the imagination is the best possible sex.

5. Knowing is relatively easy. To want and to act according to what one would like, is always harder.

Pure knowledge against ethics.

6. Civilization is, among other things, the process by which primitive herds are transformed into a crude and mechanical analogy of organic communities of social insects.

A great metaphor for understanding the development of societies.

7. The bourgeois is the perfect domesticated human animal.

An Aldous Huxley review of small business owners.

8. There is at least one corner of the universe that you can certainly improve upon, and that is yourself.

About the ability to promote change starting with oneself.

9. Happiness is never great.

According to this great phrase of Huxley’s, there is always some aspect of our existence that can worry us.

10. We participate in a tragedy; in a comedy we only watch.

One’s own life history is always lived with a certain distressing touch.

11. Each generation thinks it can be smarter than the last.

A superb feature that characterizes evolution.

12. But I don’t want the comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want true risk, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.

About his desire for freedom and risk.

13. Words can be like X-rays if used properly: they pass through everything. You read them and they pass through you. This is one of the things I try to teach my students: to write in a penetrating way.

One of those phrases of Aldous Huxley that show us his pedagogical facet.

14. The good of humanity must consist in each one enjoying as much happiness as he can, without diminishing the happiness of others.

Live and let live.

15. The neighbors you never see up close are the ideal, perfect neighbors.

An ironic phrase about community life.

16. The silent man does not bear witness against himself.

One of the keys to discretion, according to Huxley.

17. Perhaps only geniuses are true men.

A somewhat reductionist view of manhood.

18. There are three kinds of intelligence: human intelligence, animal intelligence and military intelligence.

On the subject of intelligence types, in an ironic quote by Aldous Huxley.

19. Love drives away fear and, reciprocally, fear drives away love. And it is not only love that fear drives away; it also drives away intelligence, goodness, and every thought of beauty and truth, and all that remains is mute despair; and in the end, fear comes to expel humanity itself from man.

A quote about love and the experience of falling in love.

20. In most cases ignorance is something that can be overcome. We don’t know because we don’t want to know.

Great reflection on our under-exploited capacities.

21. The more sinister a politician’s desires are, the more pompous, in general, the nobility of his language becomes.

Demagogy often goes hand in hand with pomp and circumstance.

22. The secret of genius is to preserve the spirit of the child until old age, which means never losing enthusiasm.

A maxim on which many great thinkers agree.

23. Perhaps the greatest lesson of history is that no one learned the lessons of history.

One of Huxley’s most transcendent phrases.

24. It is never the same to know the truth for oneself as to have to hear it for someone else.

It’s always more comforting to discover things for yourself.

25. Facts do not cease to exist even if they are ignored.

A sample of his philosophical materialism.

26. The totality is present even in the broken parts.

On the line of the previous one.

27. Experience is not what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you.

We are able to move forward thanks to resilience and willpower.

28. Habit turns sumptuous pleasures into everyday necessities.

Greatness is in authority, to quote Aldous Huxley.

29. Technological progress has only provided us with more efficient means to go backwards.

About the paradoxical regression that technological advances bring us.

30. Pain is a fascinating horror.

Nothing is more disturbing than seeing hundreds of people enjoying themselves in the face of the suffering of others.

31. To hesitate is to have two thoughts.

Between two waters, between two roads.

32. Wherever there is excessive specialization, an excessively organized division of labor, man is easily degraded to the level of a mere bedded-down function.

By not allowing ourselves to think globally, we become mere executors, alienated from the very activity that feeds us.

33. What we think determines what we are and what we do, and, reciprocally, what we do and what we are determines what we think.

Philosophical phrase of the great Aldous Huxley.

34. What the rite is for public worship, the spiritual exercises are for particular devotion.

Good anthropological reflection.

35. Stupidity is indeed a product of the will.

Whoever doesn’t learn is because they don’t want to.

36. The will can be strengthened by exercise and confirmed by perseverance.

It must not be allowed to come on its own: the will must be pursued and trained.

37. The optimum population (…) is that which resembles icebergs: eight-ninths below the waterline, and one-ninth above.

Phrase taken from “A Happy World”, his most famous book.

38. Liberalism, of course, died of anthrax.

Another extract from his most famous work, about the ideology of freedom for capital.

39. Clothes, as I have now discovered, are much more than resources for the introduction of non-representative forms in naturalistic paintings and sculptures.

A reflection on the world of aesthetics.

40. Public entertainment now plays a role comparable to that played by religion in the Middle Ages.

One of those phrases of Huxley in which he makes a parallel between two different historical moments.

41. What is needed is a new drug that will soothe and comfort our suffering species without doing more harm in the long run than good in the short run.

Particularly dystopian reflection.

42. In a world where education is predominantly verbal, highly educated people find it less than impossible to devote serious attention to anything but words and notions.

A particular view on the object of interest of widely educated people.