In common with other humanists, I believe that the only possible basis for a sound morality is mutual tolerance and […]
The… women on the early ALRA committee were similar in background and outlook. Most of them were active members of […]
Fanny Adela Coit was a suffragist and campaigner of international significance, as well as a central figure in the Ethical […]
From the outset IAS aimed to have an open approach to prospective adopters irrespective of their race, religion and creed, […]
Every movement requires its handful of pioneers who are prepared to stand up and be counted — to be abused, […]
Dr Alice Vickery was a humanist, physician, and devoted champion of women’s reproductive rights. Her tombstone inscription remembers her as […]
He was a great humanist whose religion lay in loving his fellow men and trying to serve them. These are […]
Anna was not a religious person. As a humanist, she believed in the goodness of people and their ability to […]
Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to […]
…that perfect Tranquility of Life, which is no where to be found, but in retreat, a faithful Friend and a […]
To say that “God moves in mysterious ways” is to put up a smokescreen of mystery behind which fantasy may […]
It is in fact a strength, not a weakness, of a secular morality that it must stand upon its own […]
This Society has for its object the promotion of right conduct on a purely natural and human basis and the […]
The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. Neither love without knowledge, nor knowledge without love […]
Bessie Braddock was a trade union activist and politician, who devoted her life to improving the lives of others. She […]
Bessie Mabbs was a teacher, school principal, and active member of the Union of Ethical Societies (now Humanists UK), chairing […]
William Pirrie Barbour was a classicist, codebreaker, teacher, and activist. A rationalist and humanist, Barbour championed integrated education in his […]
To summarise why I have become a rationalist is a difficult task for one not educated in formal writing, but […]
Bishopsgate Institute was built ‘for the benefit of the public’ in 1894, intended to provide opportunities for education and recreation […]
In the absence of a better—the palladium of what liberty we have… the birthplace of mind, and the focus of […]
We are (of all the synonyms I most prefer to ‘humanist’) freethinkers. We are deprived of nothing. We have lost […]
Atheist Charles Southwell was imprisoned in Bristol Gaol for blasphemous libel in 1842. Southwell had written an article in his […]
The British Society for the Study of Sex Psychology was officially formed in April 1914, ‘for the consideration of problems […]
A mass working class movement for universal male suffrage Read more Chartist Ancestors and Women Chartists Chartism by David Avery […]
I have adhered to such of the older traditions as I find adequate for my most lawless and revolutionary passions […]
…having now exceeded the age of three score years and ten, I would say that up to the present I […]
I for one don’t believe in looking regretfully back into the past or forward with illusive hopes into the future, […]
In all her work for the humanist movement, Constance Dowman said little and did much… She was one of the […]
…the only universal truths which exist are the fundamental laws of the mind. Philosophy, then, which is the science of […]
Derek Lennard was a longtime member and former chair of LGBT Humanists—then known as the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Group […]
I see this kind of love – the empathy that should be common to all living creatures – rather than […]
No law can be effective which has not behind it the sanction of the people. Dorothy Thurtle, quoted by David […]
Humanism could (better) be honoured by reciting a list of the things one has enjoyed or found interesting, of the […]
Not Religion as a Duty, but Duty as a Religion. Felix Adler(A motto of the East London Ethical Society) The […]
The woman artist appears quickly to have grasped the fact that she cannot maintain an isolated and merely selfish point […]
The radical publisher Edward Truelove found himself in court more than once defending freedom of belief and expression. He believed, […]
Only victory will put an end to it all. But meantime let no one say: ‘We are not responsible.’ We […]
Eliza Flower was a composer, a radical, and a significant influence on William Johnson Fox and the progressive values of […]
Elizabeth Swann was an active and devoted champion of liberal and progressive causes alongside her husband, Liberal MP Charles Swann. […]
… purely human and natural ethics, and not theology, was the source of this pioneer woman’s enthusiasm for justice, even […]
Emilie Holyoake-Marsh, daughter of George Jacob Holyoake, was an activist for worker’s rights and women’s suffrage; an advocate of co-operation, […]
Emily Josephine Troup was a composer, poet, and editor, who played a leading role in the musical life of South […]
Oh what a tissue of inconsistencies are the dogmas in which we have been reared! Emma Martin, God’s Gifts and […]
Ernestine Mills, an enamelist, and her husband Dr. Herbert Henry Mills were both active members of the Ethical movement, and […]
Emancipation from every kind of bondage is my principle. I go for the recognition of human rights, without distinction of […]
I am willing and eager to surrender as much of my personal sovereignty as is necessary, in order to secure […]
Ethel Leach was a Liberal councillor, social reformer, justice of the peace, and the first female mayor of Great Yarmouth. […]
If any delegate present thinks that the Fabian Society was wise from the hour of its birth, let him forthwith […]
In order to find meaning to one’s life, one must find a meaning in the life of the [human] race. […]
I had long put on one side the purist pacifist view that one should have nothing to do with a […]
This conference is resolved to strive for the achievement of peace, justice and tolerance in Ireland, and holds that outmoded […]
I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful, and that which […]
To those who regard the furtherance of International Good Will and Peace as the highest of all human interests, the […]
No one who came in contact with her failed to recognize in her fearlessness, honesty for the sake of honesty […]
A cheerful and reverent Agnostic, whose whole life was one of unselfishness and devotion to lofty aims, who was tolerant […]
I have devoted my time and fortune to laying the foundation of a society where affection shall form the only […]
A distinctively Edwardian rationalist radical, he himself agreed that he was a crank – ‘a small instrument that makes revolutions’. […]
F.J. Gould was an influential educationist, writer, and humanist, whose tireless work towards secularising education helped to lay the groundwork […]
This article appeared in The Secular Chronicle (Vol. V, No. 1), 2 January 1876. It marked the first issue edited […]
The principles of humanism are positive and exacting commitments. People do not become Humanists merely on rejecting supernatural beliefs. But […]
What primarily unites Humanists is not a set of propositions to be believed but moral values to be freely chosen… […]
We hold that only by making happiness for those around us, and by endeavoring, individually, to make the world a […]
‘Being Rational About Being Gay’ was a talk given by activist Antony Grey (Anthony Edgar Gartside Wright) for the Gay […]
‘Separate Development? Out of the closet, into the ghetto’ was a talk given by writer and activist Maureen Duffy on […]
Truth needs the friendly grip of earnest men and women of every class. There is no distinction where it dwells. […]
I think that one of the most hopeful signs at the present day, and one for which this Movement can […]
George Broadhead was a humanist activist and gay rights campaigner, motivated by a twin commitment to humanism and human rights. […]
Free thought means fearless thought. It is not deterred by legal penalties, nor by spiritual consequences. Dissent from the Bible […]
You can always appeal to common decency, which the vast majority of people believe in without the need to tie […]
Conscience is older than any existing Church or creed. George Peabody Gooch, Under Six Reigns (1958) George Peabody Gooch was […]
Doubt is the beginning of wisdom. It means caution, independence, honesty and veracity. G. W. Foote George William Foote was […]
But in the more civilised communities, as in ancient Greece, there has always been a minority who, through some speculative […]
Girton College at the University of Cambridge has educated and employed a host of remarkable humanists and freethinkers, many of […]
Godlessness is negative. It merely denies the existence of god. Atheism is positive. It asserts the condition that results from […]
Mr. Fysher was in many respects a remarkable man. His interests were wide, and whatever he took up he carried […]
The Conscience has eclipsed the Scriptures; Science has destroyed the belief in Divine Interposition; Democracy and Civism have shown men […]
Harford Montgomery Hyde was a Belfast-born barrister, politician, author, and humanist, who championed humane legal reforms and progressive social attitudes. […]
The object of this Society is: To increase the knowledge, the love, and the practice of the right. Its bond […]
Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington was an activist, feminist, and humanist, who founded the Irish Women’s Franchise League, and was described by the […]
Life is a wonderful privilege. It imposes great duties. It demands the fulfilment of great tasks and the realisation of […]
Faith without works is not Christianity, and unbelief without any effort to help shoulder the consequences for mankind is not […]
Harriet Law was a secularist and speaker, who also promoted women’s rights and socialist ideals. During the 1870s, Law’s house […]
What an emancipation it is, — to have escaped from the little enclosure of dogma, and to stand, — far […]
That an institution or a practice is customary in no presumption of its goodness. Harriet Taylor Mill Harriet Taylor Mill […]
Harry Snell was a socialist politician and campaigner, a devoted advocate of the Ethical Movement and a key figure in […]
Life would be far more truly envisaged if we dropped the silly phrases “men’s and women’s questions”; for indeed there […]
I have ever considered that the only religion useful to man consists exclusively of the practice of morality, and in […]
Our goal must be the good of the whole human society. Henry Noel Brailsford, Olives of Endless Age: being a […]
I felt flattered by the remark of a hostile journalist that I was “a compendium of the cranks,” by which […]
It is in service to others, it is as members of the community, that our existence lies. Hermann Bondi, Humanism […]
Hilda Caroline Miall-Smith was a teacher and activist, a graduate of University College London, and a member of the London […]
The Humanist Housing Association began in January 1955, founded as the Ethical Union Housing Association to provide affordable homes for […]
Humanism is an attitude to life that has solidly practical implications… it implies a commitment to helping run the community […]
While there is much that we do not know, humans are responsible for what we are or will become. No […]
When we stand up for freedom of conscience, for the rights of the individual, for the rational approach and against […]
Humanists International was formed in 1952 as the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU): a federation of the American Ethical […]
While much of the Humanist Heritage website looks back to the earlier years of the organised humanist movement, recent decades […]
When we are asked to believe that nothing but a supernatural ideal can inspire and sustain a life-time of complete […]
Belfast-born Jack McDowell was an activist, educator, politician, and atheist, whose humanism was evident in a lifetime of work for […]
The difference and variety of our human family more and more seems to me to be a wise provision that […]
The moral value of a belief in eternal life is a doubtful matter. But this is certain, that where rest […]
If the church was wrong, as of old, to trust to prayer in an epidemic, why shall she be right […]
It is impossible that Theology can throw any light upon either morality or jurisprudence. Jeremy Bentham Philosopher and jurist Jeremy […]
I believe in the absolute equality of the sexes, and I think they [women] should be in the enjoyment of […]
The big problem of today is how shall we adjust these tremendous new forces so that they can be harnessed […]
I think I was born a humanist. John D. Stewart, The Honest Ulsterman, May 1968 John D. Stewart was a […]
Throughout his life, Professor of Philosophy, John Muirhead, sought to put his ethical principles into practice. Indeed, whilst philosophers are […]
I will call no being good, who is not what I mean when I apply that epithet to my fellow-creatures; […]
Josephine Gowa was an active member of the Hampstead Ethical Institute (later Hampstead Humanist Society) for over three decades, many […]
Josiah Gimson was the most prosperous of the 19th century secularists in Leicester, and the main force behind the building […]
What the sciences discover about the natural world and about the origins, nature and destiny of man is the truth […]
Can there be a more important human condition than dignity? Without it, we are bitter, downtrodden, unheard, humiliated, embarrassed and […]
… the responsibility for our ethical decisions is entirely ours and cannot be shifted to anybody else; neither to God, […]
Not to be confused with Kelmscott Manor, Kelmscott House was the London home of designer and socialist William Morris from […]
Kelmscott Manor was the country home of the writer, designer, and socialist William Morris from 1871 until his death in […]
For earth is not as though thou ne’er hadst been. Constance Naden, ‘The Pantheist’s Song of Immortality’ (1881) Birmingham’s Key […]
I believe in the supreme virtue of exploring. I believe in finding out. Even if I don’t succeed, I still […]
Those who, like myself, are in communication with the advanced thought and thinkers throughout the world know that hundreds —nay, […]
I have come to feel that the best proof of the subjection and degradation of my sex lies in the […]
But however little it conforms or tenders allegiance, no life worth having can be isolated from the lives of others. […]
Order is our Basis; Improvement our Aim; and Friendship our Principle. Annual Report of the Neighbourhood Guild, 1895 Leighton Hall […]
It was the start of opening up society to be more caring and sensitive. One was battling for all men […]
Formed in the wake of the Gay News blasphemy trial, GALHA (now LGBT Humanists) came into being in 1979 as […]
Lillie Boileau was a devoted figure within the Ethical movement, and an active part of the fight for women’s suffrage. […]
It is essential to get it recognised that good and graceful living is sufficient in itself; further, that this is […]
The Liverpool Ethical Society was founded in 1904, and in 1912 Liverpool became home to one of only a handful […]
The London Ethical Society was the UK’s first, founded in 1886 to pursue ‘a rational conception of human good’: establishing […]
We hold that only by making happiness for those around us, and by endeavoring, individually, to make the world a […]
Ludovic Kennedy was a writer, journalist, and broadcaster, known for his investigations into miscarriages of justice. A human rights campaigner, he […]
The realisation of the possibility of a secular rational morality opens up a new perspective before the modern world… It […]
Mackenzie Hall is a community space in the village of Brockweir, Gloucestershire, given by Millicent Mackenzie in memory of her […]
The international significance and reputation of Mohandas Gandhi is well-known, but his involvement with the burgeoning humanist movement during the […]
Object: to provide an ‘open forum’ for the fearless consideration of modern problems relating to ethics, sociology, education, political theory, […]
Margaret Chappellsmith was a devotee of the socialist and secularist ideas of Robert Owen, becoming one of the Owenite movement’s […]
Is it not the duty of every person to promote the happiness of others as much as lies in their […]
The attainment of the greatest possible amount of social happiness I take to be the noblest of human aims; the […]
Mary Sheepshanks was a humanist who saw her feminist, pacifist, and cosmopolitan beliefs as being natural expressions of her humanist […]
And how can woman be expected to co-operate unless she knows why she ought to be virtuous? Unless freedom strengthens […]
If the basic cause of an unsuccessful marriage is removable, conciliation is the proper procedure. If it is not removable, […]
Why are these minds left without the means of obtaining that knowledge which they so ardently desire and why are […]
I like life with its mysteries. I don’t need my imponderables filled in for me. Michael Manley quoted by Rachel […]
Millicent Mackenzie was a pioneering educationist and suffragist, who – alongside her husband, John Stuart Mackenzie – gave significant support […]
Belief in the power of man to choose his direction of change: this is the creed of the future, and […]
It is not because the believer in rational religion has not clear convictions that he will not shape them into […]
Its aim will be to secularise education and make moral training the chief aim of the school life. A great […]
As for Mother Clap, she was present all the Time, except when she went out to fetch Liquors… The Company […]
…no child should be made ashamed or uncomfortable on account of his father’s opinions, or lack of opinions, on subjects […]
When Nigel Lawson said in 1992 that the National Health Service was the ‘closest thing the English have to a […]
The National Secular Society is a campaigning organisation, founded in 1866 to champion the principles of secularism and the separation […]
Nellie Freeman was an indefatigable organiser within the Ethical Union (today’s Humanists UK) for decades of her life. Beginning in […]
Humanism involves not just the deletion of God from moral thought, but the development of humanity on a rational and […]
We desire to attract men and women holding all shades of opinion, but having in common a conviction that morality […]
A brief history of humanism and secularism in Northern Ireland Organised humanism began in Northern Ireland in the 19th century, […]
…life itself offers enough explanation for living; and believing our existence to finish with death, we naturally make the most […]
[Ouida’s] exaggerated enthusiasms made readers smile, but they also made them think. It would be difficult to overstate the effect […]
I am a humanist, a rationalist. My mother said to me, some weeks before she died, that she would die ‘an unrepentant […]
Socialism emerged, in the early decades of the nineteenth century, as a humanist ideal of universal emancipation – the ideal […]
Humanists believe that this is our world, our responsibility, our possibility. If you agree, would anyone know? Peter Draper, ‘Values […]
On Woburn Walk is a plaque to George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906), a writer, lecturer, and promoter of the Cooperative movement, […]
Humanists UK began as the Union of Ethical Societies in 1896, becoming the Ethical Union in 1920, the British Humanist […]
Indian social and religious reformer Rammohun Roy is sometimes referred to as the ‘father of modern India’: a progressive thinker, […]
As well as being home to Conway Hall and its humanist library, Red Lion Square contains statues of two prominent […]
I have no view but public good; certainly no desire to injure any one, but a passionate desire to do […]
Robert Owen was a utopian socialist, philanthropist, and reformer, whose own religious scepticism fostered his desire for a secular society, […]
Robert Owen, the son of a Newtown saddler and ironmonger, became one of the most successful mill owners of the […]
There is no one who will deny the value and importance of truth, but how is it to be ascertained, […]
Rochdale Pioneers Museum occupies the building at 31 Toad Lane where, in 1844, 28 working class people came together to […]
Rose Bush was a member of the South Place Ethical Society for over 50 years, and a driving force in […]
The Ruskin School Home was founded by socialist writer and teacher [Harry] Bellerby Lowerison (1863–1935) in Norfolk in 1900, following […]
Ruth Homan was an educationist, women’s welfare campaigner, and one of the founding members of the West London Ethical Society […]
Universal rights are exactly that, universal, and one should not suddenly acquire different rights after a certain number of birthdays. […]
Man for man in larger sense does what heaven fails to do. Sara A. Underwood, quoted by Rufus K. Noyes […]
Sarah Flower Adams was a writer, radical, and major influence on the religious thinking of William Johnson Fox at South […]
Without this mutual trust and dependability amongst people who differ radically, there cannot be political and religious freedom. H.J. Blackham […]
Sophie Bryant was an Anglo-Irish mathematician, feminist, suffragist, teacher, and promoter of moral education. She played a key role in […]
Without denying or affirming a life after death, or reality beyond experience… we can (without injury to our moral life) […]
Under its successive names, adopted or given… is traceable a constant endeavour to study carefully, and keep abreast of, the […]
Stanton Coit was a pioneer of the Ethical movement in England and the founder of the West London Ethical Society, […]
What is this ban on abortion? It is a sexual taboo, it is the terror that women should experiment and […]
I hold that a writer should not in any circumstances or for any cause surrender his duty to criticise and […]
Against the militarist totalitarian state, I have striven. For the freedom of the human spirit to develop under the kindly […]
The actress turned campaigner and human rights activist Sylvia Scaffardi was a co-founder of The Council of Civil Liberties, along […]
I am a feminist, a rebel, and a suffragist – a believer, therefore, in sex-equality and militant action. I desire […]
The old teaching was that we must worship not truth, beauty and goodness, but their source, and that their source […]
Not by the Creed but by the Deed. Motto of the Society for Ethical Culture of New York, founded in […]
The Humanitarian League is a Society of thinkers and workers, irrespective of class or creed, who have united for the […]
The Open University was founded in 1969 with the ambition of providing access to higher education for people who had […]
The Progressive League was an organisation dedicated to the advancement of scientific humanism, founded by author H.G. Wells and philosopher […]
Living in a house beautifully situated on the outskirts of Coventry, they used to spend their lives in philosophical speculations, […]
The object of Secularism is the promotion of human happiness in this world… [The Secularist] believes the surest way of […]
The Union of Ethical Societies (now Humanists UK) was formed in 1896, joining together existing ethical societies for fellowship and […]
Thomas Hill Green was a philosopher, educator, and a Liberal, whose idealist philosophy (with its practical implications) was a significant […]
I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy and […]
I think that believing in the brotherhood of man is not just a matter of signing these letters, it is […]
Its main concern is with peace and security and with human welfare, in so far as they can be subserved […]
The basic human value is freedom, which means the right of a human being to live a human life. V.M. […]
…the smallest experience is sufficient to convince that it is more pleasing, to be at peace than at enmity with […]
If living does not give value, wisdom and meaning to life, then there is no sense in living at all. […]
Wales has long been a nation of nonconformists, with a history of challenging the power and influence of the established […]
The good life… rests for its justification on no external authority, and on no system of supernatural rewards or punishments, […]
The one thing in which I am interested wholly and completely is the getting to know something about human society […]
William Johnson Fox was an orator, writer, politician, and first minister of South Place Chapel (now Conway Hall) from 1824 […]
Fellowship is heaven, and lack of fellowship is hell. William Morris, A Dream of John Ball (1888) Painter, textile designer, artist, […]
All moral and political wisdom should tend mainly to this, the just distribution of the physical means of happiness. William […]
The attempt to create communities where men and women alike share the full stature of humanity is an attempt to […]
Dare to be free. Slogan of the Women’s Freedom League The Women’s Freedom League (WFL) was a militant suffrage organisation, […]
Of everything that presents itself unto thee to consider what the true nature of it is, and to unfold it. […]
Conscious morality cannot exist in any being except so far as it can look behind, before, and around; and can […]