John Lubbock (1834–1913,) fully Sir John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, was an English politician, biologist, and anthropologist. A celebrated writer on science, he was a popularizer of developments in biology and anthropology.
Born in London, Lubbock was the son of the astronomer Sir John William Lubbock, himself a distinguished member of the English scientific community and the head of the family banking establishment.
John Lubbock studied at Eton, started working for his family’s banking house at age 14, and made a partner at age 22. He was a civic leader and served on several educational and financial commissions. A hardworking Liberal member of parliament, he led the passing of more than a dozen essential measures, including the Bank Holidays Act (1871,) the Bills of Exchange Act (1882,) the Ancient Monuments Act (1882,) and the Shop Hours Act (1889.)
Lubbock is also best known for his studies on primitive man and the habits of bees and ants. He initiated the archaeological terms ‘Paleolithic’ and ‘Neolithic’ as classifications of the Stone Age. He published Prehistoric Times (1865,) Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man (1870,) and other books on natural history. He was not only a neighbor and friend of the naturalist Charles Darwin but also one of his few protégés.
Lubbock was a member of the ‘X’ Club (together with Thomas Henry Huxley, Joseph Dalton Hooker, and others,) which conspired to apply Darwin’s theory of evolution to replace the ecclesiastical establishment with a scientific one.
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Before buying anything, it is well to ask if one could do without it.
—John Lubbock
Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Ambition
Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time
—John Lubbock
Topics: Leisure, Stress
A wise system of education will at last teach us how little man yet knows, how much he has still to learn.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Education
The idle man does not know what it is to enjoy rest, for he has not earned it.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Idleness
What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Optimism, Motivation, Perspective, Vision, Positive Attitudes, Creativity
To do something, however small, to make others happier and better, is the highest ambition, the most elevating hope, which can inspire a human being.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Ambition
We often hear of people breaking down from overwork, but in nine out of ten they are really suffering from worry or anxiety.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Worry
Every one must have felt that a cheerful friend is like a sunny day, which sheds its brightness on all around; and most of us can, as we choose, make of this world either a palace or a prison.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Friendship
Our duty is to believe that for which we have sufficient evidence, and to suspend our judgment when we have not.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Faith
To render ourselves insensible to pain we must forfeit also the possibilities of happiness.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Perspective, Risk
Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like the violin.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Happiness
The whole value of solitude depends upon one’s self; it may be a sanctuary or a prison, a haven of repose or a place of punishment, a heaven or a hell, as we ourselves make it
—John Lubbock
Topics: Solitude
Don’t be afraid of showing affection. Be warm and tender, thoughtful and affectionate. Men are more helped by sympathy than by service. Love is more than money, and a kind word will give more pleasure than a present.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Love
In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Time, Time Management
If we are ever in doubt about what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Questions, Integrity
Your character will be what you yourself choose to make it.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Character
Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Teaching
The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Learning
When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Best, Excellence
I cannot think but that the world would be better and brighter if our teachers would dwell on the Duty of Happiness as well as the Happiness of Duty.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Teaching
Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of Heaven.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Beauty
A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work. Worry upsets our whole system, work keeps it in health and order.
—John Lubbock
Topics: Worry, Work
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