A jury is a group of twelve people of average ignorance.

Meaning of the quote

A jury is a group of 12 regular people who may not know much about the topic they are deciding on. The quote suggests that juries are not made up of experts, but rather everyday individuals with limited knowledge.

About Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer was a renowned English polymath who contributed to a wide range of subjects, including philosophy, biology, and sociology. He coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” and developed an all-encompassing theory of evolution, but his influence declined sharply after 1900.

More about the author

More quotes from Herbert Spencer

Marriage: a ceremony in which rings are put on the finger of the lady and through the nose of the gentleman.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

In science the important thing is to modify and change one’s ideas as science advances.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

We do not commonly see in a tax a diminution of freedom, and yet it clearly is one.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

What a cage is to the wild beast, law is to the selfish man.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

People are beginning to see that the first requisite to success in life is to be a good animal.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

A living thing is distinguished from a dead thing by the multiplicity of the changes at any moment taking place in it.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

The Republican form of government is the highest form of government: but because of this it requires the highest type of human nature, a type nowhere at present existing.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Marriage: A word which should be pronounced “mirage”.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

A jury is a group of twelve people of average ignorance.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Our lives are universally shortened by our ignorance.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Divine right of kings means the divine right of anyone who can get uppermost.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Be bold, be bold, and everywhere be bold.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

The fact disclosed by a survey of the past that majorities have been wrong must not blind us to the complementary fact that majorities have usually not been entirely wrong.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

We all decry prejudice, yet are all prejudiced.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

All socialism involves slavery.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Government is essentially immoral.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Music must take rank as the highest of the fine arts – as the one which, more than any other, ministers to the human spirit.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

An argument fatal to the communist theory, is suggested by the fact, that a desire for property is one of the elements of our nature.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

No one can be perfectly free till all are free; no one can be perfectly moral till all are moral; no one can be perfectly happy till all are happy.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

The more specific idea of Evolution now reached is – a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

A jury is composed of twelve men of average ignorance.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Education has for its object the formation of character.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Society exists for the benefit of its members, not the members for the benefit of society.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Every cause produces more than one effect.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Old forms of government finally grow so oppressive that they must be thrown off even at the risk of reigns of terror.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Life is the continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Objects we ardently pursue bring little happiness when gained; most of our pleasures come from unexpected sources.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

The behavior of men to the lower animals, and their behavior to each other, bear a constant relationship.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Science is organized knowledge.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

The preservation of health is a duty. Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical morality.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

How often misused words generate misleading thoughts.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Opinion is ultimately determined by the feelings, and not by the intellect.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Volumes might be written upon the impiety of the pious.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Civilization is a progress from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity toward a definite, coherent heterogeneity.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

When a man’s knowledge is not in order, the more of it he has the greater will be his confusion.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)

Love is life’s end, but never ending. Love is life’s wealth, never spent, but ever spending. Love’s life’s reward, rewarded in rewarding.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820-1903)