Charles Darwin Quotes - Page 12

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• It has been a bitter mortification for me to digest the conclusion that the "race is for the strong" and that I shall probably do little more but be content to admire the strides others made in science.

  Charles Darwin

  Strong, Race, Survival

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.10046, Delphi Classics

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• From the first dawn of life, all organic beings are found to resemble each other in descending degrees, so that they can be classed in groups under groups. This classification is evidently not arbitrary like the grouping of stars in constellations.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Life, Stars

  Charles Darwin (1861). “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; Or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”, p.358

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• The young blush much more freely than the old but not during infancy, which is remarkable, as we know that infants at a very early age redden from passion.

  Charles Darwin

  Passion, Emotional, Age

  Charles Darwin “Charles Darwin: An Anthology”, Transaction Publishers

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• May we not suspect that the vague but very real fears of children, which are quite independent of experience, are the inherited effects of real dangers and abject superstitions during ancient savage times?

  Charles Darwin

  Children, Real, Independent

  Charles Darwin “Charles Darwin: An Anthology”, Transaction Publishers

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• We may confidently come to the conclusion, that the forces which slowly and by little starts uplift continents, and that those which at successive periods pour forth volcanic matter from open orifices, are identical.

  Charles Darwin

  Uplifting, Science, May

  Charles Darwin (2016). “The Voyage of the Beagle: the Evolution”, p.224, VM eBooks

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• I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection, in order to mark its relation to man's power of selection. But the expression often used by Mr. Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate, and is sometimes equally convenient.

  Charles Darwin

  Men, Expression, Order

  On the Origin of Species, 5th ed., ch. 3 (1869) See Philander Johnson 1; Herbert Spencer 5; Herbert Spencer 6

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• The instruction at Edinburgh was altogether by lectures, and these were intolerably dull, with the exception of those on chemistry.

  Charles Darwin

  Edinburgh, Dull, Lectures

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.11717, Delphi Classics

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• Nothing can be more hopeless than to attempt to explain this similarity of pattern in members of the same class, by utility or by the doctrine of final causes.

  Charles Darwin

  Class, Doctrine, Finals

  Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.364, Broadview Press

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• A bad earthquake at once destroys the oldest associations: the world, the very emblem of all that is solid, has moved beneath our feet like a crust over a fluid; one second of time has conveyed to the mind a strange idea of insecurity, which hours of reflection would never have created.

  Charles Darwin

  Reflection, Earthquakes, Ideas

  Charles Darwin, R. D. Keynes (2001). “Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary”, p.292, Cambridge University Press

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• The main conclusion here arrived at ... is that man is descended from some less highly organized form.

  Charles Darwin

  Men, Form, Conclusion

  Charles Darwin (2004). “Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex”, p.550, Barnes & Noble Publishing

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• Our faculties are more fitted to recognize the wonderful structure of a beetle than a Universe.

  Charles Darwin

  Wonderful, Structure, Faculty

  Charles Darwin, Thomas F. Glick, David Kohn (1996). “On Evolution: The Development of the Theory of Natural Selection”, p.81, Hackett Publishing

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• A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affections, - a mere heart of stone.

  Charles Darwin

  Heart, Science, Men

  Charles Darwin, R. C. Stauffer (1987). “Charles Darwin's Natural Selection: Being the Second Part of His Big Species Book Written from 1856 to 1858”, p.279, Cambridge University Press

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• It is a fatal fault to reason whilst observing, though so necessary beforehand and so useful afterwards.

  Charles Darwin

  Faults, Reason, Observing

  Charles Darwin, Richard Keynes (2005). “Charles Darwin's Zoology Notes and Specimen Lists from H. M. S. Beagle”, p.10, Cambridge University Press

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• The presence of a body of well-instructed men, who have not to labor for their daily bread, is important to a degree which cannot be overestimated; as all high intellectual work is carried on by them, and on such work material progress of all kinds mainly depends, not to mention other and higher advantages.

  Charles Darwin

  Men, Intellectual, Society

  Charles Darwin (1871). “The Descent of man”, p.163

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• Describing laughter: The sound is produced by a deep inspiration followed by short, interrupted, spasmodic contractions of the chest, and especially the diaphragm... the mouth is open more or less widely, with the corners drawn much backwards, as well as a little upwards; and the upper lip is somewhat raised.

  Charles Darwin

  Laughter, Inspiration, Sound

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• Some few, and I am one of them, even wish to God, though at the loss of millions of lives, that the North would proclaim a crusade against slavery. In the long-run, a million horrid deaths would be amply repaid in the cause of humanity. Great God! how I should like to see the greatest curse on earth - slavery - abolished!

  Charles Darwin

  Death, Running, Loss

  "The Autobiography of Charles Darwin".

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• I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence. The idea of a universal and beneficent Creator does not seem to arise in the mind of man, until he has been elevated by long-continued culture.

  Charles Darwin

  Men, Ideas, Long

  Charles Darwin (1871). “The Descent of Man: And Selection in Relation to Sex”, p.395

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• We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence.

  Charles Darwin

  Struggle, Science, Survival

  On the Origin of Species ch. 3 (1859) See Malthus 2

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• Hereafter we shall be compelled to acknowledge that the only distinction between species and well-marked varieties is, that the latter are known, or believed to be connected at the present day by intermediate gradations whereas species were formerly thus connected.

  Charles Darwin

  Science, Belief, Latter

  Charles Darwin (1988). “The Works of Charles Darwin, Volume 16: The Origin of Species, 1876”, p.443, NYU Press

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• It may be conceit, but I believe the subject will interest the public, and I am sure that the views are original.

  Charles Darwin

  Believe, Science, Views

  Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin (1958). “Autobiography and Selected Letters”, p.211, Courier Corporation

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• Every one must be struck with astonishment, when he first beholds one of these vast rings of coral-rock, often many leagues in diameter, here and there surmounted by a low verdant island with dazzling white shores, bathed on the outside by the foaming breakers of the ocean, and on the inside surrounding a calm expanse of water, which, from reflection, is of a bright but pale green color.

  Charles Darwin

  Nature, Ocean, Reflection

  Charles Darwin (2010). “The Works of Charles Darwin, Volume 7: The Geology of the Voyage of the H. M. S. Beagle, Part I: Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs”, p.3, NYU Press

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• You ask about my opinion on vivisection. I quite agree that it is justifiable for real investigations on physiology; but not for mere damnable and detestable curiosity.

  Charles Darwin

  Real, Science, Animal

  "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: the Evolution".

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• Why does man regret, even though he may endeavour to banish any such regret, that he has followed the one natural impulse, rather than the other; and why does he further feel that he ought to regret his conduct? Man in this respect differs profoundly from the lower animals.

  Charles Darwin

  Regret, Science, Animal

  Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.531, Broadview Press

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• Although much remains obscure, and will long remain obscure, ... I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main but not exclusive means of modification.

  Charles Darwin

  Mean, Long, Obscure

  Charles Darwin, James T. Costa (2009). “The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species”, p.6, Harvard University Press

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• On seeing the marsupials in Australia for the first time and comparing them to placental mammals: “An unbeliever . . . might exclaim 'Surely two distinct Creators must have been at work'”

  Charles Darwin

  Thinking, Two, Australia

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