Charles Darwin Quotes - Page 15

Quotes about:

• The season of love is that of battle. The roots of these fights run deep.

  Charles Darwin

  Running, Fighting, Love Is

  6 Copy quote

• Traveling ought also to teach him distrust; but at the same time he will discover, how many truly kind-hearted people there are, with whom he never before had, or ever again will have any further communication, who yet are ready to offer him the most disinterested assistance.

  Charles Darwin

  Communication, People, Kind

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.445, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

• Seeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related group of birds, one might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends.

  Charles Darwin

  Taken, Science, Diversity

  Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.457, Broadview Press

  7 Copy quote

• [Herschel and Humboldt] stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science. No one or a dozen other books influenced me nearly so much as these two. I copied out from Humboldt long passages about Teneriffe and read them aloud on one of [my walking excursions].

  Charles Darwin

  Book, Humble, Science

  Charles Darwin (1902). “Charles Darwin: His Life in an Autobiographical Chapter and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters”, p.46, Library of Alexandria

  6 Copy quote

• I have just finished my sketch of my species theory. If as I believe that my theory is true & if it be accepted even by one competent judge, it will be a considerable step in science. I therefore write this, in case of my sudden death, as my most solemn & last request, which I am sure you will consider the same as if legally entered in my will, that you will devote 400£ to its publication & further will yourself, or through Hensleigh [Wedgwood], take trouble in promoting it.

  Charles Darwin

  Believe, Book, Writing

  Charles Darwin, Thomas F. Glick, David Kohn (1996). “On Evolution: The Development of the Theory of Natural Selection”, p.116, Hackett Publishing

  6 Copy quote

• The theory which I would offer, is simply, that as the land with the attached reefs subsides very gradually from the action of subterranean causes, the coral-building polypi soon raise again their solid masses to the level of the water: but not so with the land; each inch lost is irreclaimably gone; as the whole gradually sinks, the water gains foot by foot on the shore, till the last and highest peak is finally submerged.

  Charles Darwin

  Feet, Land, Water

  Charles Darwin (1840). “Journal of Researches Into the Geology and Natural History of the Varoius Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle, Under the Command of Captain Fitzroy from 1832 to 1836 by Charles Darwin”, p.557

  6 Copy quote

• The western nations of Europe, who now so immeasurably surpass their former savage progenitors, and stand at the summit of civilization, owe little or none of their superiority to direct inheritance from the old Greeks, though they owe much to the written works of that wonderful people.

  Charles Darwin

  Europe, Civilization, People

  Charles Darwin (2004). “Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex”, p.120, Barnes & Noble Publishing

  6 Copy quote

• I see no good reason why the views given this volume [The Origin of Species] should shock the religious feelings of any one. It is satisfactory, as showing how transient such impressions are, to remember that the greatest discovery ever made by man, namely, the law of attraction of gravity, was also attacked by Leibnitz, 'as subversive of natural, and inferentially of revealed, religion.'

  Charles Darwin

  Religious, Science, Men

  6 Copy quote

• The earthquake, however, must be to every one a most impressive event: the earth, considered from our earliest childhood as the type of solidity, has oscillated like a thin crust beneath our feet; and in seeing the laboured works of man in a moment overthrown, we feel the insignificance of his boasted power.

  Charles Darwin

  Men, Feet, Earthquakes

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.444, Delphi Classics

  7 Copy quote

• I fully agree with all that you say on the advantages of Spencer's excellent expression of 'the survival of the fittest.' This, however, had not occurred to me till reading your letter. It is, however, a great objection to this term that it cannot be used as a substantive governing a verb; and that this is a real objection I infer from H. Spencer continually using the words, natural selection.

  Charles Darwin

  Real, Reading, Expression

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.10473, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

• History shows that the human mind, fed by constant accessions of knowledge, periodically grows too large for its theoretical coverings, and bursts them asunder to appear in new habiliments, as the feeding and growing grub, at intervals, casts its too narrow skin and assumes another.

  Charles Darwin

  Mind, Progress, Skins

  6 Copy quote

• Any one whose disposition leads him to attach more weight to unexplained difficulties than to the explanation of facts will certainly reject my theory.

  Charles Darwin

  Science, Rejection, Weight

  Charles Darwin (1869). “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”, p.418

  7 Copy quote

• Nature will tell you a direct lie if she can.

  Charles Darwin

  Nature, Lying, Direct

  6 Copy quote

• In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation. Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history.

  Charles Darwin

  Future, Science, Men

  Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.51, Broadview Press

  60 Copy quote

• I can remember the very spot in the road, whilst in my carriage, when to my joy the solution occurred to me.

  Charles Darwin

  Joy, Remember, Carriages

  Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin (1958). “Autobiography and Selected Letters”, p.43, Courier Corporation

  7 Copy quote

• A surprising number [of novels] have been read aloud to me, and I like all if moderately good, and if they do not end unhappily-against which a law ought to be passed.

  Charles Darwin

  Science, Law, Numbers

  Charles Darwin (2016). “Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: the Evolution”, p.63, VM eBooks

  7 Copy quote

• I look at the natural geological record as a history of the world imperfectly kept and written in a changing dialect; of this history we possess the last volume alone, relating only to two or three countries. Of this volume, only here and there a short chapter has been preserved; and of each page, only here and there a few lines.

  Charles Darwin

  Country, Science, Two

  Charles Darwin, Sir Francis Darwin (1987). “The Works of Charles Darwin, Volume 10: The Foundations of The Origin of the Species: Two Essays Written in 1842 and 1844”, p.21, NYU Press

  7 Copy quote

• Formerly Milton's Paradise Lost had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of the Beagle, when I could take only a single small volume, I always chose Milton.

  Charles Darwin

  Science, Paradise, Biographies

  Charles Darwin (2010). “The Works of Charles Darwin, Volume 29: “Erasmus Darwin” by Ernest Krause, with a Preliminary Notice by Charles Darwin; “The Autobiography of Charles Darwin” Edited by Nora Barlow; and Consolidated Index”, p.118, NYU Press

  16 Copy quote

• It may be doubted that there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world as have these lowly organized creatures.

  Charles Darwin

  Animal, Important, World

  Charles Darwin, Julian Huxley (2006). “The Essential Darwin”, p.149, Courier Corporation

  9 Copy quote

• Thomson's views on the recent age of the world have been for some time one of my sorest troubles.

  Charles Darwin

  Views, Atheism, Age

  Charles Darwin (2016). “Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: the Evolution”, p.629, VM eBooks

  7 Copy quote

• I am not the least afraid to die

  Charles Darwin

  Bad Ass, Famous Last Words, Dies

  Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin (1958). “Autobiography and Selected Letters”, p.348, Courier Corporation

  8 Copy quote

• The Times is getting more detestable (but that is too weak word) than ever.

  Charles Darwin

  Science, Biographies, Weak

  Charles Darwin (2016). “Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: the Evolution”, p.553, VM eBooks

  7 Copy quote

• About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not theorise; and I well remember some one saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a gravel-pit and count the pebbles and describe the colours. How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service!

  Charles Darwin

  Science, Men, Views

  Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.681, Broadview Press

  8 Copy quote

• But Geology carries the day: it is like the pleasure of gambling, speculating, on first arriving, what the rocks may be; I often mentally cry out 3 to 1 Tertiary against primitive; but the latter have hitherto won all the bets.

  Charles Darwin

  Gambling, Rocks, Arriving

  Charles Darwin, Frederick Burkhardt, Sydney Smith (1985). “The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: 1821-1836”, p.232, Cambridge University Press

  7 Copy quote

• Man himself cannot express love and humility by external signs, so plainly as does a dog, when with drooping ears, hanging lips, flexuous body, and wagging tail, he meets his beloved master.

  Charles Darwin

  Friendship, Dog, Humility

  Charles Darwin (1874). “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals”, p.10

  16 Copy quote

Page 15 of 16

First

← Prev

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin