Charles Darwin Quotes - Page 7

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I think it inevitably follows, that as new species in the course of time are formed through natural selection, others will become rarer and rarer, and finally extinct. The forms which stand in closest competition with those undergoing modification and improvement will naturally suffer most.

Charles Darwin

Thinking, Competition, Suffering

Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.3831, Delphi Classics

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It is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of matter.

Charles Darwin

Life, Science, Thinking

Charles Darwin, Frederick Burkhardt (1999). “The Correspondence of Charles Darwin:”, p.278, Cambridge University Press

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It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and insensibly working, wherever and whenever opportunity offers, at the improvement of each organic being in relation to its organic and inorganic conditions of life.

Charles Darwin

Opportunity, Variation, World

Charles Darwin, Paul H. Barrett, Peter Gautrey (1989). “The Works of Charles Darwin, Volume 15: On the Origin of Species, 1859”, p.62, NYU Press

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I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my father, brother and almost all of my friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.

Charles Darwin

Family, Brother, Atheist

Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley (1983). “Autobiographies”, Oxford University Press, USA

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The limit of man s knowledge in any subject possesses a high interest which is perhaps increased by its close neighbourhood to the realms of imagination.

Charles Darwin

Men, Imagination, Limits

Charles Darwin (2016). “The Voyage of the Beagle: the Evolution”, p.204, VM eBooks

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As natural selection works solely by and for the good of each being, all corporeal and mental endowments will tend to progress toward perfection.

Charles Darwin

Perfection, Progress, Natural

Charles Darwin (1875). “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Or The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life”, p.428

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The formation of different languages and of distinct species and the proofs that both have been developed through a gradual process, are curiously parallel.

Charles Darwin

Different, Evolution, Language

Charles Darwin (2016). “The Descent of Man: the Evolution”, p.86, VM eBooks

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When it was first said that the sun stood still and world turned round, the common sense of mankind declared the doctrine false; but the old saying of Vox populi, vox Dei [the voice of the people is the voice of God], as every philosopher knows, cannot be trusted in science.

Charles Darwin

Eye, Voice, People

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The number of humble-bees in any district depends in a great degree on the number of field-mice, which destroy their combs and nests; and Mr. H. Newman, who has long attended to the habits of humble-bees, ... says "Near villages and small towns I have found the nests of humble-bees more numerous than elsewhere, which I attribute to the number of cats that destroy the mice." Hence it is quite credible that the presence of a feline animal in large numbers in a district might determine, through the intervention first of mice and then of bees, the frequency of certain flowers in that district!

Charles Darwin

Flower, Cat, Humble

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When I view all beings not as special creations, but as the lineal descendants of some few beings which lived long before the first bed of the Cambrian system was deposited, they seem to me to become ennobled.

Charles Darwin

Views, Long, Special

Charles Darwin (2012). “On the Origin of the Species and The Voyage of the Beagle”, p.254, Graphic Arts Books

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Of all the differences between man and the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important. This sense, as Mackintosh remarks, "has a rightful supremacy over every other principle of human action"; it is summed up in that short but imperious word "ought," so full of high significance. It is the most noble of all the attributes of man, leading him without a moment's hesitation to risk his life for that of a fellow-creature; or after due deliberation, impelled simply by the deep feeling of right or duty, to sacrifice it in some great cause.

Charles Darwin

Sacrifice, Animal, Men

"The Descent of Man: Human Sexuality".

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I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we call chance. Not that this notion at all satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton. Let each man hope and believe what he can.

Charles Darwin

Dog, Believe, Science

The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin Volume II C. Darwin to Asa Gray May 22nd [1860] (p. 105)

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A grain in the balance will determine which individual shall live and which shall die - which variety or species shall increase in number, and which shall decrease, or finally become extinct.

Charles Darwin

Numbers, Balance, Individual

Charles Darwin (2007). “On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection Or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life”, p.293, Cosimo, Inc.

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One day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand. Then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as was the third one.

Charles Darwin

Hands, Two, One Day

Charles Darwin (2016). “The Autobiography of Charles Darwin: the Evolution”, p.14, VM eBooks

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I have steadily endeavored to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon as the facts are shown to be opposed to it.

Charles Darwin

Giving Up, Science, Mind

"Dow 36,000". Book by James K. Glassman, Kevin A. Hassett, www.cnn.com. September 14, 1999.

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I trust and believe that the time spent in this voyage ... will produce its full worth in Natural History; and it appears to me the doing what little we can to increase the general stock of knowledge is as respectable an object of life, as one can in any likelihood pursue.

Charles Darwin

Believe, Knowledge, Science

Charles Darwin (1902). “Charles Darwin: His Life in an Autobiographical Chapter and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters”, p.267, Library of Alexandria

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To my deep mortification my father once said to me, "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family."

Charles Darwin

Dog, Father, Science

Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin (1958). “Autobiography and Selected Letters”, p.9, Courier Corporation

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For my own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his keeper; or from that old baboon, who, descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs-as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions.

Charles Darwin

Dog, Sacrifice, Order

The Descent of Man ch. 21 (1871)

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The assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence. But this is a rash argument, as we should thus be compelled to believe in the existence of many cruel and malignant spirits, only a little more powerful than man; for the belief in them is far more general than in a beneficent deity.

Charles Darwin

Powerful, Believe, Men

Charles Darwin (2015). “The Descent of Man: Human Sexuality”, p.542, 谷月社

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Although I am fully convinced of the truth of the views given in this volume under the form of an abstract, I by no means expect to convince experienced naturalists whose minds are stocked with a multitude of facts all viewed, during a long course of years, from a point of view directly opposite to mine... I look with confidence to the future, to young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view both sides of the question with impartiality.

Charles Darwin

Mean, Views, Looks

"On the Origin of the Species and The Voyage of the Beagle".

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After five years' work I allowed myself to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short notes; these I enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions, which then seemed to me probable: from that period to the present day I have steadily pursued the same object. I hope that I may be excused for entering on these personal details, as I give them to show that I have not been hasty in coming to a decision.‎

Charles Darwin

Hope, Hard Work, Science

Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.3038, Delphi Classics

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The lower animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery. Happiness is never better exhibited than by young animals, such as puppies, kittens, lambs, &c., when playing together, like our own children.

Charles Darwin

Children, Pain, Animal

Charles Darwin (2007). “The Descent of Man: The Concise Edition”, p.107, Penguin

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A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life, as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones

Charles Darwin

Men, Rewards, Belief

Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.434, Broadview Press

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We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities... still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.

Charles Darwin

Inspirational, Nature, Science

'The Descent of Man' (1871) closing words

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If Mozart, instead of playing the pianoforte at three years old with wonderfully little practice, had played a tune with no practice at all, he might truly have been said to have done so instinctively.

Charles Darwin

Years, Practice, Tunes

Charles Darwin (2016). “On the Origin of Species”, p.158, Zillmann Publishing

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Born: February 12, 1809
Died: April 19, 1882
Occupation: Naturalist
Cite this Page: Citation

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