Charles Darwin Quotes - Page 9

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My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts.

Charles Darwin

Inspirational, Law, Mind

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

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The more I study nature, the more I become impressed with ever-increasing force with the conclusion, that the contrivances and beautiful adaptations slowly acquired through each part occasionally varying in a slight degree but in many ways, with the preservation or natural selection of those variations which are beneficial to the organism under the complex and ever-varying conditions of life, transcend in an incomparable degree the contrivances and adaptations which the most fertile imagination of man could suggest with unlimited time at his disposal.

Charles Darwin

Beautiful, Nature, Men

"On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects: And on the Good Effects of Intercrossing".

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Worms have played a more important part in the history of the world than humans would at first suppose.

Charles Darwin

Important, World, Firsts

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I have watched how steadily the general feeling, as shown at elections, has been rising against Slavery. What a proud thing for England if she is the first European nation which utterly abolishes it! I was told before leaving England that after living in slave countries all my opinions would be altered; the only alteration I am aware of is forming a much higher estimate of the negro character.

Charles Darwin

Country, Character, Leaving

Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.10033, Delphi Classics

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Till facts are grouped & called there can be no prediction. The only advantage of discovering laws is to foretell what will happen & to see bearing of scattered facts.

Charles Darwin

Science, Law, Facts

"Notebooks on Transmutation of Species".

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We feel surprise when travellers tell us of the vast dimensions of the Pyramids and other great ruins, but how utterly insignificant are the greatest of these, when compared to these mountains of stone accumulated by the agency of various minute and tender animals!

Charles Darwin

Nature, Animal, Agency

Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.461, Broadview Press

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But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?

Charles Darwin

Animal, Men, Doubt

Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin (1958). “Autobiography and Selected Letters”, p.68, Courier Corporation

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I believe we were all glad to leave New Zealand. It is not a pleasant place. Amongst the natives there is absent that charming simplicity .... and the greater part of the English are the very refuse of society.

Charles Darwin

Believe, Simplicity, Charming

Philip Parker King, Sir Francis Darwin, Robert Fitzroy, Charles Darwin (1839). “Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle: Between the Years 1826 and 1836 ...”, p.514

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Disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but at last it was complete.

Charles Darwin

Atheism, Lasts, Rate

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At last gleams of light have come, and I am almost convinced (quite contrary to opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable. Heaven forfend me from Lamarck nonsense of a 'tendency to progression', 'adaptations from the slow willing of animals', &c! But the conclusions I am led to are not widely different from his; though the means of change are wholly so. I think I have found out (here's presumption!) the simple way by which species become exquisitely adapted to various ends.

Charles Darwin

Mean, Simple, Thinking

Charles Darwin (1896). “Charles Darwin's Works: The life and letters of Charles Darwin... ed. by his son, Francis Darwin. 2v”

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Mere chance ... alone would never account for so habitual and large an amount of difference as that between varieties of the same species.

Charles Darwin

Differences, Chance, Origin Of Species

Charles Darwin (2010). “Evolutionary Writings: including the Autobiographies”, p.286, OUP Oxford

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When the views entertained in this volume on the origin of species, or when analogous views are generally admitted, we can dimly forsee that there will be a considerable revolution in natural history.

Charles Darwin

Views, Revolution, Natural

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.303, Cosimo, Inc.

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Sympathy for the lowest animals is one of the noblest virtues with which man is endowed.

Charles Darwin

Animal, Men, Compassion

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I cannot persuade myself that a beneficient and omnipotent God would have designedly created...that a cat should play with mice.

Charles Darwin

Cat, Play, Should

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It is really laughable to see what different ideas are prominent in various naturalists' minds, when they speak of 'species'; in some, resemblance is everything and descent of little weight-in some, resemblance seems to go for nothing, and Creation the reigning idea-in some, descent is the key,-in some, sterility an unfailing test, with others it is not worth a farthing. It all comes, I believe, from trying to define the undefinable.

Charles Darwin

Believe, Science, Keys

Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.10203, Delphi Classics

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The love of a dog for his master is notorious; in the agony of death he has been known to caress his master, and everyone has heard of the dog suffering under vivisection, who licked the hand of the operator; this man, unless he had a heart of stone, must have felt remorse to the last hour of his life.

Charles Darwin

Dog, Heart, Animal

"The Descent of Man". Book by Charles Darwin, volume I, chapter II: "Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals", p. 40, darwin-online.org.uk. 1871.

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It may be doubted whether any character can be named which is distinctive of a race and is constant.

Charles Darwin

Character, Race, May

Charles Darwin (2016). “The Descent of Man (Diversion Classics)”, p.243, Diversion Books

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I often had to run very quickly to be on time, and from being a fleet runner was generally successful; but when in doubt I prayed earnestly to God to help me, and I well remember that I attributed my success to the prayers and not to my quick running, and marvelled how generally I was aided.

Charles Darwin

Running, Prayer, Successful

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.77, NYU Press

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It has sometimes been said that the success of the Origin proved "that the subject was in the air," or "that men's minds were prepared for it." I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species.

Charles Darwin

Success, Science, Men

Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.440, Broadview Press

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Progress has been much more general than retrogression

Charles Darwin

Progress, Has Beens

Charles Darwin (1872). “The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex”, p.177

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In however complex a manner this feeling may have originated, as it is one of high importance to all those animals which aid and defend one another, it will have been increased through natural selection; for those communities, which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members, would flourish best, and rear the greatest number of offspring.

Charles Darwin

Animal, Numbers, Community

Charles Darwin (1875). “The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex”, p.107

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He who understands baboon would do more towards metaphysics than Locke.

Charles Darwin

Baboons, Metaphysics

"Evolutionary Writings: including the Autobiographies".

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...all nature is perverse & will not do as I wish it.

Charles Darwin

Science, Wish

Charles Darwin, Frederick Burkhardt, Sydney Smith (1985). “The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: 1851-1855”, p.326, Cambridge University Press

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I long to set foot where no man has trod before.

Charles Darwin

Men, Feet, Long

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... if variations useful to any organic being do occur, assuredly individuals thus characterized will have the best chance of being perserved in the struggle for life; and from the strong principle of inheritance they will tend to produce offsping similarly characterized. This principle of preservation, I have called, for the sake of brevity, Natural Selection.

Charles Darwin

Strong, Struggle, Principles

Charles Darwin, Paul H. Barrett (1987). “The Works of Charles Darwin: On the origin of species 1959”

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

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