Home / Authors / Alfred Russel Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace Quotes

Naturalist

Alfred Russel Wallace was a British naturalist renowned for his contributions to the theory of evolution. He independently proposed the theory of natural selection during his explorations in South America, sharing the honor of evolutionary theory with Charles Darwin. Wallace also conducted extensive research in entomology, botany, and geography.

Filter quotes by topic

All Mind Matter Men Animal Looks Natural Opinion Race Science Admire Believe Bird Body Born Class Conviction Effects Evidence Evolution Existence

Famous Alfred Russel Wallace Quotes

“In one of my latest conversations with Darwin he expressed himself very gloomily on the future of humanity, on the ground that in our modern civilization natural selection had no play, and the fittest did not survive. Those who succeed in the race for wealth are by no means the best or the most intelligent, and it is notorious that our population is more largely renewed in each generation from the lower than from the middle and upper classes.”

Source: Alfred Russel Wallace: An Anthology of His Shorter Writings

“In all works on Natural History, we constantly find details of the marvellous adaptation of animals to their food, their habits, and the localities in which they are found.”

Found Natural Animal Habit Details Adaptation Marvellous Natural History Locality

Book:A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro: With an Account of the Native Tribes, and Observations on the Climate, Geology, and Natural History of the Amazon Valley

Source: A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro: With an Account of the Native Tribes, and Observations on the Climate, Geology, and Natural History of the Amazon Valley

“It has been generally the custom of writers on natural history to take the habits and instincts of animals as the fixed point, and to consider their structure and organization as specially adapted to be in accordance with them.”

Has Beens Natural Animal Habit Organization Structure Instinct Fixed Customs Adapted Natural History

Book:The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise

Source: The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise