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Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin Quotes

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Famous Charles Darwin Quotes

“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.”

LifeInspirationalFirstsFoundStarsGroupsDegreesDawnArbitraryConstellationsInterdependenceClassificationDescending
Book:On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; Or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
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“As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications.”

IfsGivingBelieveHas BeensEarthBeautifulI BelieveSidesGrowthGenerationsTreeBrokenSurfaceBranchesBudVigorousTree Of LifeOrigin Of SpeciesRamifications
Book:Evolutionary Writings: including the Autobiographies
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“For I am well aware that scarcely a single point is discussed in this volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question.”

WellsFactsSidesDecisionResultsFairsArgumentOppositesConclusionDecision MakingVolumeBoth SidesOrigin Of Species
Book:The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species
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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.”

DiesIndividualNumbersBalanceIncreaseSpeciesDetermineVarietyGrainDecrease
Book:On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection Or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life
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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.”

FirstsWaterNatureWhiteRocksColorOceanLowsReflectionGreenCalmRingsLeagueIslandsShorePaleHere And ThereAstonishmentDazzlingExpanse
Book: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
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“But when on shore, & wandering in the sublime forests, surrounded by views more gorgeous than even Claude ever imagined, I enjoy a delight which none but those who have experienced it can understand.”

EnjoyViewsTreeDelightForestsWanderShoreSublimeGorgeous
Book:Charles Darwin: His Life in an Autobiographical Chapter and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters
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“I had gradually come, by this time [1839-01], to see that the Old Testament from its manifestly false history of the world, with the Tower of Babel, the rainbow as a sign, etc., etc. and from its attributing to God the feelings of a revengeful tyrant, was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos, or the beliefs of any barbarian.”

WorldBookFeelingsReligionBeliefSacredEtcTyrantsTrustedRainbowTowersTestamentWorld HistoryOld TestamentBarbariansBabelRevengefulTower Of Babel
Author:Charles Darwin
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“The more we know of the fixed laws of nature the more incredible do miracles become, - that the men at that time were ignorant and credulous to a degree almost incomprehensible by us, - that the Gospels cannot be proved to have been written simultaneously with the events, - that they differ in many important details, far too important as it seemed to me to be admitted as the usual inaccuracies of eye-witnesses; - by such reflections as these... I gradually came to disbelieve in Christianity as a divine revelation.”

KnowsMenHas BeensImportantEyeLawReligionChristianityWrittenEventsDivineHe ManDegreesReflectionMiracleIncrediblesDetailsIgnorantWitnessFixedRevelationsUsualLaws Of NatureDivine Revelation
Book:Autobiographies
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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.”

MayHas BeensFeelingsCommunityNaturalAnimalNumbersMembersImportanceComplexesAidsSelectionSympatheticNatural SelectionOffspring
Book:The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex
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“Seeing every height crowned with its crater, and the boundaries of most of the lava-streams still distinct, we are led to believe that within a period, geologically recent, the unbroken ocean was here spread out. Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat near to that great fact — that mystery of mysteries — the first appearance of new beings on this earth.”

FirstsBelieveStillsFactsSeemsEarthSpaceSeeingMysteryPeriodsOceanAppearanceSpreadBoundariesHeightStreamsTime And SpaceUnbrokenLavaCraters
Book:Voyage of the Beagle
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“I have rarely read anything which has interested me more, though I have not read as yet more than a quarter of the book proper. From quotations which I had seen, I had a high notion of Aristotle's merits, but I had not the most remote notion what a wonderful man he was. Linnaeus and Cuvier have been my two gods, though in very different ways, but they were mere schoolboys to old Aristotle.”

MenWayHas BeensTwoBookDifferentWonderfulMereNotionDifferent WaysMeritQuartersQuotationsWonderful ManLinnaeus
Book:Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: the Evolution
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