Quotessence
Home / Authors / Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin Quotes

Naturalist

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenScienceNatural SelectionSpeciesOrigin Of SpeciesEvolutionIfsAnimalHas BeensNaturalMindMayInspirationalAtheismSelectionFactsBelieveWorldSeemsShould

Famous Charles Darwin Quotes

“I fully agree with all that you say on the advantages of H. 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. (Letter to A. R. Wallace July 1866)”

ScienceEvolutionAgreeBiologyLetterNatural SelectionSurvival Of The FittestSpencerWallaceHerbert SpencerAlfred Russel Wallace
Author:Charles Darwin
Create image

“The country remained the same, and was extremely uninteresting. The complete similarity of the productions throughout Patagonia is one of its most striking characters. The level plains of arid shingle support the same stunted and dwarf plants; and in the valleys the same thorn-bearing bushes grow. Everywhere we see the same birds and insects. Even the very banks of the river and of the clear streamlets which entered it, were scarcely enlivened by a brighter tint of green. The curse of sterility is on the land, and the water flowing over a bed of pebbles partakes of the same curse. Hence the number of waterfowl is very scanty; for there is nothing to support life in the stream of this barren river. (In regards to the steppes of Patagonia)”

ScienceExplorationZoologyPatagoniaGeography And Culture
Book:Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World, Under the Command of Capt. Fitz Roy, R.N.
Create image

“Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

InspirationalScienceNatureWonderEvolutionBiologyGrandeur
Book:The Origin of Species
Create image

“...But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidæ with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice... 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.”

ScienceDesignEvolutionEvidenceMiseryProfoundToleranceBiologyNewtonOmnipotentBeneficenceIsaac NewtonArgument From Design
Book:The Life & Letters of Charles Darwin
Create image

“As man gradually advanced in intellectual power, and was enabled to trace the more remote consequences of his actions; as he acquired sufficient knowledge to reject baneful customs and superstitions; as he regarded more and more, not only the welfare, but the happiness of his fellow-men; as from habit, following on beneficial experience, instruction and example, his sympathies became more tender and widely diffused, extending to men of all races, to the imbecile, maimed, and other useless members of society, and finally to the lower animals,—so would the standard of his morality rise higher and higher.”

ScienceHumanityMorality
Book:The Descent of Man
Create image

“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.”

IfsWritingBelieveBookLastsScienceI BelieveStepsCasesTroubleJudgingTheorySpeciesFinishedAcceptedPromotingRequestSolemnCompetentPublicationSudden Death
Book:On Evolution: The Development of the Theory of Natural Selection
Create image

“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.”

WorldLooksHas BeensTwoCountryLastsScienceThreeNaturalLinesRecordsWrittenPagesChaptersVolumeWorld HistoryHere And ThereMe AloneDialect
Book:The Works of Charles Darwin, Volume 10: The Foundations of The Origin of the Species: Two Essays Written in 1842 and 1844
Create image

“To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree.”

ShouldBelieveHas BeensDifferentLightSeemsEyeScienceImaginationNaturalPerfectFocusMinesTheoryAmountDegreesHighestDifficultyDistanceSpeciesComplexesAbsurdSelectionCould Have BeenNatural SelectionCorrectionsAdmittingSubversiveDarwinismMiningAdjustingAberrationOrigin Of SpeciesHuman EyesThese EyesCreationistNatural Forms
Author:Charles Darwin
Create image

“To conclude, therefore, let no man out of a weak conceit of sobriety, or an ill-applied moderation, think or maintain, that a man can search too far or be too well studied in the book of God's word, or in the book of God's works; divinity or philosophy; but rather let men endeavour an endless progress or proficience in both."—Bacon: "Advancement of Learning".”

ThinkingMenWellsBookPhilosophyScienceProgressWeakIllEndlessDivinityModerationAdvancementConceitSobrietyEndeavourOrigin Of Species
Book:The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species
Create image

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.”

InspirationalDoeScienceKnowledgeFeminismIgnoranceConfidenceEvolutionScientistSpeciesAtheistInsightStupidityCertaintyHave ConfidenceNatural SelectionBegetsTheismKnowledge Of GodCreationismTheory Of EvolutionMore KnowledgeIgnorant PeopleScientific FactsScience GodWillful IgnoranceKnowledge And IgnoranceSubtle AtheistCertain KnowledgeDoubt And Certainty
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)
Create image

“I am not very sceptical, — a frame of mind which I believe to be injurious to the progress of science. A good deal of scepticism in a scientific man is advisable to avoid much loss of time, but I have met with not a few men, who, I feel sure, have often thus been deterred from experiment or observations, which would have proved directly or indirectly serviceable .”

MenScienceLossDealsMetsExperimentsObservationSkepticismProvenSkepticalAdvisableGood Science
Author:Charles Darwin
Create image

“This preservation of favourable variations and the destruction of injurious variations, I call Natural Selection, or the Survival of the Fittest. Variations neither useful nor injurious would not be affected by natural selection and would be left a fluctuating element.”

Would BeScienceLeftNaturalEvolutionElementsSurvivalDestructionAffectedPreservationSelectionVariationNatural SelectionSurvival Of The Fittest
Book:On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
Create image

“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.‎”

GivingYearsMayShowsScienceHopeDecisionFiveSubjectsObjectsHard WorkPeriodsNotesDetailsConclusionFive YearsEnteringPursuedPresent DayHasty
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)
Create image

“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!”

IfsMenShouldYearsWellsMightRememberScienceViewsTheoryOughtYears AgoRateObservationOddThirtyColourPitsThirty YearsPebblesGravelGeologist
Book:On the Origin of Species
Create image

“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.”

MenFeelsMindBelieveHumansWellsLooksWholeMightLawScienceUniverseBeliefLeftForceChanceResultsViewsWonderfulSubjectsDogProfoundNotionDetailsWork OutIntellectBrutesNewtonNatural SelectionNature Of ManBrute Force
Author:Charles Darwin
Create image

“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.”

TryingMindBelieveLittlesIdeasDifferentSeemsScienceSpeakI BelieveCreationKeysTestsWeightSpeciesVariousDescentResemblanceProminentNaturalistDifferent IdeasLaughableResemblance Is
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)
Create image

“Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval [tropical] forests, ... temples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature. No one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body.”

MenFeelsMindGodBodyScienceNatureSceneSolitudeBreathsFilledMereProductionsForestsTemplesImpressedExceedTropicalPrimevalSublimity
Book:What Mr. Darwin Saw in His Voyage Round the World in the Ship
Create image

“...I believe there exists, & I feel within me, an instinct for the truth, or knowledge or discovery, of something of the same nature as the instinct of virtue, & that our having such an instinct is reason enough for scientific researches without any practical results ever ensuing from them.”

FeelsBelieveReasonEnoughScienceI BelieveResultsKnowledgeVirtueResearchDiscoveryInstinctPracticalsBiographiesScientific ResearchScientific Discovery
Book:The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: 1847-1850
Create image

“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.”

KnowsBelieveLittlesScienceNaturalKnowledgeObjectsProduceIncreasePursueRespectableVoyagesLikelihoodTime SpentNatural HistoryTrust And Believe
Book:Charles Darwin: His Life in an Autobiographical Chapter and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters
Create image