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The Origin Of Species Quotes

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The Origin Of Species Quotes

“When in 1863 Thomas Huxley coined the phrase 'Man's Place in Nature,' it was to name a short collection of his essays applying to man Darwin's theory of evolution. The Origin of Species had been published only four years before, and the thesis that man was literally a part of nature, rather than an earthy vessel charged with some sublimer stuff, was so novel and so offensive to current metaphysics that it needed the most vigorous defense. Half the civilized world was rudely shocked, the other half skeptically amused. Nearly a century has passed since the Origin shattered the complacency of the Victorian world and initiated what may be called the Darwinian revolution, an upheaval of man's ideas comparable to and probably exceeding in significance the revolution that issued from Copernicus's demonstration that the earth moves around the sun. The theory of evolution was but one of many factors contributing to the destruction of the ancient beliefs; it only toppled over what had already been weakened by centuries of decay, rendered suspect by the assaults of many intellectual disciplines; but it marked the beginning of the end of the era of faith.”

ScienceNatureEvolutionIntellectDefenseBiologyRudeMetaphysicsBeliefsSkepticNaturalismVictorianOrigin Of SpeciesDarwinHuxleyCharles DarwinCopernicusAmuseNicolaus CopernicusMan S Place In NatureThe Origin Of SpeciesThomas Henry HuxleyThomas HuxleyAncient BeliefsOn The Origin Of SpeciesEnd Of Faith
Book:Man and His Gods
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“There is grandeur in this view,” scolds a quote from Darwin hanging over my dad’s desk at his lab. The words are written in looping brown calligraphy, enclosed in a varnished wooden frame. The quote comes from the last sentence of *On the Origin of Species*. It is Darwin’s sweet nothing, his apology for deflating the world of its God, his promise that there is grandeur—if you look hard enough, you’ll find it. But sometimes it felt like an accusation. If you can’t see it, shame on you.”

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Book:Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life
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