Charles Darwin Quotes

Quotes about:

• It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change, that lives within the means available and works co-operatively against common threats.

  Charles Darwin

  Mean, Intelligent, Survival

  122 Copy quote
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  The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.

  Charles Darwin

  Love, Life, Nature

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Darwin on Evolution: Words of Wisdom from the Father of Evolution”, p.25, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  149 Copy quote

• The world will not be inherited by the strongest, it will be inherited by those most able to change.

  Charles Darwin

  World, Able, Progressive

  165 Copy quote
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  A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Life, Encouraging

  Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin (1958). “Autobiography and Selected Letters”, p.145, Courier Corporation

  138 Copy quote

• Building a better mousetrap merely results in smarter mice.

  Charles Darwin

  Building, Results, Mice

  89 Copy quote

• It is not the biggest, the brightest or the best that will survive, but those who adapt the quickest.

  Charles Darwin

  Leadership, Teaching, Learning

  75 Copy quote

• Nothing exists for itself alone, but only in relation to other forms of life

  Charles Darwin

  Form, Relation

  99 Copy quote

• In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.

  Charles Darwin

  Teamwork, Creativity, Knowledge

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Darwin on Evolution: Words of Wisdom from the Father of Evolution”, p.23, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  22 Copy quote

• It is a truly wonderful fact - the wonder of which we are apt to overlook from familiarity - that all animals and all plants throughout all time and space should be related to each other in group subordinate to group.

  Charles Darwin

  Animal, Space, Facts

  Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.176, Broadview Press

  8 Copy quote
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  The more one thinks, the more one feels the hopeless immensity of man's ignorance.

  Charles Darwin

  Ignorance, Men, Thinking

  Charles Darwin (1903). “More Letters of Charles Darwin (Complete)”, p.520, Library of Alexandria

  71 Copy quote

• With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. Hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.

  Charles Darwin

  Animal, Men, Theory Of Evolution

  "The Descent of Man". Book by Charles Darwin, February 24, 1871.

  66 Copy quote

• Blushing is the most peculiar and most human of all expressions.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Expression, Peculiar

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Darwin on Evolution: Words of Wisdom from the Father of Evolution”, p.24, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  10 Copy quote

• Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Confidence, Atheist

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.6343, Delphi Classics

  34 Copy quote

• There is no fundamental difference between man and animals in their ability to feel pleasure and pain, happiness, and misery.

  Charles Darwin

  Pain, Animal, Men

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Darwin on Evolution: Words of Wisdom from the Father of Evolution”, p.23, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  59 Copy quote

• How so many absurd rules of conduct, as well as so many absurd religious beliefs, have originated, we do not know; nor how it is that they have become, in all quarters of the world, so deeply impressed on the minds of men; but it is worthy of remark that a belief constantly inculcated during the early years of life, while the brain is impressionable, appears to acquire almost the nature of an instinct; and the very essence of an instinct is that it is followed independently of reason.

  Charles Darwin

  Religious, Men, Essence

  Charles Darwin (1871). “The Descent of man”, p.95

  76 Copy quote

• The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Love Life, Hypnosis

  'The Descent of Man' (1871) ch. 4

  58 Copy quote

• It is impossible to concieve of this immense and wonderful universe as the result of blind chance or necessity.

  Charles Darwin

  Chance, Impossible, Wonderful

  59 Copy quote

• Animals, whom we have made our slaves, we do not like to consider our equal.

  Charles Darwin

  Humility, Animal, Slave

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Darwin on Evolution: Words of Wisdom from the Father of Evolution”, p.16, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  28 Copy quote

• I am aware that the conclusions arrived at in this work will be denounced by some as highly irreligious; but he who denounces them is bound to show why it is more irreligious to explain the origin of man as a distinct species by descent from some lower from, through the laws of variation and natural selection, than to explain the birth of the individual through the laws of ordinary reproduction. The birth both of the species and of the individual are equally parts of that grand sequence of events, which our minds refuse to accept as the result of blind chance.

  Charles Darwin

  Men, Law, Mind

  Charles Darwin (1883). “The Descent of Man and Seletion in Relation to Sex”, p.613, Рипол Классик

  8 Copy quote

• On the theory of natural selection we can clearly understand the full meaning of that old canon in natural history, “Natura non facit saltum.” This canon, if we look only to the present inhabitants of the world, is not strictly correct, but if we include all those of past times, it must by my theory be strictly true.

  Charles Darwin

  Past, Looks, World

  Charles Darwin (1869). “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”, p.183

  14 Copy quote

• The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes is shown by mans attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than the woman. Whether deep thought, reason, or imagination or merely the use of the senses and hands.....We may also infer.....The average mental power in man must be above that of woman.

  Charles Darwin

  Sex, Men, Average

  24 Copy quote

• Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist.

  Charles Darwin

  Intelligent, Men, Feelings

  Charles Darwin (1887). “The Autobiography of Charles Darwin”, p.70, Barnes & Noble Publishing

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• The lower animals, on the other hand, must have their bodily structure modified in order to survive under greatly changed conditions. They must be rendered stronger, or acquire more effective teeth or claws, in order to defend themselves from new enemies; or they must be reduced in size so as to escape detection and danger. When they migrate into a colder climate they must become clothed with thicker fur, or have their constitutions altered. If they fail to be thus modified, they will cease to exist.

  Charles Darwin

  Animal, Hands, Order

  Charles Darwin (1952). “The origin of species by means of natural selection: The descent of man and selection in relation to sex”

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• Attention, if sudden and close, graduates into surprise; and this into astonishment; and this into stupefied amazement.

  Charles Darwin

  Attention, Astonishment, Graduates

  Charles Darwin (1872). “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals”, p.278

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• Believing as I do that man in the distant future will be a far more perfect creature than he now is, it is an intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are doomed to complete annihilation after such long-continued slow progress.

  Charles Darwin

  Believe, Men, Long

  Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.433, Broadview Press

  8 Copy quote

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