Charles Darwin Quotes About Doubt

Quotes about: Doubt

• At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace throughout the world the savage races. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break will then be rendered wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state as we may hope, than the Caucasian and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as at present between the negro or Australian and the gorilla.

  Charles Darwin

  Men, Race, Doubt

  Charles Darwin (2008). “The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex”, p.201, Princeton University Press

• It is scarcely possible to doubt that the love of man has become instinctive in the dog.

  Charles Darwin

  Friendship, Dog, Men

  Charles Darwin (2016). “On the Origin of Species: the Evolution”, p.132, VM eBooks

• It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist and an evolutionist. ... I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.

  Charles Darwin

  Atheist, Men, Doubt

  "Darwin's complex loss of faith" by Nick Spencer, www.theguardian.com. September 17, 2009.

• But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?

  Charles Darwin

  Animal, Men, Doubt

  Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin (1958). “Autobiography and Selected Letters”, p.68, Courier Corporation

• 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.

• The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely that man is descended from some lowly-organised form, will, I regret to think, be highly distasteful to many persons. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are descended from barbarians.

  Charles Darwin

  Regret, Science, Men

  Charles Darwin (2010). “Evolutionary Writings: including the Autobiographies”, p.525, OUP Oxford

• ...one doubts existence of free will [because] every action determined by heredity, constitution, example of others or teaching of others." "This view should teach one profound humility, one deserves no credit for anything...nor ought one to blame others.

  Charles Darwin

  Teaching, Humility, Views

• My books have sold largely in England, have been translated into many languages, and passed through several editions in foreign countries. I have heard it said that the success of a work abroad is the best test of its enduring value. I doubt whether this is at all trustworthy; but judged by this standard my name ought to last for a few years.

  Charles Darwin

  Country, Book, Years

  Charles Darwin (2010). “The Works of Charles Darwin, Volume 29: “Erasmus Darwin” by Ernest Krause, with a Preliminary Notice by Charles Darwin; “The Autobiography of Charles Darwin” Edited by Nora Barlow; and Consolidated Index”, p.159, NYU Press

• If a person asked my advice, before undertaking a long voyage, my answer would depend upon his possessing a decided taste for some branch of knowledge, which could by this means be advanced. No doubt it is a high satisfaction to behold various countries and the many races of mankind, but the pleasures gained at the time do not counterbalance the evils.

  Charles Darwin

  Country, Mean, Race

  Charles Darwin (2008). “The Voyage of the Beagle”, p.503, Cosimo, Inc.

• It has sometimes been said that the success of the Origin proved "that the subject was in the air," or "that men's minds were prepared for it." I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species.

  Charles Darwin

  Success, Science, Men

  Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.440, Broadview Press

• I often had to run very quickly to be on time, and from being a fleet runner was generally successful; but when in doubt I prayed earnestly to God to help me, and I well remember that I attributed my success to the prayers and not to my quick running, and marvelled how generally I was aided.

  Charles Darwin

  Running, Prayer, Successful

  Charles Darwin (2010). “The Works of Charles Darwin, Volume 29: “Erasmus Darwin” by Ernest Krause, with a Preliminary Notice by Charles Darwin; “The Autobiography of Charles Darwin” Edited by Nora Barlow; and Consolidated Index”, p.77, NYU Press

• I liked the thought of being a country clergyman. Accordingly I read with care Pearson on the Creed and a few other books on divinity; and as I did not then in the least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible, I soon persuaded myself that our Creed must be fully accepted.

  Charles Darwin

  Country, Book, Doubt

  Charles Darwin “Charles Darwin: An Anthology”, Transaction Publishers

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