Charles Darwin Quotes - Page 6

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• We thus learn that man is descended from a hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably arboreal in its habits, and an inhabitant of the Old World.

  Charles Darwin

  Science, Men, Tails

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.6833, Delphi Classics

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• I cannot persuade myself that a beneficient and omnipotent God would have designedly created...that a cat should play with mice.

  Charles Darwin

  Cat, Play, Should

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• 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.

  Charles Darwin

  Believe, Science, Keys

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.10203, Delphi Classics

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• Farewell Australia! You ... are too great and ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for respect. I leave your shores without sorrow or regret.

  Charles Darwin

  Regret, Farewell, Australia

  Charles Darwin (2012). “On the Origin of the Species and The Voyage of the Beagle”, p.499, Graphic Arts Books

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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.

  Charles Darwin

  Book, Tyrants, Rainbow

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• The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life and has determined my whole career; yet it depended on so small a circumstance as my uncle offering to drive me 30 miles to Shrewsbury, which few uncles would have done, and on such a trifle as the shape of my nose.

  Charles Darwin

  Uncles, Science, Offering

  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.113, NYU Press

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• Light may be shed on man and his origins.

  Charles Darwin

  Nature, Men, Light

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• I always make special notes about evidence that contridicts me: supportive evidence I can remember without trying.

  Charles Darwin

  Supportive, Special, Trying

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• Looking to future generations, there is no cause to fear that the social instincts will grow weaker... the social instincts, - the prime principle of man's moral constitution - with the aid of active intellectual powers and the effects of habit, naturally lead to the golden rule, "As ye would that men should do to you; do ye to them likewise"; and this lies at the foundation of morality.

  Charles Darwin

  Lying, Men, Intellectual

  "The Descent of Man". Book by Charles Darwin, part I, chap. IV, 1871.

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• Nothing is easier than to admit in words the truth of the universal struggle for life, or more difficult--at least I have found it so--than constantly to bear this conclusion in mind.

  Charles Darwin

  Struggle, Mind, Bears

  Charles Darwin, James T. Costa (2009). “The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species”, p.62, Harvard University Press

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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.

  Charles Darwin

  Eye, Men, Reflection

  Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley (1983). “Autobiographies”, Oxford University Press, USA

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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

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• It is absurd to talk of one animal being higher than another...we consider those, where the intellectual faculties most developed as the highest. - A bee doubtless would [use] ... instincts as a criteria.

  Charles Darwin

  Animal, Intellectual, Use

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• I have been speculating last night what makes a man a discoverer of undiscovered things. As far as I can conjecture the art consists in habitually searching for the causes and meaning of everything which occurs.

  Charles Darwin

  Art, Night, Men

  Charles Darwin (2003). “On the Origin of Species”, p.494, Broadview Press

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• We have seen that the senses and intuitions, the various emotions and faculties, such as love, memory, attention and curiosity, imitation, reason, etc., of which man boasts, may be found in an incipient, or even sometimes in a well-developed condition, in the lower animals.

  Charles Darwin

  Love, Nature, Memories

  Charles Darwin (2016). “The Descent of Man (Diversion Classics)”, p.176, Diversion Books

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• A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question." Charles Darwin

  Charles Darwin

  Facts, Sides, Argument

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• 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

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• ... not one living species will transmit its unaltered likeness to a distant futurity.

  Charles Darwin

  Origin Of Species, Species, Transmit

  Charles Darwin (2016). “On the Origin of Species: the Evolution”, p.298, VM eBooks

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• At no time am I a quick thinker or writer: whatever I have done in science has solely been by long pondering, patience and industry.

  Charles Darwin

  Long, Done, Pondering

  Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin (1958). “Autobiography and Selected Letters”, p.60, Courier Corporation

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• 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

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• It is not the conscience which raises a blush, for a man may sincerely regret some slight fault committed in solitude, or he may suffer the deepest remorse for an undetected crime, but he will not blush... It is not the sense of guilt, but the thought that others think or know us to be guilty which crimsons the face.

  Charles Darwin

  Regret, Men, Emotional

  Charles Darwin (1874). “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals”, p.332

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• The plow is one of the most ancient and most valuable of man's inventions; but long before he existed the land was in fact regularly plowed, and still continues to be thus plowed by earthworms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Men, Garden

  Charles Darwin (1884). “Darwinism Stated by Darwin Himself: Characteristic Passages from the Writings of Charles Darwin”

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• Our faculties are more fitted to recognize the wonderful structure of a beetle than a Universe.

  Charles Darwin

  Wonderful, Structure, Faculty

  Charles Darwin, Thomas F. Glick, David Kohn (1996). “On Evolution: The Development of the Theory of Natural Selection”, p.81, Hackett Publishing

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• It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds, which follows from the advance of science.

  Charles Darwin

  Atheist, Men, Illumination

  "Science and religion need a truce" by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum, www.theguardian.com. August 24, 2009.

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• What wretched doings come from the ardor of fame; the love of truth alone would never make one man attack another bitterly.

  Charles Darwin

  Humility, Men, Fame

  Charles Darwin, Frederick Burkhardt, Sydney Smith (1985). “The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: 1847-1850”, p.140, Cambridge University Press

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