Science Quotes by Charles Darwin

The man who walks with Henslow.

— Charles Darwin

...all nature is perverse & will not do as I wish it.

— Charles Darwin

Free will is to mind what chance is to matter.

— Charles Darwin

In conclusion, it appears that nothing can be more improving to a young naturalist, than a journey in distant countries

— Charles Darwin

A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affections, - a mere heart of stone.

— Charles Darwin

I worked on true Baconian principles, and without any theory collected facts.

— Charles Darwin

We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence.

— Charles Darwin

[Alexander von Humboldt was the] greatest scientific traveller who ever lived.

— Charles Darwin

If every one were cast in the same mould, there would be no such thing as beauty.

— Charles Darwin

A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn't there.

— Charles Darwin

It may be conceit, but I believe the subject will interest the public, and I am sure that the views are original.

— Charles Darwin

Seeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related group of birds, one might really fancy that from an…

— Charles Darwin

The tree of life should perhaps be called the coral of life, base of branches dead; so that passages cannot be seen-this…

— Charles Darwin

Great is the power of steady misrepresentation; but the history of science shows that fortunately this power does not long endure.

— Charles Darwin

The fact of evolution is the backbone of biology, and biology is thus in the peculiar position of being a science founded…

— Charles Darwin

Our ancestor was an animal which breathed water, had a swim-bladder, a great swimming tail, an imperfect skull & undoubtedly was an…

— Charles Darwin

Formerly Milton's Paradise Lost had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of the Beagle, when I could…

— Charles Darwin

I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science…It is a mere rag of an hypothesis with…

— Charles Darwin

“The limit of man s knowledge in any subject possesses a high interest which is perhaps increased by its close neighbourhood to…

— Charles Darwin

When it was first said that the sun stood still and world turned round, the common sense of mankind declared the doctrine…

— Charles Darwin

“I fully agree with all that you say on the advantages of H. Spencer's excellent expression of 'the survival of the fittest.'…

— Charles Darwin

...I believe there exists, & I feel within me, an instinct for the truth, or knowledge or discovery, of something of the…

— Charles Darwin

It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public;…

— Charles Darwin

It has sometimes been said that the success of the Origin proved "that the subject was in the air," or "that men's…

— Charles Darwin

I have just finished my sketch of my species theory. If as I believe that my theory is true & if it…

— Charles Darwin

Extinction has only separated groups: it has by no means made them; for if every form which has ever lived on this…

— Charles Darwin

To conclude, therefore, let no man out of a weak conceit of sobriety, or an ill-applied moderation, think or maintain, that a…

— Charles Darwin

I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is…

— Charles Darwin

“...But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design…

— Charles Darwin

Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else…

— Charles Darwin

My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, but why…

— Charles Darwin

“Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the…

— Charles Darwin

“ Humboldt's glorious descriptions are & will for ever be unparalleled: but even he with his dark blue skies & the rare…

— Charles Darwin

It is often said that all the conditions for the first production of a living organism are now present, which could ever…

— Charles Darwin

The Times is getting more detestable (but that is too weak word) than ever.

— Charles Darwin

It is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of matter.

— Charles Darwin

Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science.

— Charles Darwin

Nothing can be more improving to a young naturalist, than a journey in a distant country.

— Charles Darwin

I am a firm believer, that without speculation there is no good and original observation.

— Charles Darwin

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.

— Charles Darwin