If worms have the power of acquiring some notion, however rude, of the shape of an object and over their burrows, as… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
I always feel as if my books came half out of Lyell's brain... & therefore that when seeing a thing never seen… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not theorise; and I well remember some… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
A novel according to my taste, does not come into the moderately good class unless it contains some person whom one can… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
Owing to this struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, but why… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
If man had not been his own classifier, he would never have thought of founding a separate order for his own reception. — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
Extinction has only separated groups: it has by no means made them; for if every form which has ever lived on this… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
...conscience looks backwards and judges past actions, inducing that kind of dissatisfaction, which if weak we call regret, and if severe remorse. — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection, in order to… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
I have watched how steadily the general feeling, as shown at elections, has been rising against Slavery. What a proud thing for… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
If I had life to live over again, I would give my life to poetry, to music, to literature, and to art… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true for if so the plain language of the… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
Attention, if sudden and close, graduates into surprise; and this into astonishment; and this into stupefied amazement. — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
If Mozart, instead of playing the pianoforte at three years old with wonderfully little practice, had played a tune with no practice… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
Why, if species have descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms. — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
I have just finished my sketch of my species theory. If as I believe that my theory is true & if it… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
On the theory of natural selection we can clearly understand the full meaning of that old canon in natural history, “Natura non… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
If a person asked my advice, before undertaking a long voyage, my answer would depend upon his possessing a decided taste for… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
Even people who aren’t geniuses can outthink the rest of mankind if they develop certain thinking habits. — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
I suppose you are two fathoms deep in mathematics, and if you are, then God help you. For so am I, only… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
Your words have come true with a vengeance that I shd [should] be forestalled ... I never saw a more striking coincidence.… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
A surprising number [of novels] have been read aloud to me, and I like all if moderately good, and if they do… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man. — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
The main conclusion here arrived at ... is that man is descended from some less highly organized form. — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
So great is the economy of nature, that most flowers which are fertilised by crepuscular or nocturnal insects emit their odour chiefly or exclusively… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious views of anyone. — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science....It is a mere rag of an hypothesis with as many… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
If worms have the power of acquiring some notion, however rude, of the shape of an object and over their burrows, as seems the… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universes, to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
Formerly Milton's Paradise Lost had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of the Beagle, when I could take only… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
May we not suspect that the vague but very real fears of children, which are quite independent of experience, are the inherited effects of… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image
“Darwin, landing in Brazil in 1832, had a similar reaction, colored by his reading of his predecessor." Humboldt's glorious descriptions are & will for… — Charles Darwin Copy Share Image