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Portrait of Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

(1758–1778) Writer

497 quotes in 1744 categories

Step into the evolutionary mind of Charles Darwin with 497 concise observations. His reflections on nature, adaptation, and curiosity provide a timeless window into scientific thought.

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Charles Darwin was a writer, best known for On the origin of species by means of natural selection.

Quick Facts About Charles Darwin

Born: September 3, 1758
Died: May 15, 1778
Profession: Writer
Notable works: On the origin of species by means of natural selection

About Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Quotes by Charles Darwin

“ceasing to be”

Ceasing

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It is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance.

Advisable

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Great is the power of steady misrepresentation

Great power

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Progress has been much more general than retrogression

General

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I love fools' experiments. I am always making them.

Experiments

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Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history.

Evolution

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Some call it evolution, And others call it God.

Biology

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I am not the least afraid to die

Afraid

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We behold the face of nature bright with gladness.

Faces

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

Beauty

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A republic cannot succeed, till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.

Body

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The season of love is that of battle. The roots of these fights run deep.

Battle

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I am dying by inches, from not having any body to talk to about insects.

Body

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

Admiration

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“One may say there is a force like a hundred thousand wedges...”

Force

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He who understands baboon would do more towards metaphysics than Locke.

Baboon

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The main conclusion here arrived at ... is that man is descended from some less highly organized form.

Conclusion

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Whoever is led to believe that species are mutable will do good service by conscientiously expressing his conviction; for only thus can…

Believe

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“Natural Selection almost inevitably causes much Extinction of the less improved forms of life and induces what I have called Divergence of…

Divergence

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The formation of different languages and of distinct species and the proofs that both have been developed through a gradual process, are…

Different

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“Certainly, no fact in the long history of the world is so startling as the wide and repeated exterminations of its inhabitants.”

History

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You will be astonished to find how the whole mental disposition of your children changes with advancing years. A young child and…

Advancing

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It may be doubted that there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the…

Animal

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When I view all beings not as special creations, but as the lineal descendants of some few beings which lived long before…

Atheism

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Natural selection acts solely by accumulating slight successive favorable variations, it can produce no great or sudden modification; it can act only…

Evolution

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

Advancement

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The more efficient causes of progress seem to consist of a good education during youth whilst the brain is impressible, and of…

Brain

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I shall always feel respect for every one who has written a book, let it be what it may, for I had…

Alas

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I could show fight on natural selection having done and doing more for the progress of civilization than you seem inclined to…

Caucasian

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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…

Animal

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The noble science of Geology loses glory from the extreme imperfection of the record. The crust of the earth with its embedded…

Accounts

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Describing laughter: The sound is produced by a deep inspiration followed by short, interrupted, spasmodic contractions of the chest, and especially the…

Backwards

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“To admit that species generally become rare before they become extinct—to feel no surprise at the comparative rarity of one species with…

Death

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Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.

Fixed

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We are optimists, until we are not.

Hope

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I long to set foot where no man has trod before.

Exploration

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I am not apt to follow blindly the lead of other men

Blindly

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Sympathy will have been increased through natural selection

Evolution

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Music was known and understood before words were spoken.

Known

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Building a better mousetrap merely results in smarter mice.

Building

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Charles Darwin by topic

Evolution (103) Men (102) Science (89) Life (63) Nature (61) Natural selection (58) Psychology (43) Animal (42) Species (41) Natural (36) Mind (34) Ifs (34) May (30) Inspirational (30) Has beens (30) Origin of species (29) Time (27) Believe (26) Facts (25) World (24) Should (23) Selection (23) Atheism (23) Love (22) Law (21)