--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A man who has no assured and ever present…" description: "\"A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/charles-darwin-507_assured_a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-presen_1223527.jpg" --- # A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the… ![“A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life, as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones” quote by Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/charles-darwin-507_assured_a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-presen_1223527.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/charles-darwin-507_assured_a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-presen_1223527.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/charles-darwin-507_assured_a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-presen_1223527.jpg) > “A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life, as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones” [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Without belief in a higher power or afterlife, moral guidance relies on innate instincts and personal judgment. **In simple terms:** Morality can be based on instinct when lacking religious belief. Key Takeaway Consider personal values as moral compass. Themes ethics instinct secularism Mood contemplative serious Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - personal decision making - leadership - community building Key Concepts philosophy humanism moral psychology Questions to Reflect On - How do you determine right from wrong without divine guidance? - What role do societal norms play in your moral decisions? A Different Perspective Religious frameworks can provide communal cohesion and shared norms. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Belief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god/) [Instinct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instinct/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Retribution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/retribution/) [Rewards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rewards/) [Rule of life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rule-of-life/) [Rules of life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rules-of-life/) ## Related quotes > [“impulses and instincts, id is immutable and everlasting.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-ray-ozanich/impulses-and-instincts-id-is-immutable-and-everlasting/) Steven Ray Ozanich > [The future is beyond knowing, but the present is beyond belief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-irwin-thompson/the-future-is-beyond-knowing-but-the-present-is-beyond-belief/) [William Irwin Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-irwin-thompson/) > [Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-mansfield/make-it-a-rule-of-life-never-to-regret-and-never-to-look-back/) [Katherine Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mansfield/) > [Thus I draw from the absurd three consequences, which are my revolt, my freedom, and my passion. By the mere activity of consciousness I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/thus-i-draw-from-the-absurd-three-consequences-which-are-my-revolt-my/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [The rule of life for a perfect person is to be in the image and likeness of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-of-alexandria/the-rule-of-life-for-a-perfect-person-is-to-be-in-the-image-and/) [Clement of Alexandria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-of-alexandria/) > [It is now almost my sole rule of life to clear myself of cants and formulas, as of poisonous Nessus shirts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/it-is-now-almost-my-sole-rule-of-life-to-clear-myself-of-cants-and/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Here's a rule of life: You don't get to pick what bad things happen to you](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rory-miller/here-s-a-rule-of-life-you-don-t-get-to-pick-what-bad-things-happen-to/) [Rory Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rory-miller/) > [The fools of the world have been those who have established religions, ceremonies, laws, faith, rule of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giordano-bruno/the-fools-of-the-world-have-been-those-who-have-established-religions/) [Giordano Bruno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giordano-bruno/) > [Now come: that thou mayst able be to know That minds and the light souls of all that live Have mortal birth and death,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucretius/now-come-that-thou-mayst-able-be-to-know-that-minds-and-the-light/) [Lucretius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucretius/) > [It seems to be a rule of life that the less qualified you are to give counsel, the more counsel you give.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margo-kaufman/it-seems-to-be-a-rule-of-life-that-the-less-qualified-you-are-to-give/) [Margo Kaufman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margo-kaufman/) > [A basic rule of life for reporters is that you should spend your time talking with and learning about people who are not sending…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-fallows/a-basic-rule-of-life-for-reporters-is-that-you-should-spend-your-time/) [James Fallows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-fallows/) > [If thou takest virtue for the rule of life, and valuest thyself upon acting in all things comfortably thereto, thou wilt have no cause…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-de-cervantes/if-thou-takest-virtue-for-the-rule-of-life-and-valuest-thyself-upon/) [Miguel de Cervantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-de-cervantes/) > [Religion should be the rule of life, not a casual incident in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/religion-should-be-the-rule-of-life-not-a-casual-incident-in-it/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [I found something! Courage--just that; courage as a rule of life and something to cling to always.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/i-found-something-courage-just-that-courage-as-a-rule-of-life-and/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [Actions have consequences... first rule of life. And the second rule is this - you are the only one responsible for your own actions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/actions-have-consequences-first-rule-of-life-and-the-second-rule-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Charles Darwin > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [The main conclusion here arrived at ... is that man is descended from some less highly organized form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-main-conclusion-here-arrived-at-is-that-man-is-descended-from/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [So great is the economy of nature, that most flowers which are fertilised by crepuscular or nocturnal insects emit their odour chiefly or exclusively…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/so-great-is-the-economy-of-nature-that-most-flowers-which-are/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious views of anyone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/i-see-no-good-reasons-why-the-views-given-in-this-volume-should-shock/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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 as many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/i-am-quite-conscious-that-my-speculations-run-beyond-the-bounds-of/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [If worms have the power of acquiring some notion, however rude, of the shape of an object and over their burrows, as seems the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/if-worms-have-the-power-of-acquiring-some-notion-however-rude-of-the/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universes, to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/we-can-allow-satellites-planets-suns-universe-nay-whole-systems-of/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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 take only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/formerly-milton-s-paradise-lost-had-been-my-chief-favourite-and-in-my/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [May we not suspect that the vague but very real fears of children, which are quite independent of experience, are the inherited effects of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/may-we-not-suspect-that-the-vague-but-very-real-fears-of-children/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-may-be-said-that-natural-selection-is-daily-and-hourly/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“Darwin, landing in Brazil in 1832, had a similar reaction, colored by his reading of his predecessor." Humboldt's glorious descriptions are & will for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/darwin-landing-in-brazil-in-1832-had-a-similar-reaction-colored-by/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [...all nature is perverse & will not do as I wish it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/all-nature-is-perverse-will-not-do-as-i-wish-it/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“To admit that species generally become rare before they become extinct—to feel no surprise at the comparative rarity of one species with another, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/to-admit-that-species-generally-become-rare-before-they-become/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [To suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/to-suppose-that-the-eye-could-have-been-formed-by-natural-selection/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank clothed with many plants of many kinds with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-is-interesting-to-contemplate-an-entangled-bank-clothed-with-many/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) [Explore all 497 Charles Darwin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) ## More Assured quotes > [Plenty of white space and generous line spacing,and don't make the type size too miserly. Then you will be assured of a product fit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giambattista-bodoni/plenty-of-white-space-and-generous-line-spacing-and-don-t-make-the/) Giambattista Bodoni > [The planet's survival has become so uncertain that any effort, any thought that presupposes an assured future amounts to a mad gamble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elias-canetti/the-planet-s-survival-has-become-so-uncertain-that-any-effort-any/) [Elias Canetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elias-canetti/) > [Wherever I am, I see the yoke on women in some form or another. On some it sits easy for they are but beasts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abby-may-alcott/wherever-i-am-i-see-the-yoke-on-women-in-some-form-or-another-on-some/) [Abby May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abby-may-alcott/) > [“I remembered what Dad said once, that some people have all of life's answers worked out the day they're born and there's no use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marisha-pessl/i-remembered-what-dad-said-once-that-some-people-have-all-of-life-s/) [Marisha Pessl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marisha-pessl/) > [The slave and those whose present life is miserable and who can find no consolation in the heavens are assured that at least the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/the-slave-and-those-whose-present-life-is-miserable-and-who-can-find/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [I was acquainted once with a gallant soldier who assured me that his only measure of courage was this: upon the first fire, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/i-was-acquainted-once-with-a-gallant-soldier-who-assured-me-that-his/) [Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/) > [The Cold War philosophy of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), which prevented the former Soviet Union and the United States from using the nuclear weapons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-lewis/the-cold-war-philosophy-of-mutual-assured-destruction-mad-which/) [Bernard Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-lewis/) > [If God has laid your sins upon the Son of His love, you may rest assured that He will never lay them a second…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavius-winslow/if-god-has-laid-your-sins-upon-the-son-of-his-love-you-may-rest/) [Octavius Winslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavius-winslow/) > [In Canada, I've had success raising money. I think I was fortunate enough. But today, I would have to write a very, very bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippe-falardeau/in-canada-i-ve-had-success-raising-money-i-think-i-was-fortunate/) [Philippe Falardeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippe-falardeau/) > [Rest assured that our work is not over because our work has never been only hunting Nazi war criminals. The Simon Wiesenthal Center is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-hier/rest-assured-that-our-work-is-not-over-because-our-work-has-never/) [Marvin Hier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-hier/) > [God grant that by my persevering labours I may bring a little stone to the frail and ill-assured edifice of our knowledge of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-pasteur/god-grant-that-by-my-persevering-labours-i-may-bring-a-little-stone/) [Louis Pasteur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-pasteur/) > [Those persons who are burning to display heroism may rest assured that the course of social evolution will offer them every opportunity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/havelock-ellis/those-persons-who-are-burning-to-display-heroism-may-rest-assured/) [Havelock Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/havelock-ellis/) > [The Author of nature has not given laws to the universe, which, like the institutions of men, carry in themselves the elements of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-playfair/the-author-of-nature-has-not-given-laws-to-the-universe-which-like/) [John Playfair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-playfair/) > [I believe we have these capabilities. It doesn't mean that we will use them. Our future is not assured here. It's not clear that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/i-believe-we-have-these-capabilities-it-doesn-t-mean-that-we-will-use/) [Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/) > [I have never been a fan of bond funds. Unlike a direct investment in an individual bond that you can hold to maturity and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suze-orman/i-have-never-been-a-fan-of-bond-funds-unlike-a-direct-investment-in/) [Suze Orman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suze-orman/) Browse all 409 Assured quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life, as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles Darwin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-present-belief-in-the-existence-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Assured" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-present-belief-in-the-existence-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/charles-darwin-507_assured_a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-presen_1223527.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/charles-darwin-507_assured_a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-presen_1223527.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/charles-darwin-507_assured_a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-presen_1223527.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence…” — Charles Darwin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Charles Darwin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A man who has no assured...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-present-belief-in-the-existence-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/a-man-who-has-no-assured-and-ever-present-belief-in-the-existence-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```