--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It occurred to me, in 1837, that…" description: "\"It occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made of this question (the origin of the species) by patiently accumulating and reflecting ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/966/charles-darwin-507_evolution_it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something_3173089.jpg" --- # It occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps… ![“It occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made of this question (the origin of the species) by patiently accumulating and reflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly have any bearing on it” quote by Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/966/charles-darwin-507_evolution_it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something_3173089.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/966/charles-darwin-507_evolution_it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something_3173089.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/966/charles-darwin-507_evolution_it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something_3173089.jpg) > “It occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made of this question (the origin of the species) by patiently accumulating and reflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly have any bearing on it” [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. Darwin suggests that by gathering and reflecting on diverse evidence, one can address the question of species origins. **In simple terms:** Collect facts to understand evolution. Key Takeaway Gather evidence systematically. Themes science inquiry evolution Mood curious analytical Type explanatory academic When to use this quote - academic research - education - policy making - public discourse - scientific debate Key Concepts evidence gathering reflection Questions to Reflect On - How can we ensure diverse data sources are integrated? - What biases affect our interpretation of evidence? A Different Perspective Complex data can be overwhelming without clear methodology. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [1837 Question](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/1837-question-5783847/) [Evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Facts Possibly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts-possibly-5783846/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Might](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/might/) [Occurred 1837](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/occurred-1837-5783845/) [Origin Species](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/origin-species-274108/) [Reflecting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reflecting/) [Species](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/species/) [Species Patiently](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/species-patiently-5783848/) ## Related quotes > [“Nevertheless it is probable that the hearing rather early in life such views maintained and praised may have favoured my upholding them under a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/nevertheless-it-is-probable-that-the-hearing-rather-early-in-life/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, he exposed the world to a momentous discovery . For the first time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-schweitzer/when-charles-darwin-published-on-the-origin-of-species-in-1859-he/) [Jeff Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-schweitzer/) > [ “I expect to think that I would rather be author of your book \[The Origin of Species\] than of any other on Nat. Hist.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-dalton-hooker/i-expect-to-think-that-i-would-rather-be-author-of-your-book-the/) [Joseph Dalton Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-dalton-hooker/) > [When students of other sciences ask us what is now currently believed about the origin of species, we have no clear answer to give.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bateson/when-students-of-other-sciences-ask-us-what-is-now-currently-believed/) [William Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bateson/) > [The fundamental problem in the origin of species is not the origin of differences in appearance, since these arise at the level of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lack/the-fundamental-problem-in-the-origin-of-species-is-not-the-origin-of/) [David Lack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lack/) > [Agassiz, when I saw him last, had read but a part of Origin of Species. He says it is POOR-VERY POOR!!. The fact is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asa-gray/agassiz-when-i-saw-him-last-had-read-but-a-part-of-origin-of-species/) [Asa Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asa-gray/) > [When Charles Darwin wrote The Origin Of The Species, no one could have known that the ice cap would melt, that the waters would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-mcqueen/when-charles-darwin-wrote-the-origin-of-the-species-no-one-could-have/) [Alexander McQueen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-mcqueen/) > [When most of us hear the phrase, 'survival of the fittest,' we assume it originated with Charles Darwin. It did not. The phrase doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-a-barker/when-most-of-us-hear-the-phrase-survival-of-the-fittest-we-assume-it/) [Joel A. Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-a-barker/) > [ It takes a long time before we really get to grips with this \[Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species'\] and begin to understand it,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/it-takes-a-long-time-before-we-really-get-to-grips-with-this-darwin-s/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [... why are so many religious people arguing about the origin of the species but so few concerned about the extinction of the species?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-d-mclaren/why-are-so-many-religious-people-arguing-about-the-origin-of-the/) [Brian D. McLaren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-d-mclaren/) > [Already at the origin of the species man was equal to what he was destined to become.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rostand/already-at-the-origin-of-the-species-man-was-equal-to-what-he-was/) [Jean Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rostand/) > [“Darwin’s familiarity with human-caused extinction is also clear from On the Origin of Species. In one of the many passages in which he heaps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/darwin-s-familiarity-with-human-caused-extinction-is-also-clear-from/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [The publication in 1859 of the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin made a marked epoch in my own mental development, as it did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-galton/the-publication-in-1859-of-the-origin-of-species-by-charles-darwin/) [Francis Galton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-galton/) > [A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and their motives - of approving of some and disapproving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/a-moral-being-is-one-who-is-capable-of-reflecting-on-his-past-actions/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/another-source-of-conviction-in-the-existence-of-god-connected-with/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) ## 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 Evolution quotes > [I rap when I'm rich. I rap when I'm broke. I rap when I'm bullshit in the street. I rap about only having one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/killer-mike/i-rap-when-i-m-rich-i-rap-when-i-m-broke-i-rap-when-i-m-bullshit-in/) [Killer Mike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/killer-mike/) > [At the deepest level, all living things that have ever been looked at have the same DNA code. And many of the same genes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/at-the-deepest-level-all-living-things-that-have-ever-been-looked-at/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“A question for Christians who accept evolution: When did we gain a "soul"? Did Homo habilis have a soul? Homo ergaster? Did God only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-g-mcafee/a-question-for-christians-who-accept-evolution-when-did-we-gain-a/) [David G. McAfee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-g-mcafee/) > [If the polymer chain assumes a helicoidal conformation in the crystalline state, and if it does not contain asymmetric carbon atoms, it can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giulio-natta/if-the-polymer-chain-assumes-a-helicoidal-conformation-in-the/) [Giulio Natta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giulio-natta/) > [“Genetics is a science full of gods, Mr. Sanchez.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valeria-luiselli/genetics-is-a-science-full-of-gods-mr-sanchez/) [Valeria Luiselli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valeria-luiselli/) > [We became Homo sapiens not that long ago, from the scientific perspective, and we've retained a lot of our beast nature. We've done all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wangechi-mutu/we-became-homo-sapiens-not-that-long-ago-from-the-scientific/) [Wangechi Mutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wangechi-mutu/) > [Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-delay/guns-have-little-or-nothing-to-do-with-juvenile-violence-the-causes/) [Tom DeLay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-delay/) > [The fact -- not theory -- that evolution has occurred and the Darwinian theory as to how it occurred have become so confused in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-gaylord-simpson/the-fact-not-theory-that-evolution-has-occurred-and-the-darwinian/) [George Gaylord Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-gaylord-simpson/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [Evolution happens in jumps, very rapidly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-ferguson/evolution-happens-in-jumps-very-rapidly/) [Marilyn Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-ferguson/) > [The true nature of soul is right knowledge, right faith and right conduct. 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I'm the first person to judge myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-weeknd/i-m-all-about-evolution-i-m-the-first-person-to-judge-myself/) [The Weeknd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-weeknd/) > [The next evolution of content marketing is not more content; it's better distribution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-penn/the-next-evolution-of-content-marketing-is-not-more-content-it-s/) [Chris Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-penn/) [Browse all 6,185 Evolution quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made of this question (the origin of the species) by patiently accumulating and reflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly have any bearing on it", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles Darwin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something-might-perhaps-be-made-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Evolution" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something-might-perhaps-be-made-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/966/charles-darwin-507_evolution_it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something_3173089.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/966/charles-darwin-507_evolution_it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something_3173089.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/966/charles-darwin-507_evolution_it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something_3173089.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made of this question (the origin of the…” — 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": "It occurred to me, in 1837,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something-might-perhaps-be-made-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-occurred-to-me-in-1837-that-something-might-perhaps-be-made-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 } } ] } ```