--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: One day, on tearing off some old bark, I…" description: "\"One day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand. Then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/charles-darwin-507_bark_one-day-on-tearing-off-some-old-bark-i-s_1026274.jpg" --- # One day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare… ![“One day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand. Then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I…” quote by Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/charles-darwin-507_bark_one-day-on-tearing-off-some-old-bark-i-s_1026274.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/charles-darwin-507_bark_one-day-on-tearing-off-some-old-bark-i-s_1026274.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/charles-darwin-507_bark_one-day-on-tearing-off-some-old-bark-i-s_1026274.jpg) > “One day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand. Then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as was the third one.” [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. A desire to keep all rare specimens leads to a careless act that destroys them, illustrating how greed can ruin valuable opportunities. **In simple terms:** Greed caused loss of rare beetles. Key Takeaway Avoid hoarding; appreciate what you have. Themes greed loss conservation impulsivity humility Mood regretful cautionary Type moral reflective When to use this quote - collecting insects - museum curation - personal decision making Key Concepts Natural history human behavior Questions to Reflect On - What could you have done differently to preserve the beetles? - How does desire for more affect judgment? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) ## Related quotes > [“Walter drained more than half of the scalding hot liquid in one foolhardy gulp, utterly unmindful of his burnt tongue.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christa-faust/walter-drained-more-than-half-of-the-scalding-hot-liquid-in-one/) [Christa Faust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christa-faust/) > [Mountain Pine bark beetles need -37°C (-35°F) for three days to freeze to death. Unfortunately, with global warming, that no longer happens in British…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-leiren-young/mountain-pine-bark-beetles-need-37-c-35-f-for-three-days-to-freeze-to/) Mark Leiren-Young > [I feel like an old warhorse at the sound of a trumpet when I read about the capturing of rare beetles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/i-feel-like-an-old-warhorse-at-the-sound-of-a-trumpet-when-i-read/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Our faculties are more fitted to recognize the wonderful structure of a beetle than a Universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/our-faculties-are-more-fitted-to-recognize-the-wonderful-structure-of/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I hear hundreds of years of life. I hear wind and rain and fire and beetles. I hear the seasons changing and birds and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-stein/i-hear-hundreds-of-years-of-life-i-hear-wind-and-rain-and-fire-and/) [Garth Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-stein/) > [The beauteous dragonfly's dancing By the waves of the rivulet glancing; She dances here and she dances there, The glimmering, glittering flutterer fair. Full…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/the-beauteous-dragonfly-s-dancing-by-the-waves-of-the-rivulet/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [Perdiccas threatened to put him to death unless he came to him, "That's nothing wonderful," Diogenes said, "for a beetle or a tarantula would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diogenes/perdiccas-threatened-to-put-him-to-death-unless-he-came-to-him-that-s/) [Diogenes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diogenes/) > [There are 400,000 species of beetles on this planet, but only 8,000 species of mammals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-b-s-haldane/there-are-400-000-species-of-beetles-on-this-planet-but-only-8-000/) [John B. S. Haldane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-b-s-haldane/) > [The idea of beetles came into my head. I decided to spell it BEATles to make it look like beat music, just a joke.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lennon/the-idea-of-beetles-came-into-my-head-i-decided-to-spell-it-beatles/) [John Lennon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lennon/) > [“Tackled some giant, burrowing beetles the other week, if you can believe that…. At that stage I didn’t know about it either – only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-speed/tackled-some-giant-burrowing-beetles-the-other-week-if-you-can/) [Mark Speed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-speed/) > [“The great evolutionary biologist J B S Haldane (1892-1964), on being asked by a cleric what biology could say about the Creator, entertainingly replied,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-beerling/the-great-evolutionary-biologist-j-b-s-haldane-1892-1964-on-being/) David Beerling > [Why do we shave? It doesn't seem like a natural activity. There are no examples of shaving in nature. The only creature that comes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-barry/why-do-we-shave-it-doesn-t-seem-like-a-natural-activity-there-are-no/) [Dave Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-barry/) > [Kant, as we all know, compared moral law to the starry heavens, and found them both sublime. On the naturalistic hypothesis we should rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-balfour/kant-as-we-all-know-compared-moral-law-to-the-starry-heavens-and/) [Arthur Balfour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-balfour/) > [I have my own views about Nature's methods, though I feel that it is rather like a beetle giving his](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/i-have-my-own-views-about-nature-s-methods-though-i-feel-that-it-is/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [I did not know that the planning for biological and chemical warfare was so widespread in England, and even in France before France fell.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/i-did-not-know-that-the-planning-for-biological-and-chemical-warfare/) [Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/) ## 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 Bark quotes > [A tree is a self: it is 'unseen shaping' more than it is leaves or bark, roots or cellulose or fruit ... What this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-swimme/a-tree-is-a-self-it-is-unseen-shaping-more-than-it-is-leaves-or-bark/) [Brian Swimme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-swimme/) > [If the watchdog doesn't bark, how do you know there's a burglar in the basement? And the press is supposed to be a watchdog.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-moyers/if-the-watchdog-doesn-t-bark-how-do-you-know-there-s-a-burglar-in-the/) [Bill Moyers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-moyers/) > [Guests are people who come to your home to see you whine at the table, bark loudly, jump on women wearing pantyhose, and do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peg-kehret/guests-are-people-who-come-to-your-home-to-see-you-whine-at-the-table/) [Peg Kehret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peg-kehret/) > [I was haunted always by my other life-my drab room in the Bronx, my square foot of the subway, my fixation upon the day's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/i-was-haunted-always-by-my-other-life-my-drab-room-in-the-bronx-my/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [We must guard against becoming so engrossed in the specific nature of the roots and bark of the trees of knowledge as to miss…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-s-patton/we-must-guard-against-becoming-so-engrossed-in-the-specific-nature-of/) [George S. Patton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-s-patton/) > [A tortoise is, I suppose, a Jewish pet. It knows its place. Out on the lawn. It doesn't bark. It doesn't tear the Dralon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-lipman/a-tortoise-is-i-suppose-a-jewish-pet-it-knows-its-place-out-on-the/) [Maureen Lipman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-lipman/) > [Our legal system, including the police, is anti-Dalit and anti-poor. The death penalty laws' wrathful majesty, in blood-shot equality, deals the fatal blow on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-r-krishna-iyer/our-legal-system-including-the-police-is-anti-dalit-and-anti-poor-the/) V. R. Krishna Iyer > [It is no use painting the foot of the tree white, the strength of the bark cries out from beneath the paint.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aime-cesaire/it-is-no-use-painting-the-foot-of-the-tree-white-the-strength-of-the/) [Aime Cesaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aime-cesaire/) > [Dogs, also, bark at what they do not know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heraclitus/dogs-also-bark-at-what-they-do-not-know/) [Heraclitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heraclitus/) > [The dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-needham/the-dogs-may-bark-but-the-caravan-moves-on/) [Joseph Needham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-needham/) > [Dogs that bark dont bite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/german-proverb/dogs-that-bark-dont-bite/) German Proverb > [I bark my voice out through a closed throat, pretty much. It's more, perhaps, like a dog in some ways. It does have its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-bark-my-voice-out-through-a-closed-throat-pretty-much-it-s-more/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [Ah, to that far distant strand Bridge there was not to convey, Not a bark was near at hand, Yet true love soon found…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schiller/ah-to-that-far-distant-strand-bridge-there-was-not-to-convey-not-a/) [Friedrich Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schiller/) > [Don't bother about people who judge you without knowing you... Remember, dogs bark if they don't know the person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/don-t-bother-about-people-who-judge-you-without-knowing-you-remember/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If you want to talk with the dogs, you must learn to bark, and bark like an old dog because he doesnt bark without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/if-you-want-to-talk-with-the-dogs-you-must-learn-to-bark-and-bark/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) Browse all 383 Bark quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "One day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand. Then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. 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