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Charles Darwin Quotes — 11 Quotes by Charles Darwin

It is like confessing a murder.

Charles Darwin · Letter to Joseph Dalton Hooker (January 11, 1844), on the idea that species are not immutable

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.

Charles Darwin · The source reads: “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.” · The Descent of Man (1871), introduction

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

Charles Darwin · Quoted in Francis Darwin (ed.), Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887)

I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world.

Charles Darwin · Letter to Asa Gray (May 22, 1860)

The expression often used by Mr Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate, and is sometimes equally convenient.

Charles Darwin

The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.

Charles Darwin

I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection.

Charles Darwin · On the Origin of Species (1859), ch. 3

My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts.

Charles Darwin · Autobiography (1892), ch. 2

Natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good.

Charles Darwin · The source reads: “It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and insensibly working, whenever and wherever opportunity offers.” · On the Origin of Species (1859), ch. 4

That great fact—the mystery of mysteries—the first appearance of new beings on this earth.

Charles Darwin · The source reads: “Both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat near to that great fact—the mystery of mysteries—the first appearance of new beings on this earth.” · The Voyage of the Beagle (1845), ch. 17, Galapagos Archipelago

Man with all his noble qualities...still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin Quotes

It is like confessing a murder.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.

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

I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world.

The expression often used by Mr Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate, and is sometimes equally convenient.

The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.

I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection.

My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts.

Natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good.

That great fact—the mystery of mysteries—the first appearance of new beings on this earth.

Man with all his noble qualities...still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.

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