Charles Darwin was one of the most influential scientists in history. His theories on evolution and natural selection have had a profound impact on the way we think about the natural world. Here are some of Charles Darwin quotes for anyone who is interested in learning more about his ideas.
Charles Darwin was born in 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. He was the fifth of six children of wealthy parents. Darwin’s father was a doctor and his mother was a Unitarian. Darwin was homeschooled and he showed a great interest in natural history. When Darwin was sixteen, he went to University of Edinburgh to study medicine, but he found the classes boring and he soon switched to studying natural history.
In 1831, Darwin sailed on the HMS Beagle as the ship’s naturalist. He traveled all over the world, and he made many discoveries about natural history. Darwin observed that different species of animals on different continents were very similar, and he came up with the idea of natural selection to explain how these different species could be so similar. Darwin returned to England in 1836 and he began to write about his discoveries.
In 1859, Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species, which explained his idea of natural selection. The book was very controversial, but it soon became very famous. Darwin continued to study natural history and write about his discoveries until his death in 1882.
47 Charles Darwin Quotes
- “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
2. “We stopped looking for monsters under our bed when we realized that they were inside us.”
3. “Man selects only for his own good: Nature only for that of the being which she tends.”
4. “The imagination is one of the highest prerogatives of man.”
5. “Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work, worthy of the interposition of a deity. More humble, and I believe truer, to consider him created from animals.”
6. “Judging from the past, we may safely infer that not one living species will transmit its unaltered likeness to a distant futurity.”
7. “I am not the least afraid to die”
8. “If any man wants to gain a good opinion of his fellow men, he ought to do what I am doing: pester them with letters.”
7. “Only picture to yourself a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music.”
8. “What wretched doings come from the ardor of fame; the love of truth alone would never make one man attack another bitterly.”
9. “The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognise that we ought to control our thoughts.”
10. “Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science.”
Famous Charles Darwin Quotes
11. “Certainly, no fact in the long history of the world is so startling as the wide and repeated exterminations of its inhabitants.”
12. “We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence.”
13. “We stop looking for monsters under our beds when we realize they are inside us.”
14. “We are not here concerned with hopes or fears, only with truth as far as our reason permits us to discover it.”
15. “A naked man on a naked horse is a fine spectacle. I had no idea how well the two animals suited each other.”
16. “If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”
17. “It is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance.”
18. “The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind.”
19. “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.”
20. “One hand has surely worked throughout the universe.”
Mind-Provoking Charles Darwin Quotes
21. “But I am very poorly today & very stupid & I hate everybody & everything. One lives only to make blunders.”
22. “it is so important to bear in mind the probability of conversion from one function to another,”
23. “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.”
24. “An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men.”
25. “Intelligence is based on how efficient a species became at doing the things they need to survive.”
26. “Great is the power of steady misrepresentation”
25. “If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
26. “As for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities.”
27. “Scientists are the destroyers of myths and sometimes the myths they destroy are there own.”
28. “The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.”
29. “we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps”
30. “ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge:”
31. “I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me”
32. “I cannot here give references and authorities for my several statements; and I must trust to the reader reposing some confidence in my accuracy.”
33. “There is no fundamental difference between man and animals in their ability to feel pleasure and pain, happiness, and misery.”
34. “Besides love and sympathy, animals exhibit other qualities connected with the social instincts which in us would be called moral.”
35. “Such simple instincts as bees making a beehive could be sufficient to overthrow my whole theory.”
36. “I am convinced that natural selection has been the main but not exclusive means of modification.”
37. “I hope that I may be excused for entering on these personal details, as I give them to show that I have not been hasty in coming to a decision.”
38. “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know littler, and not those who know much, who so positively assertive that this or that problem will never be solved by science.”
39 . “In regard to the amount of difference between the races, we must make some allowance for our nice powers of discrimination gained by a long habit of observing ourselves.”
40. “Through his powers of intellect, articulate language has been evolved; and on this his wonderful advancement has mainly depended.”
41. “Sexual selection will also be largely dominated by natural selection tending towards the general welfare of the species.”
42. “Travelling ought also to teach him distrust; but at the same time he will discover, how many trully goodnatured people there are.”
43. “When a man merely speaks to, or just notices, his dog,we see the last vestige of these movements in a slight wag of the tail, without any other movement of the body, and without even the ears being lowered. Dogs also exhibit their affection by desiring to rub against their masters, and to be rubbed or patted by them.”
44. “Many races, some of which differ so much from each other, that they have often been ranked by naturalists as distinct species.”
45. “Ignorance breeds confidence more often than knowledge”
46. “Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this may have amounted to, has been determined, as far as I can judge, by complex and diversified mental qualities and conditions. Of these, the most important have been—the love of science—unbounded patience in long reflecting over any subject—industry in observing and collecting facts—and a fair share of invention as well as of common sense. With such moderate abilities as I possess, it is truly surprising that I should have influenced to a considerable extent the belief of scientific men on some important points.”
47. “Species that struggle to adapt to survive will become extinct”