93 quotes
I am almost convinced (quite contrary to opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable.
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887)
I love fools' experiments. I am always making them.
It is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of matter. —
Though the theory is worthless without the well-observed facts, the facts are useless without the frame of the theory to receive them.
Autobiography (1958)
I hope that I may die before my mind fails to a sensible extent.
Autobiography (1958)
A tune is always the same tune, whether it is sung loudly or softly, by a child or a man; whether it is played on a flute or on a trombone.
Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows.
On the Origin of Species (1859)
At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace the savage races throughout the world.
I have attempted to write the following account of myself, as if I were a dead man in another world looking back at my own life. Nor have I found this difficult, for life is nearly over with me. I have taken no pains about my style of writing.
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887)
All animals feel Wonder, and many exhibit Curiosity. They sometimes suffer from this latter quality, as when the hunter plays antics and thus attracts them.
The Descent of Man (1871)
Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work worthy the interposition of a deity. More humble, and I believe truer, to consider him created from animals.
Notebook C (1838)
Physiological experiment on animals is justifiable for real investigation; but not for mere damnable and detestable curiosity.
[T]he young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements.
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872)
It is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
Pigeons can be mated for life, and this is a great convenience to the fancier, for thus many races may be kept true, though mingled in the same aviary.
On the Origin of Species (1859)
Worms seize leaves and other objects, not only to serve as food, but for plugging up the mouths of their burrows; and this is one of their strongest instincts.
The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881)
Nothing can be more hopeless than to attempt to explain this similarity of pattern in members of the same class, by utility or by the doctrine of final causes.
Origin of Species (1859)
With respect to the function of the calciferous glands, it is probable that they primarily serve as organs of excretion, and secondarily as an aid to digestion.
The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881)
The subject may appear an insignificant one, but we shall see that it possesses some interest; and the maxim "de minimis lex non curat," does not apply to science.
The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881)
As it is certain that worms swallow many little stones, independently of those swallowed while excavating their burrows, it is probable that they serve, like mill-stones, to triturate their food.
The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881)