Skip to content

Francis Galton on Society

1822–1911 England

← All quotes by Francis Galton

2 quotes

One of the effects of civilisation is to diminish the rigour of the application of the law of natural selection. It preserves weakly lives that would have perished in barbarous lands.

There is a steady check in an old civilisation upon the fertility of the abler classes: the improvident and unambitious are those who chiefly keep up the breed. So the race gradually deteriorates, becoming in each successive generation less fit for a high civilisation.

Hereditary Genius (1869)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Francis Galton (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.