The 70 best quotes and reflections of Charles Darwin

This English researcher forged a true scientific and cultural revolution.

Charles Robert Darwin (1809 - 1882) was and is a renowned English naturalist, famous for being the father of the Theory of Evolution through natural selection.

This theory is studied and has a wide acceptance today, leading Darwin's studies to be studied in a large number of countries. He is possibly one of the best examples to follow in the world of science, together with great scientists such as Newton, Hawking or Einstein.

Charles Darwin's famous quotes

We have all heard about this scientist, but how many of us have read in first person his own words? Below you can enjoy the 70 best quotes and reflections by Charles Darwinwith which you will surely learn a lot about him.

1. I am not fit to follow blindly the example of other men.

We must always think for ourselves, we must not blindly follow anyone.

2. It is always advisable to clearly perceive our ignorance.

To know that we are ignorant is the first step toward personal wisdom.

3. Great is the power of constant misrepresentation.

Unfortunately, today's society is an inexhaustible source of misrepresentation, as Darwin tells us in this quote.

4. Beauty is the result of sexual selection.

Sexual selection is to a great extent the direct cause of the physical beauty of a species.

5. The social instinct guides animals to enjoy their fellows in society.

Humans, like all other animals, enjoy the company of our fellows.

6. If I had to live my life over again, I would have made it a rule to read some poetry and listen to music at least once a week.

Reading poetry and listening to good music can help us find our inner peace.

7. Music awakens in us various emotions, but not the most terrible ones, but rather sweet thoughts of tenderness and love.

As we all know music tames the wild beasts, Darwin was aware of this fact.

8. Intelligence is based on how efficient species become at doing the things they need to survive.

All species develop our intelligence in relation to how nature tests us.

9. Man tends to grow at a rate greater than his means of subsistence.

Human beings are always looking for new resources to exploit, we are a consumerist species by nature.

10. We stopped looking for monsters under the bed when we realized that they were inside us.

The greatest monsters that human beings face are within themselves.

11. A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and motives, of approving some and disapproving others.

The human being is the only animal that can judge his own actions once they are already in the past.

12. Killing an error is as good a service, and sometimes even better, as the establishment of a new truth or fact.

We should not persevere in our mistakes, we should learn from them so as not to make them again.

13. It is hard to believe in the frightening but quiet war lurking just beneath the serene facade of nature.

Nature may seem calm, but if we know how to look deeply we can see that it is a battle in constant development.

14. Animals, whom we have made our slaves, we do not like to consider as our equals.

The human being considers himself superior to any other animal, when in reality he is just another link in the evolutionary chain.

15. Mathematics seems to endow one with a new sense.

Mathematics allows human beings to develop new forms of scientific and technological innovation.

16. In addition to love and sympathy, animals exhibit other qualities related to social instincts that in us would be called moral.

We should be more humane and value animals in a much more honest way with our own ideals.

17. Without doubt there is no progress.

All progress is given by an original doubt.

18. At some time in the not too distant future, measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly be exterminated, and replaced by savage races throughout the world.

Human beings are unfortunately doomed to their own self-destruction.

19. I became a kind of machine for observing facts and drawing conclusions.

Darwin was a connoisseur of the scientific method and spent long periods of time observing the natural environment.

20. We have not obtained any scientific explanation for the ordinary view that each of the species has been created independently.

The famous theory of this scientist clashed, and still does, head-on with the theory of creation.

21. Gradually I ceased to believe that Christianity was a divine revelation. The fact that many false religions spread like wildfire in a large part of the Earth had some influence on me.

As a scientist, Darwin clearly questioned the Christian religion itself, since his way of thinking clashed with that religion.

22. In the struggle for survival, the stronger wins at the expense of its rivals because it is better able to adapt to its environment.

Knowing how to adapt more efficiently to problems will undoubtedly lead to their better resolution.

23. With savagery, the weaknesses of the body and mind are quickly eliminated.

The human being is the only animal that has developed a truly advanced society, banishing savagery from it.

24. The surgeon is capable of hurting himself while operating, for he knows that he is doing good to his patient.

Medicine is one of the greatest forces that the human being possesses, of that we have no doubt.

25. The shield is as important to victory as are the sword and the spear.

A good defense can be the best of attacks.

26. Sexual selection is less rigorous than natural selection.

Living beings tend to reproduce to a great extent, because we are designed for that purpose.

I die slowly because I have no one to talk to about insects.

Darwin felt a great misunderstood in the society where he lived, this quote is proof of that.

28. I love insects.

Darwin's love for insects will last forever in his studies.

29. How easily we hide our ignorance behind the phrase "the plan of creation".

Religion was created largely to give a logical meaning to those things that human beings did not understand.

30. It is quite clear that organic beings must be exposed for several generations to the new conditions of life to cause an appreciable amount of variation.

Living beings adapt and evolve, especially in consequence of the adversities to which they are exposed.

31. Insects, like me, are misunderstood by the majority.

Insects may be perhaps the great misunderstood of creation.

32. At last I fell asleep on the grass and could wake up with the singing of the birds over my head.

This scientist was undoubtedly a great lover of nature.

33. Man selects for his own good, nature selects for the common good.

Natural selection takes great care of all its members; nature itself needs all of them for its proper functioning.

34. In the future I see more open fields for further research.

Surely this famous naturalist would enjoy the latest technological advances in the field of research.

35. In the history of mankind, those who learn to cooperate are the ones who have prevailed.

Acting in groups allows us to be more efficient and to be able to obtain a much more satisfactory result.

36. It is the weakest members of a society that tend to propagate their species.

The "in quotation marks" weakest members of a society can also be the most valuable link.

37. It is a demonic curse for any man to be absorbed in any matter as I have been.

All the great geniuses, including Darwin, have been severely absorbed by their discoveries.

38. My mistake was a good lesson that taught me never to trust the principle of exclusion in the scientific field.

All great discoveries are the result of some kind of error.

39. I have no doubt that, on the whole, my works have been time and again overestimated.

In this quote we can see the great humility that this scientist displayed throughout his life.

40. I am a firm believer that without speculation there is no good and original observation.

To be able to get to the bottom of any matter, we must first explore all the hidden intricacies of the matter.

41. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble for us; and for my part I must be content to remain an agnostic.

Darwin, as he explains very well in this quotation, was a convinced agnostic.

42. Favorable individual variations and differences, and the destruction of those that are harmful, is what we have called "natural selection" or "survival of the fittest."

Those specimens that are best adapted to their natural environment are those that prevail.

43. A man of science must have no desires or affections, but a mere Heart of stone.

In order to be able to perform purely scientific work, we must leave our emotions aside.

44. Man is descended from a hairy-tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits.

Today we know that all mammals come from a common ancestor, an ancestral animal similar to a rat.

45. In conclusion, it seems that nothing could be better for a young naturalist than a trip to distant countries.

In order to discover new species, naturalists are forced to make long journeys, often to the farthest reaches of civilization.

46. There is no fundamental difference between man and animals in their capacity to feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery.

All animals, like human beings, feel, suffer and suffer.

47. I love silly experiments. I am always doing them.

From the silliest experiments the most relevant conclusions can be drawn.

48. I have called this principle, by which every slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of natural selection.

Natural selection allows us to evolve as living beings, highlighting those qualities that are most beneficial to us.

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

The power to control one's thoughts is a power not possessed by most animals.

50. Love for all living creatures is man's noblest attribute.

As rational animals we must care for those animals who do not possess the same quality as we do.

51. If the misery of the poor is not caused by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.

The human being is the greatest predator who suffers himself, we tend to harm each other.

52. The very essence of instinct is that it is followed independently of reason.

Our instincts are capable of giving us a solution to a problem much more quickly and effectively than our reason.

53. Ignorance often breeds confidence more often than knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who affirm that this or that problem will never be solved by science.

Ignorance is an evil that has always harmed human beings, for those who suffer from it are not capable of realizing that they are its bearers.

54. It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor is it the most intelligent that survives. It is that which adapts best to change.

In this quotation we see how Darwin gives a twist to the famous belief that the strongest or most intelligent survives, it is simply the best adapted.

55. I tried to read Shakespeare too late, so much so that it made me nauseous.

No doubt this famous scientist was not a great admirer of William Shakespeare.

56. Free will is to mind what chance is to matter.

Free will and chance have certain features in common.

57. You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

If we are not concentrated we cannot understand what our own eyes see.

58. A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.

Tell me who you hang out with and I will tell you who you are; our friendships often define us.

59. A man who dares to waste an hour of time has not discovered the value of life.

We should never waste time, it is the most valuable asset available to human beings.

60. Natural selection, as we shall see later, is a force always ready for action and as immeasurably superior to the feeble efforts of man as the works of nature are to those of art.

The human being is not exempt from natural selection, he also suffers the designs of this famous law of nature.

61. When it was first said that the sun remained fixed and that the world revolved, the common sense of mankind declared the doctrine false; but the old saying "vox populi, vox Dei," as every philosopher knows, cannot be confided to science.

We must think for ourselves and not be swayed by what the majority thinks.

62. An American monkey, an ateles, who became drunk with brandy, could never be made to taste it again, in which he acted with greater sanity than many men.

Animals are quicker to learn from their mistakes than human beings, we are stuck in our mistakes.

63. History repeats itself. This is one of the errors of history.

The human being must learn from history, in order not to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

64. It is so evident that good and bad qualities are hereditary.

Indeed, the best and worst qualities of our ancestors will shape us as individuals.

65. The animals whom we have made our slaves we do not like to consider as our equals.

The human being has the absurd belief that he is a kind of "superior entity" to the rest of the animal world, when in fact this is not so.

66. The mystery of the beginning of all things is unsolvable.

How the universe was formed is a doubt that still assails us today.

67. Actually, I doubt whether compassion is a natural or innate quality.

Compassion is a quality that it takes a long time for human beings to understand and appreciate.

68. The tropical climate suits me admirably; it makes me long to live quietly for some time.

The tropical climate is very benign for many people; the warmth and good weather affect us all positively.

69. Although the loft pigeon, which is the wild pigeon in a very slightly altered state, has succeeded in some places in returning to that primitive state.

Certain domesticated animals have the capacity to return to their wild state in a short period of time.

70. There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher animals in their mental faculties.

The human being simply possesses a different adaptation to the environment that surrounds him, but we are after all one more species of primate.