Quotes About Evolution

I believe in Natural Selection, not because I can prove in any single case that it has changed one species into another, but because it groups and explains well (as it seems to me) a host of facts in classification, embryology, morphology, rudimentary organs, geological succession and distribution.

Though nature grants vast periods of time for the work of natural selection, she does not grant an indefinite period; for as all organic beings are striving, it may be said, to seize on each place in the economy of nature, if any one species does not become modified and improved in a corresponding degree with its competitors, it will soon be exterminated.

Did man, after his first inroad into South America, destroy, as has been suggested, the unwieldy Megatherium and the other Edentata?

Man, like every other animal, has no doubt advanced to his present high condition through a struggle for existence consequent on his multiplication; and if he is to advance still higher, it is to be feared that he must remain subject to a severe struggle.

But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.

evolution is written on the wings of butterflies

By a monstrosity I presume is meant some considerable deviation of structure, generally injurious, or not useful to the species.

Man selects only for his own good; Nature only for that of the being which she tends.

Great as the differences are between the breeds of pigeons, I am fully convinced that the common opinion of naturalists is correct, namely, that all have descended from the rock-pigeon (Columba livia), including under this term several geographical races or sub-species, which differ from each other in the most trifling respects.

The moral sense perhaps affords the best and highest distinction between man and the lower animals

How have all those exquisite adaptations of one part of the organisation to another part, and to the conditions of life, and of one organic being to another being, been perfected?

belirtilen çeÅŸitli engeller ve belki daha bilinmeyen baÅŸkalar?, toplumun tasas?z, bozuk ve baÅŸka bak?mlardan aÅŸa?? üyelerinin iyi insanlardan daha h?zl? çoÄŸalmas?n? önlemezse, dünya tarihinde pek s?k görüldüÄŸü gibi, ulus geriler.

Parece no haber más propósito en la variabilidad de los seres vivientes y en la acción de la selección natural que en la dirección en la sopla el viento.

I believe man . . . in the same predicament with other animals.

All that at present can be said with certainty, is that, as with the individual, so with the species, the hour of life has run its course, ans is spent.

The natural history of this archipelago is very remarkable; it seems to be a little world within itself.

There is nothing like geology; the pleasure of the first day's partridge shooting or first day's hunting cannot be compared to finding a fine group of fossil bones, which tell their story of former times with almost a living tongue. Charles Darwin, letter to his sister Catherine, 1834

But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?

Celui qui n'évolue pas disparaît.

It is very true what you say about the higher races of men, when high enough, replacing and clearing off the lower races. In 500 years how the Anglo-Saxon race will have spread and exterminated whole nations; and in consequence how much the Human race, viewed as a unit, will have risen in rank.

Whoever is led to believe that species are mutable will do good service by conscientiously expressing his conviction; for only thus can the load of prejudice by which this subject is overwhelmed be removed.

En realidad, dudo de que la compasión sea una cualidad natural o innata.

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

There is continuity between humans and other animals in their emotional lives; there are transitional stages among species, not large gaps; and the differences among many animals are differences in degree rather than in kind