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Charles Darwin
(12 Feb 1809 - 19 Apr 1882)
English naturalist who presented facts to support his theory of the mode of evolution whereby favourable variations would survive which he called 'Natural Selection' or 'Survival of the Fittest.'
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Charles Darwin Quotes on Conclusion (9 quotes)
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>> Click for 202 Science Quotes by Charles Darwin
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After five years' work I allowed myself to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short notes; these I enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions, which then seemed to me probable: from that period to the present day I have steadily pursued the same object. 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.
— Charles Darwin
From On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1861), 9.
At last gleams of light have come, and I am almost convinced (quite contrary to opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable. Heaven forfend me from Lamarck nonsense of a “tendency to progression”, “adaptations from the slow willing of animals”, &c! But the conclusions I am led to are not widely different from his; though the means of change are wholly so. I think I have found out (here’s presumption!) the simple way by which species become exquisitely adapted to various ends.
— Charles Darwin
Letter to Sir Joseph Hooker (11 Jan 1844). In Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin (ed.), Charles Darwin: His Life Told in an Autobiographical Chapter, and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters (1892), 173-174.
But as my conclusions have lately been much misrepresented, and it has been stated that I attribute the modification of species exclusively to natural selection, I may be permitted to remark that in the first edition of this work, and subsequently, I placed in a most conspicuous position—namely, at the close of the Introduction—the following words: “I am convinced that natural selection has been the main but not the exclusive means of modification.” This has been of no avail. Great is the power of steady misrepresentation; but the history of science shows that fortunately this power does not long endure.
— Charles Darwin
In The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection with additions and corrections from sixth and last English edition (1899), Vol. 2, 293.
I am turned into a sort of machine for observing facts & grinding out conclusions, & am never happy except when at work.
— Charles Darwin
From Letter to John Maurice Herbert (25 Dec 1880). Quoted without the final phrase about being “happy…at work”, in Adrian J. Desmond and James Richard Moore, Darwin (1994), 644, as a remark Darwin “was heard to sigh”, suspecting that his largest botany book, the 600-page Movement in Plants, was “as dull as ditchwater” (in the words of Desmond and Moore). Subject quote collected as the full sentence, in Charles Darwin, Frederick Burkhardt, (ed.) and James A. Secord (ed.), The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Volume 28, 1880 (2021), 46. [Note: Whether or not Darwin was “heard to sigh…dull as ditchwater” (for which Webmaster, as yet, has not found in a primary source), Darwin did write his Plants book was “very dull” (or at least the first chapter, describing the circumnutation movements of seedling plants), in a letter concerning its translation to J. V. Carus (14 Sep 1880). —Webmaster]
I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we call chance. Not that this notion at all satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton. Let each man hope and believe what he can.
— Charles Darwin
Letter to Asa Gray (22 May 1860). In Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin (ed.), Charles Darwin: His Life Told in an Autobiographical Chapter, and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters (1892), 236.
It has been a bitter mortification for me to digest the conclusion that the “race is for the strong” and that I shall probably do little more but be content to admire the strides others made in science.
— Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin (ed.), Charles Darwin's Works (1896), Vol. 1, 243.
Nothing before had ever made me thoroughly realise, though I had read various scientific books, that science consists in grouping facts so that general laws or conclusions may be drawn from them.
— Charles Darwin
In Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin (ed.), Chap. 2, 'Autobiography', The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: Including an Autobiographical Chapter (1887), Vol. 1, 48.
The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely that man is descended from some lowly-organised form, will, I regret to think, be highly distasteful to many persons. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are descended from barbarians.
— Charles Darwin
The Descent of Man (1871), Vol. 2, 404.
We may confidently come to the conclusion, that the forces which slowly and by little starts uplift continents, and that those which at successive periods pour forth volcanic matter from open orifices, are identical.
— Charles Darwin
Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World, 2nd edn. (1845), ch. XIV, 311.
![Charles Darwin quote: About weak points [of the Origin] I agree. The eye to this day gives me a cold shudder, but when I think o](https://todayinsci.com/D/Darwin_Charles/DarwinCharles-WeakThm.jpg)
See also:
- 12 Feb - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Darwin's birth.
- Charles Darwin - context of quote “If the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature…” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
- Charles Darwin - context of quote “If the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature…” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
- Charles Darwin - context of quote “Improving…a young naturalist” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
- Charles Darwin - context of quote “Improving…a young naturalist” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
- Charles Darwin - context of quote “Great is the power of steady misrepresentation” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
- Charles Darwin - context of quote “Great is the power of steady misrepresentation” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
- Charles Darwin - context of quote “This…I call Natural Selection, or the Survival of the Fittest” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
- Charles Darwin - context of quote “This…I call Natural Selection, or the Survival of the Fittest” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
- Charles Darwin - Earthquake observation on 20 Feb 1835, during the voyage of the Beagle.
- Letter to Asa Gray - from Charles Darwin (5 Sep 1857).
- From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books, by Charles Darwin, Edward O. Wilson. - book suggestion.
- Booklist for Charles Darwin.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
