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Home > Dictionary of Science Quotations > Scientist Names Index D > Charles Darwin Quotes > Truth

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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.'



...I believe there exists, & I feel within me, an instinct for the truth, or knowledge or discovery, of something of the same nature as the instinct of virtue, & that our having such an instinct is reason enough for scientific researches without any practical results ever ensuing from them.
— Charles Darwin
The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Vol. 4. (1847-50)
Science quotes on:  |  Biography (254)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Enough (341)  |  Ensuing (3)  |  Exist (458)  |  Feel (371)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Practical (225)  |  Reason (766)  |  Result (700)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Something (718)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Virtue (117)

False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often long endure; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, as every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness; and when this is done, one path towards error is closed and the road to truth is often at the same time opened.
— Charles Darwin
The Descent of Man (1871), Vol. 2, 385.
Science quotes on:  |  Closed (38)  |  Do (1905)  |  Error (339)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Injurious (14)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Open (277)  |  Path (159)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Progress (492)  |  Progress Of Science (40)  |  Support (151)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  View (496)

It has sometimes been said that the success of the Origin proved “that the subject was in the air,” or “that men's minds were prepared for it.” I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species.
— Charles Darwin
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), 42.
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Man may be excused for feeling some pride at having risen, though not through his own exertions, to the very summit of the organic scale; and the fact of his having thus risen, instead of having been aboriginally placed there, may give him hopes for a still higher destiny in the distant future. But we are not here concerned with hopes or fears, only with the truth as far as our reason allows us to discover it. I have given the evidence to the best of my ability; and we must acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted powers—Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.
— Charles Darwin
Concluding remarks. The Descent of Man (1871), Vol. 2, 405.
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The [Ascension] island is entirely destitute of trees, in which, and in every other respect, it is very far inferior to St. Helena. Mr. Dring tells me, that the witty people of the latter place say, “we know we live on a rock, but the poor people of Ascension live on a cinder:” the distinction in truth is very just.
— Charles Darwin
In Journal of Researches Into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle Under the Command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N. From 1832 to 1836 (1840), 587.
Science quotes on:  |  Ascension (4)  |  Cinder (6)  |  Destitute (2)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Inferior (37)  |  Island (49)  |  Know (1538)  |  Live (650)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Poor (139)  |  Respect (212)  |  Rock (176)  |  Say (989)  |  St Helena (2)  |  Tell (344)  |  Tree (269)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Wit (61)

Whether true or false, others must judge; for the firmest conviction of the truth of a doctrine by its author, seems, alas, not to be the slightest guarantee of truth.
— Charles Darwin
Letter (1 May 1857) to Alfred Russel Wallace. In Sir Francis Darwin (ed.), The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887), 454.
Science quotes on:  |  Author (175)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  False (105)  |  Guarantee (30)  |  Judge (114)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  Truth (1109)


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.

Carl Sagan Thumbnail 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) -- Carl Sagan
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Carl Gauss
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- 90 -
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Charles Babbage
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Euclid
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- 70 -
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Thomas Edison
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- 40 -
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JJ Thomson
Thomas Kuhn
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Archimedes
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- 30 -
Andreas Vesalius
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Richard Feynman
James Hutton
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Carl Sagan
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