TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY ®  •  TODAYINSCI ®
Celebrating 24 Years on the Web
Find science on or your birthday

Today in Science History - Quickie Quiz
Who said: “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index D > Category: Darwinian

Darwinian Quotes (10 quotes)

A complete theory of evolution must acknowledge a balance between ‘external’ forces of environment imposing selection for local adaptation and ‘internal’ forces representing constraints of inheritance and development. Vavilov placed too much emphasis on internal constraints and downgraded the power of selection. But Western Darwinians have erred equally in practically ignoring (while acknowledging in theory) the limits placed on selection by structure and development–what Vavilov and the older biologists would have called ‘laws of form.’
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Acknowledge (33)  |  Adaptation (59)  |  Balance (82)  |  Biologist (70)  |  Call (781)  |  Complete (209)  |  Constraint (13)  |  Development (441)  |  Downgrade (2)  |  Emphasis (18)  |  Environment (239)  |  Equally (129)  |  Err (5)  |  Evolution (635)  |  External (62)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Ignore (52)  |  Ignoring (11)  |  Impose (22)  |  Inheritance (35)  |  Internal (69)  |  Law (913)  |  Limit (294)  |  Local (25)  |  Must (1525)  |  Old (499)  |  Place (192)  |  Power (771)  |  Practically (10)  |  Represent (157)  |  Selection (130)  |  Structure (365)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Western (45)

Darwinian fitness is compounded of a mutual relationship between the organism and the environment. Of this, fitness of environment is quite as essential a component as the fitness which arises in the process of organic evolution; and in fundamental characteristics the actual environment is the fittest possible abode of life.
His thesis for the book stated at the beginning of The Fitness of the Environment (1913), Preface, v.
Science quotes on:  |  Abode (2)  |  Actual (118)  |  Arise (162)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Component (51)  |  Compound (117)  |  Environment (239)  |  Essential (210)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fitness (9)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organism (231)  |  Possible (560)  |  Process (439)  |  Relationship (114)

No comfort should be drawn from the spurious belief that because extinction is a natural process, man is merely another Darwinian agent.
In 'Edward O. Wilson: The Biological Diversity Crisis: A Challenge to Science', Issues in Science and Technology (Fall 1985), 2, No. 1, 25.
Science quotes on:  |  Agent (73)  |  Belief (615)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Man (2252)  |  Merely (315)  |  Natural (810)  |  Process (439)  |  Spurious (3)

One of the most curious and interesting reptiles which I met with in Borneo was a large tree-frog, which was brought me by one of the Chinese workmen. He assured me that he had seen it come down in a slanting direction from a high tree, as if it flew. On examining it, I found the toes very long and fully webbed to their very extremity, so that when expanded they offered a surface much larger than the body. The forelegs were also bordered by a membrane, and the body was capable of considerable inflation. The back and limbs were of a very deep shining green colour, the undersurface and the inner toes yellow, while the webs were black, rayed with yellow. The body was about four inches long, while the webs of each hind foot, when fully expanded, covered a surface of four square inches, and the webs of all the feet together about twelve square inches. As the extremities of the toes have dilated discs for adhesion, showing the creature to be a true tree frog, it is difficult to imagine that this immense membrane of the toes can be for the purpose of swimming only, and the account of the Chinaman, that it flew down from the tree, becomes more credible. This is, I believe, the first instance known of a “flying frog,” and it is very interesting to Darwinians as showing that the variability of the toes which have been already modified for purposes of swimming and adhesive climbing, have been taken advantage of to enable an allied species to pass through the air like the flying lizard. It would appear to be a new species of the genus Rhacophorus, which consists of several frogs of a much smaller size than this, and having the webs of the toes less developed.
Malay Archipelago
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Adhesion (6)  |  Adhesive (2)  |  Advantage (144)  |  Air (366)  |  Ally (7)  |  Already (226)  |  Appear (122)  |  Assure (16)  |  Back (395)  |  Become (821)  |  Belief (615)  |  Black (46)  |  Body (557)  |  Border (10)  |  Borneo (3)  |  Bring (95)  |  Capable (174)  |  Chinese (22)  |  Climb (39)  |  Color (155)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Consist (223)  |  Cover (40)  |  Creature (242)  |  Credible (3)  |  Curious (95)  |  Deep (241)  |  Develop (278)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Direction (185)  |  Disk (3)  |  Down (455)  |  Enable (122)  |  Examine (84)  |  Expand (56)  |  Extremity (7)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Fly (153)  |  Flying (74)  |  Foot (65)  |  Frog (44)  |  Fully (20)  |  Genus (27)  |  Green (65)  |  High (370)  |  Hind (3)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Immense (89)  |  Inch (10)  |  Inflation (6)  |  Inner (72)  |  Instance (33)  |  Interest (416)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Large (398)  |  Less (105)  |  Limb (9)  |  Lizard (7)  |  Long (778)  |  Meet (36)  |  Membrane (21)  |  Modify (15)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  New (1273)  |  Offer (142)  |  Pass (241)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Ray (115)  |  Reptile (33)  |  See (1094)  |  Several (33)  |  Shine (49)  |  Shining (35)  |  Show (353)  |  Size (62)  |  Small (489)  |  Species (435)  |  Square (73)  |  Surface (223)  |  Swim (32)  |  Swimming (19)  |  Through (846)  |  Toe (8)  |  Together (392)  |  Tree (269)  |  Tree Frog (2)  |  True (239)  |  Underside (2)  |  Variability (5)  |  Web (17)  |  Workman (13)  |  Yellow (31)

Surely the mitochondrion that first entered another cell was not thinking about the future benefits of cooperation and integration; it was merely trying to make its own living in a tough Darwinian world
Wonderful Life: the Burgess Shale and the Nature of History (1990), 310.
Science quotes on:  |  Benefit (123)  |  Cell (146)  |  Cooperation (38)  |  Enter (145)  |  First (1302)  |  Future (467)  |  Integration (21)  |  Living (492)  |  Merely (315)  |  Surely (101)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Tough (22)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  World (1850)

The Darwinian movement has made no difference to mankind, except that, instead of talking unphilosophically about philosophy, they now talk unscientifically about science.
In The Club of Queer Trades (1903, 1905), 241.
Science quotes on:  |  Difference (355)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Movement (162)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Talking (76)  |  Unscientific (13)

The great beauty of Darwin’s theory of evolution is that it explains how complex, difficult to understand things could have arisen step by plausible step, from simple, easy to understand beginnings. We start our explanation from almost infinitely simple beginnings: pure hydrogen and a huge amount of energy. Our scientific, Darwinian explanations carry us through a series of well-understood gradual steps to all the spectacular beauty and complexity of life.
From speech at the Edinburgh International Science Festival (15 Apr 1992), published in the Independent newspaper. Included in excerpt in Alec Fisher, The Logic of Real Arguments (2004), 84-85. The full speech was reprinted in The Nullifidian, (Dec 1994). Transcribed online in the Richard Dawkins archive, article 89, titled: Lecture from 'The Nullifidian' (Dec 94).
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Arise (162)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Easy (213)  |  Energy (373)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Gradual (30)  |  Great (1610)  |  Huge (30)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Life (1870)  |  Plausible (24)  |  Pure (299)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Series (153)  |  Simple (426)  |  Spectacular (22)  |  Start (237)  |  Step (234)  |  Theory Of Evolution (5)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)

The human brain became large by natural selection (who knows why, but presumably for good cause). Yet surely most ‘things’ now done by our brains, and essential both to our cultures and to our very survival, are epiphenomena of the computing power of this machine, not genetically grounded Darwinian entities created specifically by natural selection for their current function.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Both (496)  |  Brain (281)  |  Cause (561)  |  Compute (19)  |  Create (245)  |  Culture (157)  |  Current (122)  |  Entity (37)  |  Essential (210)  |  Function (235)  |  Genetically (2)  |  Good (906)  |  Ground (222)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Brain (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Large (398)  |  Machine (271)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Power (771)  |  Presumably (3)  |  Selection (130)  |  Surely (101)  |  Survival (105)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Why (491)

The present lack of a definitely acceptable account of the origin of life should certainly not be taken as a stumbling block for the whole Darwinian world view.
In The Blind Watchmaker (1991), 166.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptable (14)  |  Account (195)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Definite (114)  |  Lack (127)  |  Life (1870)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of Life (37)  |  Present (630)  |  Stumbling Block (6)  |  View (496)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)  |  World View (3)

To ask what qualities distinguish good from routine scientific research is to address a question that should be of central concern to every scientist. We can make the question more tractable by rephrasing it, “What attributes are shared by the scientific works which have contributed importantly to our understanding of the physical world—in this case the world of living things?” Two of the most widely accepted characteristics of good scientific work are generality of application and originality of conception. . These qualities are easy to point out in the works of others and, of course extremely difficult to achieve in one’s own research. At first hearing novelty and generality appear to be mutually exclusive, but they really are not. They just have different frames of reference. Novelty has a human frame of reference; generality has a biological frame of reference. Consider, for example, Darwinian Natural Selection. It offers a mechanism so widely applicable as to be almost coexistent with reproduction, so universal as to be almost axiomatic, and so innovative that it shook, and continues to shake, man’s perception of causality.
In 'Scientific innovation and creativity: a zoologist’s point of view', American Zoologist (1982), 22, 230.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Achieve (75)  |  Address (13)  |  Appear (122)  |  Applicable (31)  |  Application (257)  |  Ask (420)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Axiomatic (2)  |  Biological (137)  |  Case (102)  |  Causality (11)  |  Central (81)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Conception (160)  |  Concern (239)  |  Consider (428)  |  Continue (179)  |  Contribute (30)  |  Course (413)  |  Different (595)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Easy (213)  |  Example (98)  |  Exclusive (29)  |  Extremely (17)  |  First (1302)  |  Frame (26)  |  Frame of Reference (5)  |  Generality (45)  |  Good (906)  |  Hear (144)  |  Hearing (50)  |  Human (1512)  |  Importantly (3)  |  Innovative (3)  |  Living (492)  |  Living Things (8)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mutually (7)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Of Course (22)  |  Offer (142)  |  Originality (21)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perception (97)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical World (30)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Out (9)  |  Quality (139)  |  Question (649)  |  Really (77)  |  Reference (33)  |  Rephrase (2)  |  Rephrasing (2)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Research (753)  |  Routine (26)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Selection (130)  |  Shake (43)  |  Share (82)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universal (198)  |  Widely (9)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)


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
Quotations by:Albert EinsteinIsaac NewtonLord KelvinCharles DarwinSrinivasa RamanujanCarl SaganFlorence NightingaleThomas EdisonAristotleMarie CurieBenjamin FranklinWinston ChurchillGalileo GalileiSigmund FreudRobert BunsenLouis PasteurTheodore RooseveltAbraham LincolnRonald ReaganLeonardo DaVinciMichio KakuKarl PopperJohann GoetheRobert OppenheimerCharles Kettering  ... (more people)

Quotations about:Atomic  BombBiologyChemistryDeforestationEngineeringAnatomyAstronomyBacteriaBiochemistryBotanyConservationDinosaurEnvironmentFractalGeneticsGeologyHistory of ScienceInventionJupiterKnowledgeLoveMathematicsMeasurementMedicineNatural ResourceOrganic ChemistryPhysicsPhysicianQuantum TheoryResearchScience and ArtTeacherTechnologyUniverseVolcanoVirusWind PowerWomen ScientistsX-RaysYouthZoology  ... (more topics)
Sitewide search within all Today In Science History pages:
Visit our Science and Scientist Quotations index for more Science Quotes from archaeologists, biologists, chemists, geologists, inventors and inventions, mathematicians, physicists, pioneers in medicine, science events and technology.

Names index: | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Categories index: | 1 | 2 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Thank you for sharing.
- 100 -
Sophie Germain
Gertrude Elion
Ernest Rutherford
James Chadwick
Marcel Proust
William Harvey
Johann Goethe
John Keynes
Carl Gauss
Paul Feyerabend
- 90 -
Antoine Lavoisier
Lise Meitner
Charles Babbage
Ibn Khaldun
Euclid
Ralph Emerson
Robert Bunsen
Frederick Banting
Andre Ampere
Winston Churchill
- 80 -
John Locke
Bronislaw Malinowski
Bible
Thomas Huxley
Alessandro Volta
Erwin Schrodinger
Wilhelm Roentgen
Louis Pasteur
Bertrand Russell
Jean Lamarck
- 70 -
Samuel Morse
John Wheeler
Nicolaus Copernicus
Robert Fulton
Pierre Laplace
Humphry Davy
Thomas Edison
Lord Kelvin
Theodore Roosevelt
Carolus Linnaeus
- 60 -
Francis Galton
Linus Pauling
Immanuel Kant
Martin Fischer
Robert Boyle
Karl Popper
Paul Dirac
Avicenna
James Watson
William Shakespeare
- 50 -
Stephen Hawking
Niels Bohr
Nikola Tesla
Rachel Carson
Max Planck
Henry Adams
Richard Dawkins
Werner Heisenberg
Alfred Wegener
John Dalton
- 40 -
Pierre Fermat
Edward Wilson
Johannes Kepler
Gustave Eiffel
Giordano Bruno
JJ Thomson
Thomas Kuhn
Leonardo DaVinci
Archimedes
David Hume
- 30 -
Andreas Vesalius
Rudolf Virchow
Richard Feynman
James Hutton
Alexander Fleming
Emile Durkheim
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Hooke
Charles Kettering
- 20 -
Carl Sagan
James Maxwell
Marie Curie
Rene Descartes
Francis Crick
Hippocrates
Michael Faraday
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Francis Bacon
Galileo Galilei
- 10 -
Aristotle
John Watson
Rosalind Franklin
Michio Kaku
Isaac Asimov
Charles Darwin
Sigmund Freud
Albert Einstein
Florence Nightingale
Isaac Newton


by Ian Ellis
who invites your feedback
Thank you for sharing.
Today in Science History
Sign up for Newsletter
with quiz, quotes and more.