Charles Darwin Quotes
Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist whose work transformed the life sciences and reshaped Western thought. His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle furnished the observations and the questions that, after twenty more years of work, became On the Origin of Species, published in 1859. The quotes below are attributed to Charles Darwin, organized by topic.
Browse Charles Darwin by topic
Charles Darwin on Knowledge
-
Attributed to Charles Darwin:
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.”
-
“volume II, chapter XXVII: "Provisional Hypothesis of Pangenesis", page 374”
I assume that cells, before their conversion into completely passive or "formed material," throw off minute granules or atoms, which circulate freely throughout the system, and when supplied with proper nutriment multiply by self-division, subsequently becoming developed into cells like those from which they were derived. These granules for the sake of distinctness may be called … gemmules. They a -
“Through the principle of associated habit, the same movements of the face and eyes are practised, and can, indeed, hardly be avoided, whenever we know or believe that others are blaming, or too strongly praising, our moral conduct.”
chapter XIII: "Self-attention — Shame — Shyness — Modesty: Blushing", page 347 -
“chapter XIII: "Self-attention — Shame — Shyness — Modesty: Blushing", page 347”
Through the principle of associated habit, the same movements of the face and eyes are practised, and can, indeed, hardly be avoided, whenever we know or believe that others are blaming, or too strongly praising, our moral conduct. -
“chapter XIV: "Concluding Remarks and Summary", page 350”
Even insects express anger, terror, jealousy, and love by their stridulation . -
“chapter XIV: "Concluding Remarks and Summary", page 352”
[T]he young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements.
Charles Darwin on Life
-
Attributed to Charles Darwin:
“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one.”
Charles Darwin on Love
-
“Even insects express anger, terror, jealousy, and love by their stridulation .”
chapter XIV: "Concluding Remarks and Summary", page 350
Charles Darwin on Mind
-
Attributed to Charles Darwin:
“An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men.”
-
“[T]he young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements.”
chapter XIV: "Concluding Remarks and Summary", page 352
Charles Darwin on Nature
-
Attributed to Charles Darwin:
“We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for existence.”
-
“The Beagle staid at St. Helena five days, during which time I lived in the clouds in the centre of the Isd.—It is a curious little world within itself; the habitable part is surrounded by a broad band of black desolate rocks, as if the wide barrier of the ocean was not sufficient to guard the precious spot.”
Letter to Caroline Darwin (18 July 1836). Nora Barlow (ed.) Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle (New York: Philosophical Library, 1946) p. 143
Charles Darwin on Time
-
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
volume I, chapter VI: "The Voyage", page 266 ; letter to sister Susan Elizabeth Darwin (4 August 1836)
Charles Darwin on Truth
-
Attributed to Charles Darwin:
“False views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm; for everyone takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness.”
-
“(It is sometimes claimed that modern biologist are dogmatic "Darwinists" who uncritically accept all of Darwin's ideas. This is false: No one today accepts Darwin's hypothesis of gemmules and pangenesis .)”
I assume that cells, before their conversion into completely passive or "formed material," throw off minute granules or atoms, which circulate freely throughout the system, and when supplied with proper nutriment multiply by self-division, subsequently becoming developed into cells like those from which they were derived. These granules for the sake of distinctness may be called … gemmules. They a
Things actually not said by Charles Darwin
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Charles Darwin but are in fact from someone else. Did Charles Darwin say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
-
Did Charles Darwin say this? No.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the one most adaptable to change.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: The earliest known appearance of this basic statement is a paraphrase of Darwin in the writings of Leon C. Megginson, a management sociologist at Louisiana State University. [ Megginson, Leon C. (1963) . "Lessons from Europe for American Business". Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 44(1) : 3-13.
-
Did Charles Darwin say this? No.
“In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: This related misquote appeared in The Living Clocks (1971) by Ritchie R. Ward.
-
Did Charles Darwin say this? No.
“A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn't there.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: This is attributed, with an expression of doubt as to its correctness, in Mathematics, Our Great Heritage: Essays on the Nature and Cultural Significance of Mathematics (1948) by William Leonard Schaaf, p. 163; also attributed in Pi in the Sky : Counting, Thinking and Being (1992) by John D. Barrow
-
Did Charles Darwin say this? No.
“How I wish I had not expressed my theory of evolution as I have done.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Claimed by the evangelist Lady Hope ; Reported in Boller, Paul F., Jr.; George, John (1989). They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions . New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 19. LCC PN6081.B635 1989 . Darwin's daughter Henrietta refuted the claim, stati
-
Did Charles Darwin say this? No.
“I was a young man with unformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything, and to my astonishment, the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Attributed to Darwin in another version of the Lady Hope fabrication.
-
Did Charles Darwin say this? No.
“When I hear of an 'equity' in a case like this, I am reminded of a blind man in a dark room — looking for a black hat — which isn't there.”
Lord Bowen , as quoted in "Pie Powder", Being Dust from the Law Courts, Collected and Recollected on the Western Circuit, by a Circuit Tramp (1911) by John Alderson Foote; this seems to be the earliest account of any similar expression. It is mentioned by the author that this expression has become misquoted as a "black cat" rather than "black hat."
-
Did Charles Darwin say this? No.
“With his obscure and uncertain speculations as to the intimate nature and causes of things, the philosopher is likened to a 'blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that is not there.'”
William James , himself apparently quoting someone else's expression, in Some Problems of Philosophy : A Beginning of an Introduction to Philosophy (1911) Ch. 1 : Philosophy and its Critics
-
Did Charles Darwin say this? No.
“A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it.”
H. L. Mencken , as quoted in Peter's Quotations : Ideas for Our Time (1977) by Laurence J. Peter, p. 427
-
Did Charles Darwin say this? No.
“If this book were to find general public acceptance, it would bring with it a brutalization of the human race such as it had never seen before.”
One often finds this as a quote about Darwin's book On the Origin of Species from Darwin's friend and teacher Adam Sedgwick. However, this "quote" goes back to A.E. Wilder-Smith, Man's Origin, Man's Destiny: A Critical Survey of the Principles of Evolution and Christianity (H. Shaw Publishers, 1968) page 190, where it is clear that Wilder-Smith is describing Sedgwick's position, not quoting him. In fact, Sedgwick did write that "If the book be true, the labours of sober induction are in vain; religion is a lie; human law is a mass of folly, and a base injustice; morality is moonshine; our labours for the black people of Africa were works of madmen; and man and woman are only better beasts!"…