Letters of Charles Darwin

Explore 5 quotes from Letters of Charles Darwin

What a book a Devil's chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low, & horridly cruel works of nature!

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1856 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to J. D. Hooker. 13 July 1856.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. "To J. D. Hooker, 13 July 1856." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 6: 1856-1857. Cambridge University Press, 1990, no. 1924.

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.

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Human cognition The mind Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1881 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to William Graham. 3 July 1881.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. "To William Graham, 3 July 1881." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 29: 1870. Cambridge University Press, 2022, no. 13230.

To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing a new truth or fact.

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific progress Progress Science

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to A. S. Wilson, 5 Mar. 1879.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. "To A. S. Wilson, 5 March 1879." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 27: 1879. Cambridge University Press, 2020, no. 11917.

I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world.

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Problem of evil

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1860 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to Asa Gray. 22 May 1860.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860]." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 8: 1860. Cambridge University Press, 2022, no. 2814.

I cannot look at the universe as the result of blind chance, yet I can see no evidence of beneficent design, or indeed of design of any kind, in the details.

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Origin of the universe

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1870 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to J. D. Hooker. 12 July 1870.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. "To J. D. Hooker, 12 July 1870." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 18: 1870. Cambridge University Press, 2010, no. 7273.