Evolution

Explore 24 quotes about Evolution

There is grandeur in this view of life...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

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Topic

Human evolution Creation of man Evolution Human origins

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 14.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 14.

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

The Descent of Man

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Topic

Human origins Human nature Human evolution Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

The Descent of Man

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871, pt. 3, ch. 21.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. Penguin Classics, 2004, pt. 3, ch. 21.

I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of the Species

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Topic

Natural selection Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of the Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of the Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 3.

We thus learn that man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits, and an inhabitant of the Old World.

Charles Darwin

The Descent of Man

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Topic

Human origins Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

The Descent of Man

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871, pt. 3, ch. 21.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. Penguin Classics, 2004, pt. 3, ch. 21.

When the views advanced by me in this volume, and by Mr. Wallace, or when analogous views on the origin of species are generally admitted, we can dimly foresee that there will be a considerable revolution in natural history.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

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Topic

Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. 6th Edition. London: John Murray, 1879, ch. 14.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 14.

Owing to this struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual of any species, in its infinitely complex relations to other organic beings and to external nature, will tend to the preservation of that individual, and will generally be inherited by its offspring. The offspring, also, will thus have a better chance of surviving.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

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Topic

Natural selection Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin Classics, 2009, ch. 3.

The history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way.

Michael Crichton

Jurassic Park

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Topic

Evolution Nature of life Life

Speaker

Ian Malcolm

Author

Michael Crichton

Source

Jurassic Park

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1953 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Crichton, Michael. Jurassic Park. Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.

FIRST LAW: In every animal... A more frequent and continuous use of any organ gradually strengthens, develops and enlarges that organ... While the permanent disuse of any organ imperceptibly weakens and deteriorates it, and progressively diminishes its functional capacity, until it finally disappears.
SECOND LAW: All the acquisitions or losses wrought by nature in individuals... Are preserved by reproductions to the new individuals which arise.

Jean-Baptiste Lamark

Philosophie Zoologique

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Topic

Evolution

Author

Jean-Baptiste Lamark

Source

Philosophie Zoologique

Language

French

Time

1809 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste. Philosophie zoologique [Zoological Philosophy]. Paris: Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, 1809, pt. 1, ch. 7.

Current Citation

Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste. Zoological Philosophy, translated by Hugh Samuel Roger Elliott. Cambridge University Press, 2011, pt. 1, ch. 7.

Would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time, since the earth began to exist, perhaps millions of ages before the comencement of the history of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament which the Great First Cause endured with animality... And thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity, and of delivering down those improvements by generation to its posterity, world without end!

Erasmus Darwin

Zoonomia

More information about this quote

Topic

Evolution

Author

Erasmus Darwin

Source

Zoonomia

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1794 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Darwin, Erasmus. Zoonomia; or the Laws of Organic Life. Vol. 1, London: Joseph Johnson, 1794, sec. 39.

From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

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Topic

Natural selection Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 14.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 14.

If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find out no such case.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

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More information about this quote

Topic

Natural selection Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 6.

The Simiadae then branched off into two great stems, the New World and Old World monkeys; and from the latter, at a remote period, Man, the wonder and glory of the Universe, proceeded.

Charles Darwin

The Descent of Man

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Topic

Human origins Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

The Descent of Man

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871, pt. 2, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. Penguin Classics, 2004, pt. 2, ch. 6.

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.

Not in innocence, and not in Asia, was mankind born.

Robert Ardrey

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Topic

Human origins Evolution Science and religion

Author

Robert Ardrey

Source

African Genesis

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Ardrey, Robert. African Genesis: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man. Atheneum, 1961.

Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind's eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.

Richard Dawkins

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More information about this quote

Topic

Natural selection Origin of life Evolution

Author

Richard Dawkins

Source

The Blind Watchmaker

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker. Norton & Company, 1986, ch. 1.

Man is the result of a purposeless and materialistic process that did not have him in mind.

George Gaylord Simpson

More information about this quote

Topic

Human origins Nature of man Evolution

Author

George Gaylord Simpson

Source

The Meaning Of Evolution

Language

English

Time

1949 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Simpson, George Gaylord. The Meaning of Evolution. Yale University Press, 1949, epilogue.

For my own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved his dread enemy in order to save the life of his keeper; or from that old baboon, who descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs--as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions.

Charles Darwin

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

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Topic

Human origins Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871, pt. 3, ch. 21.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. Penguin Classics, 2004, pt. 3, ch. 21.

Natural selection will not remove ignorance from future generations.

Richard Dawkins

More information about this quote

Topic

Natural selection Evolution Human nature

Author

Richard Dawkins

Source

The Independent

Medium

Interview Newspaper

Language

English

Time

2006 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dawkins, Richard. "Richard Dawkins: You Ask the Questions Special." The Independent, 4 Dec. 2006.

It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.

Richard Dawkins

On natural selection.

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Topic

Natural selection Evolution

Author

Richard Dawkins

Source

The Blind Watchmaker

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker. Norton & Company, 1986, ch. 1.