I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious views of anyone. Charles Darwin More Quotes by Charles Darwin More Quotes From Charles Darwin Not one change of species into another is on record ... we cannot prove that a single species has been changed. Charles Darwin fossilsrecordschanged Often a cold shudder has run through me, and I have asked myself whether I may have not devoted myself to a fantasy. Charles Darwin evolutionmayrunning Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work, worthy the interposition of a great deity. More humble and I believe true to consider him created from animals. Charles Darwin humblemenbelieve As natural selection acts by competition, it adapts the inhabitants of each country only in relation to the degree of perfection of their associates; so that we need feel no surprise at the inhabitants of any one country, although on the ordinary view supposed to have been specially created and adapted for that country, being beaten and supplanted by the naturalised productions from another land. Charles Darwin landviewscountry There is a grandeur in this view of life, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful are being evolved Charles Darwin simpleviewsbeautiful At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace the savage races throughout the world. Charles Darwin savagesracemen We cannot fathom the marvelous complexity of an organic being; but on the hypothesis here advanced this complexity is much increased. Each living creature must be looked at as a microcosm--a little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars in heaven. Charles Darwin starsselfheaven It is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance. Charles Darwin honestyignorancehumility Even when we are quite alone, how often do we think with pleasure or pain of what others think of us - of their imagined approbation or disapprobation. Charles Darwin pleasurepainthinking False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness. Charles Darwin theory-of-evolutionviewslong From my early youth I have had the strongest desire to understand or explain whatever I observed. ... To group all facts under some general laws. Charles Darwin groupslawdesire Man scans with scrupulous care the character and pedigree of his horses, cattle, and dogs before he matches them; but when he comes to his own marriage he rarely, or never, takes any such care. Charles Darwin horsedogcharacter Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science. Charles Darwin illuminationatheistmen The more we know of the fixed laws of nature the more incredible do miracles become, - that the men at that time were ignorant and credulous to a degree almost incomprehensible by us, - that the Gospels cannot be proved to have been written simultaneously with the events, - that they differ in many important details, far too important as it seemed to me to be admitted as the usual inaccuracies of eye-witnesses; - by such reflections as these... I gradually came to disbelieve in Christianity as a divine revelation. Charles Darwin eyereflectionmen What can be more curious than that the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the paddle of the porpoise, and the wing of the bat, should all be constructed on the same pattern? Charles Darwin horsemenhands Even the humblest mammal's strong sexual, parental, and social instincts give rise to 'do unto others as yourself' and 'love thy neighbor as thyself'. Charles Darwin stronglovegiving we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps Charles Darwin great-changeadmittingsteps Natural selection acts solely by accumulating slight successive favorable variations, it can produce no great or sudden modification; it can act only by very short steps. Charles Darwin variationnaturalsteps It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist and an evolutionist. ... I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. Charles Darwin atheistdoubtmen Consequently, if my theory be true, it is indisputable that before the lowest Silurian stratum was deposited, long periods elapsed, as long as, or probably far longer than, the whole interval from the Silurian age to the present day; and that during these vast, yet quite unknown, periods of time, the world swarmed with living creatures. To the question why we do not find records of these vast primordial periods, I can give no satisfactory answer. Charles Darwin agegivinglong
