Tao Te Ching
Charles Darwin
1809 – 1882 CE
Revolutionary scientist, one of the most influential characters in human history, and originator of the theory of evolution and natural selection; Charles Darwin generated a scientific consensus that recast humanity’s understanding of itself. Following his father’s decisions, he became a failure in his early academic efforts, a failure in his studies to become a doctor, and a failure in his career as a clergyman because of his intense interesting in beetles and entomology. He traveled to remote islands studying coral reefs, barnacles, animals, fish, insects of all kind and was “struck with the variability of every part in some slight degree of every species.” Unlike Thoreau’s book Walden that didn’t sell enough copies to cover the paper cost, Darwin’s book, The Origin of Species sold out on the first day in print launching a debate that soon led to a dual between scientists and became a controversy that continues today. He studied earthworms for 40+ years and this became the topic of his last book which he wanted to write quickly "before joining them.”
Lineages
British Scientists
Eras
Western
Romantacism (1800 – 1850 CE)Post-Romantic Age (1850 – 2018 CE)
Gilded Age (1860 – 1900 CE)
Victorian (1837 – 1901 CE)
American Civil War (1861 – 1865 CE)
Chinese
Qing dynasty (1644 – 1912 CE)Unlisted Sources
Decent of Man (1871)
Descent of Man
Letter to J. D. Hooker (1884)
The Decent of Man (1871)
The Origin of Species
Quotes by Charles Darwin (28 quotes)
“I hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so, the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.”
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“I had gradually come to see that the Old Testament from its manifestly false history of the world, with the Tower of Babel, the rainbow at sign, &c., &c., and from its attributing to God the feelings of a revengeful tyrant, was no more to be trusted than… the beliefs of any barbarian.”
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“Every human action is determined by hereditary constitution, [the environment], the example and the teaching of others… This view should teach one profound humility—one deserves no credit for anything. Nor should one blame others… It’s right to punish criminals but solely to deter others.”
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“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
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“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
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“A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.”
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“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”
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“The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.”
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“The very essence of instinct is that it’s followed independently of reason.”
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“The whole subject of God and morality is beyond the scope of man's intellect.”
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“I would as soon be descended from a baboon... as from a savage who delights in torturing his enemies... treats his wives like slaves... and is haunted by the grossest superstitions”
from Descent of Man
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“All ought to refrain from marriage who cannot avoid abject poverty for their children.”
from Descent of Man
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“A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and their motives—approving of some and disapproving of others... I ought or I ought not, constitute the whole of morality.”
from Descent of Man
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“Great is the power of steady misrepresentation; the history of science shows that fortunately this power does not long endure.”
from Descent of Man
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“man in the distant future will be a far more perfect creature than he is now; it is an intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are doomed to complete annihilation after such long-continued slow progress”
from Descent of Man
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“Without speculation there is no good and original observation.”
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“Man is more courageous, pugnacious, and energetic than woman, and has a more inventive genius.”
from Descent of Man
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“Of all the causes that have led to the differences in external appearance between the races of man—and to a certain extent between man and the lower animals—sexual selection has been the most efficient.”
from Descent of Man
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“The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an agnostic.”
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“I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.”
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“To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact.”
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“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.”
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“our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment...Thus the weak members of civilised societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man... hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.”
from Descent of Man
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“selection may be applied to the family as well as to the individual... a well-flavored vegetable is cooked, and the individual is destroyed; but the horticulturist sows seeds of the same stock and confidently expects to get nearly the same variety.”
from The Origin of Species
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“What wretched doings come from the ardor of fame; the love of truth alone would never make one many attack another bitterly.”
from Letter to J. D. Hooker (1884)
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“with mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, and even crustaceans, the differences between the sexes follow almost exactly the same rules; the males are almost always the wooers”
from Decent of Man (1871)
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“almost all civilized nations still retain some traces of such rude habits as the forcible capture of wives. What ancient nation can be named that was originally monogamous?”
from The Decent of Man (1871)
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“I cannot bear to leave my work even for half a day.”
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Quotes about Charles Darwin (7 quotes)
“What Galileo and Newton were to the 17th century, Darwin was the the 19th... Darwin himself was a liberal, but his theories had consequences in some degree inimical to traditional liberalism... like Kant [he] gave rise to a movement which he would have detested.”
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“Darwin was one of our finest specimens. He did superbly what human beings are designed to do: manipulate social information to personal advantage.”
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“[Darwin] introduced a mode of thinking that in the end was bound to transform the logic of knowledge and hence the treatment of morals, politics, and religion.”
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“The influence of Darwin is still greater than the influence of Marx... The basic phenomenon of our time is not Communism; it's the decline of religious belief, which has all sorts of effects on morals and even on politics because religion has been a tool of politics.”
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“nature may appear to move from simple to complex; it may appear to progress and advance from imperfection toward perfection. This, at any rate, is what Darwin's theory of evolution implies. But of course, such is not the true state of nature... Nature is fundamentally perfect. Both spiritually and materially, nature is replete with the greatest possible wealth. It is a paradise where joy and contentment reign.”
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“Darwin offered a world-picture totally different from that which had contented the mind of man before. His name will stand as a turning point in the intellectual development of our Western civilization. If he was right, men will have to date from 1859 the beginning of modern thought.”
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“Darwin and Marx ignored the man-made environments in their theories of evolution and causality in favor of the 18th century and romantic idea of nature as environment.”
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