Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
Charles DarwinRead
I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Darwin questions the existence of a benevolent God in light of natural suffering.
In this quote, Charles Darwin reflects on the seemingly cruel aspects of nature, particularly the relationship between parasitic wasps and caterpillars. He expresses skepticism about the idea of a benevolent and all-powerful deity, suggesting that the existence of such a malevolent feature in nature contradicts the concept of a caring Creator. This quote highlights the tension between faith and the observed realities of the natural world.
Themes
GodNatureSufferingPhilosophyDarwin
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the existence of God and the problem of evil.
More from Charles Darwin
All quotes →The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
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I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science....It is a mere rag of an hypothesis with as many flaw[s] & holes as sound parts.
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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.
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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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we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps
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