Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
Charles DarwinRead
As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the interdependent nature of life and evolution.
Charles Darwin's quote uses the metaphor of a tree to describe the process of evolution, illustrating how new life forms arise and thrive while others fade away. It highlights the continuity and complexity of life on Earth, emphasizing that every new generation takes its place within the grand hierarchy of existence.
Themes
EvolutionLifeNatureGrowthInterdependence
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on evolution, I quoted Darwin to illustrate the complexity of life's development.
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.
Charles DarwinRead
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 DarwinRead
I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.
Charles DarwinRead
we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps
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