Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
Charles DarwinRead
Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history.
Interpretation
Darwin suggests that understanding our origins and history requires scientific inquiry.
This quote by Charles Darwin emphasizes the importance of scientific exploration in uncovering the origins of humanity and the historical context of human evolution. It highlights the transformative power of knowledge and the illumination that comes from scientific investigation, suggesting that answers about our existence can be found through diligent study and observation.
In practice
In a lecture on evolutionary biology, to highlight the importance of understanding our origins.
Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
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.
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.
I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.
we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps
As Darwin himself was at pains to point out, natural selection is all about differential survival within species, not between them.
Light is the only connection we have with the Universe beyond our solar system, and the only connection our ancestors had with anything beyond Earth. Follow the light and we can journey from the confines of our planet to other worlds that orbit the Sun without ever dreaming of spacecraft. To look up is to look back in time, because the ancient beams of light are messengers from the Universe's distant past.
You know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? - Medicine.
Evolutionary plasticity can be purchased only at the ruthlessly dear price of continuously sacrificing some individuals to death from unfavourable mutations. Bemoaning this imperfection of nature has, however, no place in a scientific treatment of this subject.
Brain studies of mental workouts in which you sustain a single, chosen focus show that the more you detach from what's distracting you and refocus on what you should be paying attention to, the stronger this brain circuitry becomes.
A lot of scientists hate writing. Most scientists love being in the lab and doing the work and when the work is done, they are finished.
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