Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
Charles DarwinRead
We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities... still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the duality of human nature, combining both noble traits and a humble biological heritage.
Charles Darwin reflects on the complexity of humanity, suggesting that despite our elevated qualities and accomplishments, we must recognize our biological origins and the inherent imperfections that come with being human. It serves as a reminder that while we strive for greatness, we are still fundamentally shaped by our evolutionary history.
In practice
During a lecture on evolutionary biology, to emphasize the connection between human qualities and 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
What makes the Dead Sea dead? Because it is all the time receiving, never giving out anything. Why is it that many Christians are cold? Because they are all the time receiving, never giving out anything.
Where there is no conflict, there is no fault.
God makes me play well. That is why I always make the sign of a cross when I walk out on to the pitch. I feel I would be betraying him if I didn't.
All her knowledge is gone now. Everything she ever learned, or heard, or saw. Her particular way of looking at Hamlet or daisies or thinking about love, all her private intricate thoughts, her inconsequential secret musings β theyβre gone too. I heard this expression once: Each time someone dies, a library burns. Iβm watching it burn right to the ground.
Irony and pity are two good counselors: one, in smiling, makes life pleasurable; the other, who cries, makes it sacred.
The performance of black American identity feels very different from actually living in a black body. There's a dissonance between inside and outside.
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