Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
Charles DarwinRead
Nothing is easier than to admit in words the truth of the universal struggle for life, or more difficult - at least I have found it so - than constantly to bear this conclusion in mind...We behold the face of nature bright with gladness...We do not see, or we forget, that the birds which are idly singing round us mostly live on insects and seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the struggle for life in nature, highlighting how beauty often masks underlying realities.
In this quote, Charles Darwin emphasizes the inherent struggles present in nature that often go unnoticed amidst its beauty. Although it is easy to acknowledge the idea that life is a constant struggle for survival, it is far more challenging to remain aware of this truth in our everyday observations of nature's apparent joyfulness. The 'gladness' we see in nature, such as singing birds, hides the harsh realities of survival, where these creatures must constantly fight to sustain themselves, reminding us that life is interwoven with both beauty and the struggle for existence.
Themes
NatureStruggleLifeSurvivalBeauty
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on environmental conservation, this quote could highlight the interconnectedness of life and the need to preserve nature.
More from Charles Darwin
All quotes →The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
Charles DarwinRead
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
Charles DarwinRead
Similar quotes
Je puis nier une chose sans me croire obligé de la salir ou de retirer aux autres le droit d'y croire.
Albert CamusRead
I would by all means have men beware, lest Æsop's pretty fable of the fly that sate [sic] on the pole of a chariot at the Olympic races and said, 'What a dust do I raise,' be verified in them. For so it is that some small observation, and that disturbed sometimes by the instrument, sometimes by the eye, sometimes by the calculation, and which may be owing to some real change in the heaven, raises new heavens and new spheres and circles.
Francis BaconRead
I wanted to get far away from those who believed in cruelty, so then I went to France, a land of true freedom, democracy, equality and fraternity.
Josephine BakerRead
What the United States has done is to be open to people who are fleeing tyranny, who are fleeing danger, but we have done it in a very careful way that has worked for us.
Condoleezza RiceRead
LSD is just a tool to turn us into what we are supposed to be.
Albert HofmannRead
Let the Palestinians run their affairs: create a situation in which no Israeli soldier will have to maintain public order, whether in Gaza or the West Bank. Let's give it to the Palestinians, as long as there is security for us. No more occupying another people.
Yitzhak RabinRead