Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
Charles DarwinRead
Thus we have given to man a pedigree of prodigious length, but not, it may be said, of noble quality.
Interpretation
Darwin reflects on human ancestry, emphasizing its extensive history but questioning its nobility.
In this quote, Charles Darwin suggests that while humans possess an impressive lineage stretching back through countless generations, this history does not necessarily confer nobility or superiority. He highlights a tension between the extensive evolutionary history of humans and the qualities that might define a noble character, prompting a reflection on what it truly means to be 'noble' in the context of our origins.
In practice
During a discussion on human evolution in a philosophy class.
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
An eye for beauty locks onto faces that show signs of health and fertility - just as one would predict if it had evolved to help the beholder find the fittest mate.
Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued." "It is not living that matters, but living rightly. The unexamined life is not worth living.
Texas will again lift it's head and stand among the nations. It ought to do so, for no country upon the globe can compare with it in natural advantages.
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
The universe... is a machine for the making of gods.
Death is given in a kiss; the dearest kindnesses are fatal; and into this life, where one thing preys upon another, the child too often makes its entrance from the mother's corpse.
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