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
What this quote means
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.
Themes
EvolutionHuman NatureAncestryNobilityDarwin
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on human evolution in a philosophy class.
More from Charles Darwin
All quotes βThe 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
Goodness was more difficult than evil. Evil men knew that more than good men. That's why they became evil. That's why it stuck with them. Evil was for those who could never reach the truth. It was a mask for stupidity and lack of love. Even if people laughed at the notion of goodness, if they found it sentimental, or nostalgic, it didn't matter -- it was none of those things, he said, and it had to be fought for.
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Know that this universe is nothing but a dream bluff of nature to test your consciousness of immortality.
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The most High approveth not the gifts of the wicked.
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These are the things which might conceivably and truly make men forgive their enemies. We can only turn hate to love by understanding what are the things that men have loved; nor is it necessary to ask men to hate their loves in order to love one another. Just as two grocers are most likely to be reconciled when they remember for a moment that they are two fathers, so two nationals are most likely to be reconciled when they remember (if only for a moment) that they are two patriots.
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I emphasize the reply that the liberty which a citizen enjoys is to be measured, not by the nature of the governmental machinery he lives under, whether representative or other, but by the relative paucity of the restraints it imposes on him.
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