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
Reality is a staircase going neither up nor down, we don't move; today is today, always is today.
Octavio PazRead
...The hagaddah came to Sarajevo for a reason. It was here to test us, to see if there were people who could see that what united us was more than what divided us. That to be a human being matters more than to be a Jew or a Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox. p. 361
Geraldine BrooksRead
Solitude is independence. It had been my wish and with the years I had attained it. It was cold. Oh, cold enough! But it was also still, wonderfully still and vast like the cold stillness of space in which the stars revolve.
Hermann HesseRead
somehow one must love the world without being worldly.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
Classic economic theory, based as it is on an inadequate theory of human motivation, could be revolutionized by accepting the reality of higher human needs, including the impulse to self actualization and the love for the highest values.
Abraham MaslowRead
When we really worship anything, we love not only its clearness but its obscurity. We exult in its very invisibility.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead