The best The Origin of Species quotes

The forms of life throughout the universe become divided into groups subordinate to groups.

One general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.

Man selects only for his own good: Nature only for that of the being which she tends

The laws governing inheritance are for the most part unknown.

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.

The vigorous, the healthy, and the happy survive and multiply.

But a plant on the edge of a deserts is said to struggle for life against the drought, though more properly it should be said to be dependent upon the moisture.

I think it inevitably follows, that as new species in the course of time are formed through natural selection, others will become rarer and rarer, and finally extinct. The forms which stand in closest competition with those undergoing modification and improvement will naturally suffer most.

I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious views of anyone.

From so simple a beginning endless forms... are being evolved.

If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find no such case.

We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence.

It harmonizes... with the view that there is no essential distinction between species and varieties.