Charles Darwin Zitate
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Charles Robert Darwin [tʃɑrlz 'dɑː.wɪn] war ein britischer Naturforscher. Er gilt wegen seiner wesentlichen Beiträge zur Evolutionstheorie als einer der bedeutendsten Naturwissenschaftler.

Die Ende 1831 begonnene und fast fünf Jahre andauernde Reise mit der HMS Beagle, die den jungen Darwin einmal um die Welt führte, war zugleich Schlüsselerlebnis und Grundlage für sein späteres Werk. Der breiten Öffentlichkeit wurde Darwin erstmals durch seinen 1839 herausgegebenen Reisebericht bekannt. Mit seiner Theorie über die Entstehung der Korallenriffe und weiteren geologischen Schriften erlangte er in wissenschaftlichen Kreisen die Anerkennung als Geologe. Seine Untersuchungen an den Rankenfußkrebsen verschafften ihm Mitte der 1850er Jahre zusätzlich einen Ruf als angesehener Zoologe und Taxonom.

Bereits 1838 entwarf Darwin seine Theorie der Anpassung an den Lebensraum durch Variation und natürliche Selektion und erklärte so die phylogenetische Entwicklung aller Organismen und ihre Aufspaltung in verschiedene Arten. Über 20 Jahre lang trug er Belege für diese Theorie zusammen. 1842 und 1844 verfasste Darwin kurze Abrisse seiner Theorie, die er jedoch nicht veröffentlichte. Ab 1856 arbeitete er an einem umfangreichen Manuskript mit dem Titel Natural Selection. Durch einen Brief von Alfred Russel Wallace, der dessen Ternate-Manuskript mit ähnlichen Gedanken zur Evolution enthielt, kam es im Sommer 1858 schließlich zu einer Veröffentlichung der Theorien über die Evolution durch beide. Ein Jahr später folgte Darwins Hauptwerk On the Origin of Species , das als streng naturwissenschaftliche Erklärung für die Diversität des Lebens die Grundlage der modernen Evolutionsbiologie bildet und einen entscheidenden Wendepunkt in der Geschichte der modernen Biologie darstellt.

1871 diskutierte Darwin in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex mit der sexuellen Selektion einen zweiten Selektionsmechanismus und nutzte seine Theorie, um die Abstammung des Menschen zu erklären. In seinem letzten Lebensjahrzehnt untersuchte Darwin Kletterpflanzen, Orchideen und fleischfressende Pflanzen und leistete wichtige Beiträge zur Botanik. Sein offizielles botanisches Autorenkürzel lautet „Darwin“. Wikipedia  

✵ 12. Februar 1809 – 19. April 1882   •   Andere Namen Charles Robert Darwin
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„Ohne Spekulation gibt es keine neue Beobachtung.“

Brief an Alfred Russel Wallace, 22. Dezember 1857
Original engl.: "I am a firm believer, that without speculation there is no good & original observation." - Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2192,” accessed on 4 December 2016, www.darwinproject.ac.uk http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/DCP-LETT-2192

„Ich habe nicht die geringste Angst vor dem Sterben.“

Letzte Worte, 19. April 1882
Original engl.: "I am not the least afraid to die."

„In dem Zustand der Anarchie, des Despotismus oder einer schlechten Regierung wird Gewalt, Strenge oder Wildheit und nicht der Intellekt leicht den Sieg erringen.“

Original engl.: "In the state of anarchy, despotism or poor governance, severity or ferocity, not the intellect are easily gain the victory." Brief vom 12. März 1860 an C. Lyell. Quelle: Darwin, Francis ed. 1887. The life and letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter. London: John Murray. Volume 2, darwin-online.org.uk http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?keywords=or%20and%20force%20strength%20not%20ferocity&pageseq=311&itemID=F1452.2&viewtype=text

„Alle Natur befindet sich im Krieg miteinander oder mit der äusseren Natur.“

Vortrag http://www.zeno.org/nid/20009160671 1. Juli 1858 vor der Linnean Society, verweisend auf eine ähnliche Aussage des Schweizer Botanikers Augustin-Pyrame de Candolle (Essai élémentaire de géographie botanique, 1820. S. 26 http://books.google.de/books?id=gj4-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA26&dq=Essai+%C3%A9l%C3%A9mentaire+de+g%C3%A9ographie+botanique+guerre+les+unes&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Fch-T-yeJrGZ0QXRqf2aBw&sqi=2&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false)). Zitiert von Andreas Weber in: Biokapital. Die Versöhnung von Ökonomie, Natur und Menschlichkeit, Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 3827007925, S. 58 und in DIE ZEIT, 09.10.2008 http://pdf.zeit.de/2008/42/ST-Darwin.pdf
Original engl.: "All nature is at war, one organism with another, or with external nature. " - darwin-online.org http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/scans/Shorter%20Publications(online)/1858_species_F350_002.jpg

„Endlich bin ich überzeugt, dass die natürliche Zuchtwahl das wichtigste, wenn auch nicht das ausschliessliche Mittel zur Abänderung der Lebensformen gewesen ist.“

Über die Entstehung der Arten durch natürliche Zuchtwahl oder die Erhaltung der begünstigten Rassen im Kampfe um's Dasein, 9. Auflage, Stuttgart 1899, Einleitung S. 24, zenon.org http://www.zeno.org/nid/20009160698
oft verkürzt: "Die natürliche Auswahl ist das wichtigste, aber nicht das einzige Mittel der Veränderung." - etwa als Motto von Kapitel 8 in: Stephanie Linnhe, Herz aus Grün und Silber, Ullstein Burchverlage GmbH, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-95818-015-1
Original engl.: "I am convinced that natural selection has been the most important, but not the exclusive, means of modification."

Charles Darwin: Zitate auf Englisch

“Most of the more complex emotions are common to the higher animals and ourselves. Every one has seen how jealous a dog is of his master's affection, if lavished on any other creature; and I have observed the same fact with monkeys. This shews that animals not only love, but have the desire to be loved.”

Charles Darwin buch The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

volume I, chapter II: "Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals", pages 41-42 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=54&itemID=F937.1&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“Through the principle of associated habit, the same movements of the face and eyes are practised, and can, indeed, hardly be avoided, whenever we know or believe that others are blaming, or too strongly praising, our moral conduct.”

Charles Darwin buch The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Quelle: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), chapter XIII: "Self-attention — Shame — Shyness — Modesty: Blushing", page 347 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=375&itemID=F1142&viewtype=image

“Man differs from woman in size, bodily strength, hairyness, &c., as well as in mind, in the same manner as do the two sexes of many mammals.”

Charles Darwin buch The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

volume I, chapter I: "The Evidence of the Descent of Man from some Lower Form", pages 13-14 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=26&itemID=F937.1&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“It is a curious little world within itself”

Charles Darwin buch The Voyage of the Beagle

About the island of Saint Helena
The Voyage of the Beagle (1839)
Quelle: http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-305

“[T]he young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements.”

Charles Darwin buch The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Quelle: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), chapter XIV: "Concluding Remarks and Summary", page 352 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=380&itemID=F1142&viewtype=image

“It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist & an evolutionist. … I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.”

Letter http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-12041 to John Fordyce, 7 May 1879
Other letters, notebooks, journal articles, recollected statements

“I am quite conscious that my speculations run quite beyond the bounds of true science. … I inferred that genera & Families with very few species (i. e. from Extinction) would be apt (not necessarily always) to have narrow ranges & disjoined ranges. You will not perceive, perhaps, what I am driving at & it is not worth enlarging on, — but I look at Extinction as common cause of small genera & disjoined ranges & therefore they ought, if they behaved properly & as nature does not lie to go together!”

The first sentence is often quoted in isolation http://www.conservapedia.com/Charles_Darwin, with the suggestion that Darwin is saying that his speculations concerning evolution "run quite beyond the bounds of true science." In fact, as the context makes clear, Darwin is referring to his speculations concerning the geographical ranges of genera with few species.
Other letters, notebooks, journal articles, recollected statements
Quelle: Letter http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-2109 to Asa Gray, 18 June 1857

“I am almost convinced (quite contrary to opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable.”

volume II, chapter II: "The Growth of the 'Origin of Species' — 1843-1856", page 23 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=39&itemID=F1452.2&viewtype=image; letter http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-729 to J.D. Hooker (11 January 1844)
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887)

“In this case, therefore, the worms judged with a considerable degree of correctness how best to draw the withered leaves of this foreign plant into their burrows; notwithstanding that they had to depart from their usual habit of avoiding the foot-stalk.”

Charles Darwin buch The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms

Quelle: The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881), Chapter 2: Habits of Worms, p. 70. http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=85&itemID=F1357&viewtype=image

“Even insects express anger, terror, jealousy, and love by their stridulation.”

Charles Darwin buch The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Quelle: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), chapter XIV: "Concluding Remarks and Summary", page 350

“Amongst the half-human progenitors of man, and amongst savages, there have been struggles between the males during many generations for the possession of the females. But mere bodily strength and size would do little for victory, unless associated with courage, perseverance, and determined energy. With social animals, the young males have to pass through many a contest before they win a female, and the older males have to retain their females by renewed battles. They have, also, in the case of mankind, to defend their females, as well as their young, from enemies of all kinds, and to hunt for their joint subsistence. But to avoid enemies or to attack them with success, to capture wild animals, and to fashion weapons, requires the aid of the higher mental faculties, namely, observation, reason, invention, or imagination. These various faculties will thus have been continually put to the test and selected during manhood; they will, moreover, have been strengthened by use during this same period of life. Consequently, in accordance with the principle often alluded to, we might expect that they would at least tend to be transmitted chiefly to the male offspring at the corresponding period of manhood.”

Charles Darwin buch The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

second edition (1874), chapter XIX: "Secondary Sexual Characters of Man", page 564 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=587&itemID=F944&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“The expression often used by Mr. Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate, and is sometimes equally convenient.”

Charles Darwin buch On the Origin of Species (1859)

Compare: "This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr Darwin has called 'natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.' ", Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Biology (1864) volume 1, part III: "The Evolution of Life", chapter XII, "Indirect Equilibration", pages 444-445.
Quelle: On the Origin of Species (1859), chapter III: "Struggle For Existence", page 72 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=101&itemID=F387&viewtype=image, in the fifth (1869) and sixth (1872) editions

“In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment.”

This related misquote http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/six-things-darwin-never-said appeared in The Living Clocks (1971) by Ritchie R. Ward.
Misattributed

“It is easy to specify the individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes; but it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, astonishment, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.”

Charles Darwin buch The Voyage of the Beagle

Quelle: The Voyage of the Beagle (1839), chapter II, "Rio de Janeiro", 18 April 1832, page 29 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=image&itemID=F11&pageseq=48

“Worms seize leaves and other objects, not only to serve as food, but for plugging up the mouths of their burrows; and this is one of their strongest instincts.”

Charles Darwin buch The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms

Quelle: The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881), Chapter 2: Habits of Worms, p. 58. http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=73&itemID=F1357&viewtype=image

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