The noble science of Geology loses glory from the extreme imperfection of the record. The crust of the earth with its embedded remains must not be looked at as a well-filled museum, but as a poor collection made at hazard and at rare intervals.

I have long discovered that geologists never read each other's works, and that the only object in writing a book is a proof of earnestness.

It is not the conscience which raises a blush, for a man may sincerely regret some slight fault committed in solitude, or he may suffer the deepest remorse for an undetected crime, but he will not blush... It is not the sense of guilt, but the thought that others think or know us to be guilty which crimsons the face.

we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps

If I had not been so great an invalid, I should not have done so much as I have accomplished.

The formation of different languages and of distinct species and the proofs that both have been developed through a gradual process, are curiously parallel.

The most important factor in survival is neither intelligence nor strength but adaptability.