As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form.

Believing as I do that man in the distant future will be a far more perfect creature than he now is, it is an intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are doomed to complete annihilation after such long-continued slow progress.

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

I have no great quickness of apprehension or wit which is so remarkable in some clever men, for instance Huxley

Our descent, then, is the origin of our evil passions!! The devil under form of Baboon is our grandfather.

There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties...The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind.

Thus we have given to man a pedigree of prodigious length, but not, it may be said, of noble quality.