Whoever is led to believe that species are mutable will do good service by conscientiously expressing his conviction; for only thus can the load of prejudice by which this subject is overwhelmed be removed.

I cannot see ... evidence of design and beneficence ... There seems to me too much misery in the world.

Englishmen rarely cry, except under the pressure of the acutest grief; whereas in some parts of the Continent the men shed tears much more readily and freely.

It is a fatal fault to reason whilst observing, though so necessary beforehand and so useful afterwards.

I am aware that the conclusions arrived at in this work will be denounced by some as highly irreligious; but he who denounces them is bound to show why it is more irreligious to explain the origin of man as a distinct species by descent from some lower from, through the laws of variation and natural selection, than to explain the birth of the individual through the laws of ordinary reproduction. The birth both of the species and of the individual are equally parts of that grand sequence of events, which our minds refuse to accept as the result of blind chance.

It may be conceit, but I believe the subject will interest the public, and I am sure that the views are original.

I feel like an old warhorse at the sound of a trumpet when I read about the capturing of rare beetles.