I always feel as if my books came half out of Lyell's brain... & therefore that when seeing a thing never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it partially through his eyes.

We may confidently come to the conclusion, that the forces which slowly and by little starts uplift continents, and that those which at successive periods pour forth volcanic matter from open orifices, are identical.

Attention, if sudden and close, graduates into surprise; and this into astonishment; and this into stupefied amazement.

I am not the least afraid to die

Endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved

Formerly Milton's Paradise Lost had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of the Beagle, when I could take only a single small volume, I always chose Milton.

With mammals the male appears to win the female much more through the law of battle than through the display of his charms.