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.

Building a better mousetrap merely results in smarter mice.

The question of whether there exists a Creator and Ruler of the Universe has been answered in the affirmative by some of the highest intellects that have ever existed.

The main conclusion here arrived at ... is that man is descended from some less highly organized form.

There is a grandeur in this view of life, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful are being evolved

It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds, which follows from the advance of science.

A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life, as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones