The Quotable Darwin

by Janet Browne

  Journal of Researches 1839, 231

  Magnificent glaciers extended from the mountain side to the water’s edge. It is scarcely possible to imagine any thing more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of the glacier, and especially when contrasted with the dead white of an expanse of snow. As fragments fell from the glacier into the water, they floated away, and the channel with its icebergs represented in miniature the polar sea.

  Journal of Researches 1839, 243–44

  When we reached the crest [of the Portillo pass] and looked backwards, a glorious view was presented. The atmosphere resplendently clear; the sky an intense blue; the profound valleys; the wild broken forms; the heaps of ruins, piled up during the lapse of ages; the bright-coloured rocks, contrasted with the quiet mountains of snow; all these together produced a scene I never could have figured to my imagination. Neither plant nor bird, excepting a few condors wheeling around the higher pinnacles, distracted the attention from the inanimate mass. I felt glad I was alone: it was like watching a thunderstorm, or hearing a chorus of the Messiah in full orchestra.

  Journal of Researches 1839, 394

  The weather is quite delicious. Yesterday after writing to you I strolled a little beyond the glade for an hour & half & enjoyed myself—the fresh yet dark green of the grand Scotch Firs, the brown of the catkins of the old Birches with their white stems & a fringe of distant green from the larches, made an excessively pretty view.—At last I fell fast asleep on the grass & awoke with a chorus of birds singing around me, & squirrels running up the trees & some Woodpeckers laughing, & it was as pleasant a rural scene as ever I saw, & I did not care one penny how any of the beasts or birds had been formed.—

  Darwin to Emma Darwin,

  [28 April 1858], DCP 2261

  I quite agree how humiliating the slow progress of man is; but everyone has his own pet horror, & this slow progress, or even personal annihilation sinks in my mind into insignificance compared with the idea, or rather I presume certainty, of the sun some day cooling & we all freezing. To think of the progress of millions of years, with every continent swarming with good & enlightened men all ending in this; & with probably no fresh start until this our own planetary system has been again converted into red-hot gas.—Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance.

  Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

  9 February [1865], DCP 4769

  Autobiographical

  My mother died in July 1817, when I was a little over eight years old, and it is odd that I can remember hardly anything about her except her death-bed, her black velvet gown, and her curiously constructed work-table. I believe that my forgetfulness is partly due to my sisters, owing to their great grief, never being able to speak about her or mention her name; and partly to her previous invalid state.

  Autobiography, 22

  My father’s mind was not scientific, and he did not try to generalise his knowledge under general laws; yet he formed a theory for almost everything which occurred. I do not think that I gained much from him intellectually.

  Autobiography, 42

  To my deep mortification my father once said to me, “You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.” But my father, who was the kindest man I ever knew, and whose memory I love with all my heart, must have been angry and somewhat unjust when he used such words.

  Autobiography, 28

  As far as I can judge of myself I worked to the utmost during the voyage from the mere pleasure of investigation, and from my strong desire to add a few facts to the great mass of facts in natural science. But I was also ambitious to take a fair place among scientific men.

  Autobiography, 80–81

  About this time [1839] I took much delight in Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s poetry, and can boast that I read the Excursion twice through. 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.

  Autobiography, 85

  Looking backwards, I can now perceive how my love for science gradually preponderated over every other taste…. I discovered, though unconsciously and insensibly, that the pleasure of observing and reasoning was a much higher one than that of skill and sport. The primeval instincts of the barbarian slowly yielded to the acquired tastes of the civilized man.

  Autobiography, 78

  I should be very glad to hear about yourself, Mrs Fitzroy & the children. My life goes on like Clockwork, and I am fixed on the spot where I shall end it; we have four children, who & my wife are all well. My health, also, has rather improved, but I am a different man in strength and energy to what I was in old days, when I was your “Fly-catcher”, on board the Beagle.

  Darwin to Robert FitzRoy,

  1 October 1846, DCP 1002

  You do me injustice when you think that I work for fame: I value it to a certain extent; but, if I know myself, I work from a sort of instinct to try to make out truth.

  Darwin to W. D. Fox,

  24 [March 1859], DCP 2436

  I send a Photograph of myself with my Beard. Do I not look venerable?

  Darwin to Asa Gray,

  28 May [1864], DCP 4511

  I like this photograph much better than any other which has been taken of me.

  Endorsement of photograph

  by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1868

  As for myself I believe that I have acted rightly in steadily following and devoting my life to science. I feel no remorse from having committed any great sin, but have often and often regretted that I have not done more direct good to my fellow creatures. My sole and poor excuse is much ill-health and my mental constitution, which makes it extremely difficult for me to turn from one subject or occupation to another. I can imagine with high satisfaction giving up my whole time to philanthropy, but not a portion of it; though this would have been a far better line of conduct.

  Autobiography, 95

  My handwriting same as Grandfather.

  Notebook M, 83e

  I rejoice that I have avoided controversies, and this I owe to [Charles] Lyell, who many years ago, in reference to my geological works, strongly advised me never to get entangled in a controversy, as it rarely did any good and caused a miserable loss of time and temper.

  Autobiography, 126

  Pray give our very kind remembrances to Mrs. Gray. I know that she likes to hear men boasting,—it refreshes them so much. Now the tally with my wife in backgammon stands thus: she, poor creature, has won only 2490 games, whilst I have won, hurrah, hurrah, 2795 games.

  Darwin to Asa Gray,

  28 January 1876, DCP 10370

  In one respect my mind has changed during the last twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty, or beyond it, poetry of many kinds, such as the works of Milton, Gray, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley, gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in Shakespeare, especially in the historical plays. I have also said that formerly pictures gave me considerable, and music very great delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost any taste for pictures or music.—Music generally sets me thinking too energetically on what I have been at work on, instead of giving me pleasure. I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it formerly did.

  Autobiography, 138

  My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain alone, on which the higher tastes depend, I cannot conceive.

  Autobiography, 139

  Special talents: None except for business, as evinced by keeping accounts, replies to correspondence, and investing money very well. Very methodical in all my habits.

  Response to questionnaire,

  Lif
e and Letters, vol. 3, 179

  Everybody whom I have seen and who has seen your picture of me is delighted with it. I shall be proud some day to see myself suspended at the Linnean Society.

  Darwin to John Collier,

  16 February 1882, More Letters, vol. 1, 398

  For my own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his keeper; or from that old baboon, who, descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs—as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practises infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions.

  Descent 1871, vol. 2, 404–5

  I give and bequeath to each of my friends Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Henry Huxley Esquire the legacy or sum of one thousand pounds sterling free of legacy duty as a slight memorial of my life long affection and respect for them.

  Last will and testament of

  Charles Robert Darwin,

  quoted in Darwin Online

  With such moderate abilities as I possess, it is truly surprising that thus I should have influenced to a considerable extent the beliefs of scientific men on some important points.

  Autobiography, 145

  PART 6

  Friends and Family

  Darwin, photograph by Elliott & Fry, c. 1881. Reproduced with permission from the National Portrait Gallery London.

  Friends and Contemporaries

  Louis Agassiz: What a set of men you have in Cambridge! Both our Universities put together cannot furnish the like. Why, there is Agassiz,—he counts for three.

  E. C. Agassiz 1890, 666

  Robert Brown: I called on him two or three times before the voyage of the Beagle, and on one occasion he asked me to look through a microscope and describe what I saw. This I did, and believe now that it was the marvellous currents of protoplasm in some vegetable cell. I then asked him what I had seen; but he answered me, who was then hardly more than a boy and on the point of leaving England for five years, “That is my little secret.” I suppose that he was afraid that I might steal his discovery.

  Autobiography, 103–4

  Samuel Butler: In 1879, I had a translation of Dr. Ernst Krause’s Life of Erasmus Darwin pub lished, and I added a sketch of his character and habits from materials in my possession…. Owing to my having accidentally omitted to mention that Dr. Krause had enlarged and corrected his article in German before it was translated, Mr Samuel Butler abused me with almost insane virulence. How I offended him so bitterly, I have never been able to understand.

  Autobiography, 134–35

  Thomas Carlyle: His talk was very racy and interesting, just like his writings, but he sometimes went on too long on the same subject. I remember a funny dinner at my brother’s, where, amongst a few others, were [Charles] Babbage and [Charles] Lyell, both of whom liked to talk. Carlyle, however, silenced every one by haranguing during the whole dinner on the advantages of silence. After dinner, Babbage, in his grimmest manner, thanked Carlyle for his very interesting Lecture on Silence…. He has been all-powerful in impressing some grand moral truths on the minds of men. On the other hand, his views about slavery were revolting. In his eyes might was right.

  Autobiography, 112–13

  Erasmus Darwin: Dr. Darwin has been frequently called an atheist, whereas in every one of his works distinct expressions may be found showing that he fully believed in God as the Creator of the universe…. Although Dr. Darwin was certainly a theist in the ordinary acceptation of the term, he disbelieved in any revelation. Nor did he feel much respect for Unitarianism, for he used to say that “Unitarianism was a feather-bed to catch a falling Christian.”

  C. Darwin 1879, 44–45

  Erasmus Alvey Darwin: My brother Erasmus possessed a remarkably clear mind, with extensive and diversified tastes and knowledge in literature, art, and even in science. For a short time he collected and dried plants, and during a somewhat longer time experimented in chemistry. He was extremely agreeable, and his wit often reminded me of that in the letters and works of Charles Lamb. He was very kind-hearted; but his health from his boyhood had been weak, and as a consequence he failed in energy.

  Autobiography, 42

  Robert FitzRoy: FitzRoy’s character was a singular one, with many very noble features: he was devoted to his duty, generous to a fault, bold, determined, indomitably energetic, and an ardent friend to all under his sway. He would undertake any sort of trouble to assist those whom he thought deserved assistance…. His temper was usually worst in the early morning, and with his eagle eye he could generally detect something amiss about the ship, and was then unsparing in his blame. The junior officers when they relieved each other in the forenoon used to ask “whether much hot coffee had been served out this morning,—” which meant how was the Captain’s temper?

  Autobiography, 72–73

  William Darwin Fox: I am sure, if a long voyage may have some injurious tendencies to a person’s character, it has the one good one of teaching him to appreciate & dearly love his friends & relations.

  Darwin to W. D. Fox,

  15 February 1836, DCP 299

  William Ewart Gladstone: What an honor that such a great man should come to visit me!

  Morley 1903, vol. 2, 562

  Asa Gray: My conclusion is that you have made a mistake in being a Botanist, you ought to have been a Lawyer, & you would have rolled in wealth by perverting the truth, instead of studying the living truths of this world.

  Darwin to Asa Gray,

  22 July [1860], DCP 2876

  Asa Gray: I said in a former letter that you were a Lawyer; but I made a gross mistake, I am sure that you are a poet. No by Jove I will tell you what you are, a hybrid, a complex cross of Lawyer, Poet, Naturalist, & Theologian!—Was there ever such a monster seen before?

  Darwin to Asa Gray,

  10 September [1860], DCP 2910

  Ernst Haeckel: I have seldom seen a more pleasant, cordial & frank man. He is now in Madeira where he is going to work chiefly on the Medusæ. His great work is now published & I have a copy, but the German is so difficult I can make out but little of it, & I fear it is too large a work to be translated.

  Darwin to J.F.T. Müller,

  [before 10 December 1866], DCP 5261

  John Stevens Henslow: He was deeply religious, and so orthodox that he told me one day he should be grieved if a single word of the Thirty-nine Articles were altered. His moral qualities were in every way admirable. He was free from every tinge of vanity or other petty feeling; and I never saw a man who thought so little about himself or his own concerns.

  Autobiography, 64–65

  Joseph Dalton Hooker: I became very intimate with Hooker, who has been one of my best friends throughout life. He is a delightfully pleasant companion and most kind-hearted. One can see at once that he is honourable to the backbone. His intellect is very acute, and he has great power of generalisation. He is the most untirable worker that I have ever seen, and will sit the whole day working with the microscope, and be in the evening as fresh and pleasant as ever. He is in all ways very impulsive and somewhat peppery in temper; but the clouds pass away almost immediately…. I have known hardly any man more lovable than Hooker.

  Autobiography, 105–6

  Joseph Dalton Hooker: The sight of your handwriting always rejoices the very cockles of my heart.

  Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

  15 January [1861], DCP 3047

  Joseph Dalton Hooker: I have got your Photograph over my chimney-piece & like it much; but you look down so sharp on me that I shall never be bold enough to wriggle myself out of any contradiction.

  Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

  25 December [1868], DCP 6512

  Alexander von Humboldt: I once met at breakfast at Sir R. Murchison’s house, the illustrious Humboldt, who honoured me by expressing a wish to see me.
I was a little disappointed with the great man, but my anticipations probably were too high. I can remember nothing distinctly about our interview, except that Humboldt was very cheerful and talked much.

  Autobiography, 107

  Thomas Henry Huxley: His mind is as quick as a flash of lightning and as sharp as a razor. He is the best talker whom I have known. He never writes and never says anything flat. From his conversation no one would suppose that he could cut up his opponents in so trenchant a manner as he can do and does do…. He is a splendid man and has worked well for the good of mankind.

  Autobiography, 106

  Thomas Henry Huxley: I often think that my friends (& you far beyond others) have good cause to hate me, for having stirred up so much mud, & led them into so much odious trouble.—If I had been a friend of myself, I should have hated me. (how to make that sentence good English I know not.) But remember if I had not stirred up the mud some one else certainly soon would.

  Darwin to T. H. Huxley,

  3 July [1860], DCP 2854

  John Lubbock: It made me grieve his taking to Politicks, & though I grieve that he has lost his Election, yet I suppose now that he is once bitten he will never give up Politicks, & Science is done for. Many men can make fair M.P.s, & how few can work in science like him.

  Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

  [29 July 1865], DCP 4874

  Charles Lyell: I saw more of Lyell than of any other man both before and after my marriage. His mind was characterised, as it appeared to me, by clearness, caution, sound judgment and a good deal of originality…. His delight in science was ardent, and he felt the keenest interest in the future progress of mankind. He was very kind-hearted, and thoroughly liberal in his religious beliefs or rather disbeliefs; but he was a strong theist. His candour was highly remarkable. He exhibited this by becoming a convert to the Descent theory, though he had gained much fame by opposing Lamarck’s views, and this after he had grown old. He reminded me that I had many years before said to him, when discussing the opposition of the old school of geologists to his new views, “What a good thing it would be if every scientific man was to die when sixty years old, as afterwards he would be sure to oppose all new doctrines.” But he hoped that now he might be allowed to live.