Carl Linnaeus: Man

“I have been not been able to discover any character by which man can be distinguished from the ape”

Carl Linnaeus

Fauna Suecica (1746) as quoted by Jeffrey H. Schwartz, Sudden Origins: Fossils, Genes, and the Emergence of Species (1999)
Context: As a natural historian according to the principles of science, up to the present time I have been not been able to discover any character by which man can be distinguished from the ape; for there are somewhere apes which are less hairy than man, erect in position, going just like him on two feet, and recalling the human species by the use they make of their hands and feet, to such an extent, that the less educated travellers have given them out as a kind of man.

“I think fit to enumerate man among the quadrapeds”

Carl Linnaeus

Fauna Suecica (1746) as quoted by Jeffrey H. Schwartz, Sudden Origins: Fossils, Genes, and the Emergence of Species (1999)
Context: No one has any right to be angry with me, if I think fit to enumerate man among the quadrapeds. Man is neither a stone nor a plant, but an animal, for such is his way of living and moving; nor is he a worm, for then he would have only one foot; nor an insect, for then he would have antennae; nor a fish, for he has no fins; nor a bird, for he has no wings. Therefore, he is a quadraped, had a mouth like that of other quadrapeds, and finally four feet, on two of which he goes, and uses the other two for prehensive purposes.

Thinking

“I demand of you, and of the whole world, that you show me a generic character—one that is according to generally accepted principles of classification, by which to distinguish between Man and Ape. I myself most assuredly know of none. …But, if I had called man an ape, or vice versa, I should have fallen under the ban of all the ecclesiastics. It may be that as a naturalist I ought to have done so.”

Carl Linnaeus

Letter to J. G. Gmelin (1747) as quoted by Jeffrey H. Schwartz, Sudden Origins: Fossils, Genes, and the Emergence of Species (1999)

World

“The Earth's Creation is the glory of God, as seen from the works of Nature by Man alone.”

Carl Linnaeus book Systema Naturae

In the Introitus (Preface) from his late editions.
Original in Latin: "Finis Creationis telluris est gloria Dei ex opere Naturae per Hominem solum"
Variant translation: "The purpose of Creation is the glory of God, as can be seen from the works in nature by man alone."
Systema Naturae

God , Nature

“Everything the Almighty Creator has instituted on our globe occurs in such a wonderful order, that no thing subsists without the support of something else: The Globe itself, with all its Stones, Ore, and Gravel, is nourished and sustained by the Elements: Plants, Trees, Herbs, Grasses, and Mosses grow out of the Globe, and Animals eventually grow out of the plants. All of these are finally transformed back into their primary substances, the Earth feeding the Plant, the Plant the Worm, the Worm the Bird, and often the Bird the Beast of Prey; Then finally the Beast of Prey is consumed the Bird of Prey, the Bird of Prey by the Worm, the Worm by the Herb, the Herb by the Earth: Man indeed, who turns everything to his needs, is often consumed by the Beast, the Bird, or the Fish which preys on him, by the Worm or the Earth. It is thus that everything circulates.”

Carl Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus, Nemesis Divina (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996), ed. M. J. Petry.
Nemesis Divina (1734)

Support , Bird , Fish , Tree

“Theologically, man is to be understood as the final purpose of the creation; placed on the globe as the masterpiece of the works of Omnipotence, contemplating the world by virtue of sapient reason, forming conclusions by means of his senses, it is in His works that man recognizes the almighty Creator, the all-knowing, immeasurable and eternal God, learning to live morally under His rule, convinced of the complete justice of His Nemesis.”

Carl Linnaeus

As translated in ‎Michael John Petry (2001), in Nemesis Divina: (Edited and Translated with Explanatory Notes by M.J. Petry); Springer. p. 21
The excerpt was republished in Latin by Linnaues himself, in Systema Naturae ed. (1788) http://books.google.com.mx/books?id=Z3PVJQMIhboC&pg=PA5&dq=%22Crentorem+oinniputentem+,+omnifcium+%22&hl=es-419&sa=X&ei=QyjYUuWnE8TrkQenv4DoBw&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Crentorem%20oinniputentem%20%2C%20omnifcium%20%22&f=false: ""Theologice: Te ultimum finem creationis; In Telluris globum, Omnipotentis magisterium, introductum; ratione sapiente, secundum senfus concludente, mundi contemplatorem: ut ex opere agnosceres Creatorem omnipotentem, omniscium, immensum & sempiternum DEum, cujus sub imperio quod moraliter vivas, a justissima ejus Nemesi convicaris."
Nemesis Divina (1734)

God , World , Justice , Sense