Charles Darwin citations (175 citations, Page 3)

Charles Darwin: 175 citations 2 J'aime

Charles Darwin citations célèbres

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“Un homme qui ose perdre une heure de son temps n'a pas découvert la valeur de la vie.”

Charles Darwin

“Ce n'est pas le plus fort de l'espèce qui survit, ni le plus intelligent. C'est celui qui sait le mieux s'adapter au changement.”

Charles Darwin

Propos rapportés

“Les véritables affinités des êtres organisés, au contraire de leurs ressemblances d’adaptation, sont le résultat héréditaire de la communauté de descendance.”

Charles Darwin

The real affinities of all organic beings are due to inheritance or community of descent.
en
L'Origine des espèces, 1859

“Quiconque a vu un sauvage dans son pays natal n’éprouvera aucune honte à reconnaître que le sang de quelque être inférieur coule dans ses veines.”

Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

“Au cours de la journée, je fus diverti par la dextérité avec laquelle un gaúcho força un cheval rétif à traverser une rivière. Il ôta ses vêtements et sautant sur son dos, pénétra avec lui dans l'eau jusqu'à ce qu'il cessa d'avoir pied. Puis glissant le long de la croupe, il s'agrippa fermement à la queue, et à chaque fois que le cheval se retournait, l'homme l'effrayait en lui aspergeant la tête d'eau. Dès que le cheval reprit pied de l'autre côté, l'homme remonta sur lui et s'assit bride en main, avant qu'il eût regagné la rive. Un homme nu sur un cheval nu est un plaisant spectacle. Je n'imaginais pas que les deux animaux pussent s'adapter aussi bien l'un à l'autre.”

Charles Darwin

Propos rapportés

“Lamarck était le premier homme dont les conclusions furent publiées sur ce sujet en 1801.”

Charles Darwin

Lamarck was the first man whose conclusions on this subject were published in 1801.
en
Opinion historique sur l'origine des espèces
L'Origine des espèces, 1859

Citations sur les hommes et les garçons de Charles Darwin

“Ces malheureux sauvages ont la taille rabougrie, le visage hideux, couvert de peinture blanche, la peau sale et graisseuse, les cheveux mêlés, la voix discordante et les gestes violents. Quand on voit ces hommes, c’est à peine si l’on peut croire que ce soient des créatures humaines. On se demande souvent quelles jouissances peut procurer la vie à quelques-uns des animaux inférieurs; on pourrait se faire la même question, et avec beaucoup plus de raison, relativement à ces sauvages.”

Charles Darwin

Voyage d’un naturaliste autour du monde

“Si l'homme n'avait pas été son propre classificateur, il n'eût jamais songé à fonder un ordre séparé pour s'y placer.”

Charles Darwin

Note de Darwin en 1871
Propos rapportés

“J’entrevois dans un avenir éloigné des routes ouvertes à des recherches encore bien plus importantes. La psychologie sera solidement établie sur la base si bien définie déjà par M. Herbert Spencer, c’est-à-dire sur l’acquisition nécessairement graduelle de toutes les facultés et de toutes les aptitudes mentales, ce qui jettera une vive lumière sur l’origine de l’homme et sur son histoire.”

Charles Darwin

L'Origine des espèces, 1859

Charles Darwin Citations

“Cette tendance qu’ont les groupes déjà considérables à augmenter toujours et à diverger par leurs caractères, jointe à la conséquence presque inévitable d’extinctions fréquentes, explique l’arrangement de toutes les formes vivantes en groupes subordonnés à d’autres groupes, et tous compris dans un petit nombre de grandes classes, arrangement qui a prévalu dans tous les temps.”

Charles Darwin

, 1859

temps , formation

“Dans la longue histoire du genre animal, ce sont ceux qui ont appris à collaborer et à improviser efficacement qui l'ont emporté.”

Charles Darwin

Propos rapportés

histoire , animaux

“J’entrevois dans un avenir éloigné des routes ouvertes à des recherches encore bien plus importantes. La psychologie sera solidement établie sur la base si bien définie déjà par M.”

Charles Darwin

, 1859

recherche , avenir

“Celui qui n'évolue pas disparaît.”

Charles Darwin

“Pour être un bon observateur, il faut être un bon théoricien.”

Charles Darwin

Propos rapportés

faute

Charles Darwin: Citations en anglais

“Most of the more complex emotions are common to the higher animals and ourselves. Every one has seen how jealous a dog is of his master's affection, if lavished on any other creature; and I have observed the same fact with monkeys. This shews that animals not only love, but have the desire to be loved.”

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Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

volume I, chapter II: "Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals", pages 41-42 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=54&itemID=F937.1&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“With highly civilised nations continued progress depends in a subordinate degree on natural selection; for such nations do not supplant and exterminate one another as do savage tribes. Nevertheless the more intelligent members within the same community will succeed better in the long run than the inferior, and leave a more numerous progeny, and this is a form of natural selection. The more efficient causes of progress seem to consist of a good education during youth whilst the brain is impressible, and of a high standard of excellence, inculcated by the ablest and best men, embodied in the laws, customs and traditions of the nation, and enforced by public opinion. It should, however, be borne in mind, that the enforcement of public opinion depends on our appreciation of the approbation and disapprobation of others; and this appreciation is founded on our sympathy, which it can hardly be doubted was originally developed through natural selection as one of the most important elements of the social instincts.”

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Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

volume I, chapter V: "On the Development of the Intellectual and Moral Faculties during Primeval and Civilised Times" (second edition, 1874) page 143 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=166&itemID=F944&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“Through the principle of associated habit, the same movements of the face and eyes are practised, and can, indeed, hardly be avoided, whenever we know or believe that others are blaming, or too strongly praising, our moral conduct.”

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Charles Darwin livre The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Source: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), chapter XIII: "Self-attention — Shame — Shyness — Modesty: Blushing", page 347 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=375&itemID=F1142&viewtype=image

“Man differs from woman in size, bodily strength, hairyness, &c., as well as in mind, in the same manner as do the two sexes of many mammals.”

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Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

volume I, chapter I: "The Evidence of the Descent of Man from some Lower Form", pages 13-14 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=26&itemID=F937.1&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“The moral faculties are generally esteemed, and with justice, as of higher value than the intellectual powers. But we should always bear in mind that the activity of the mind in vividly recalling past impressions is one of the fundamental though secondary bases of conscience. This fact affords the strongest argument for educating and stimulating in all possible ways the intellectual faculties of every human being.”

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Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

volume II, chapter XXI: "General Summary and Conclusion", page 393 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=410&itemID=F937.2&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“I also attended on two occasions the operating theatre in the hospital at Edinburgh, and saw two very bad operations, one on a child, but I rushed away before they were completed. Nor did I ever attend again, for hardly any inducement would have been strong enough to make me do so; this being long before the blessed days of chloroform. The two cases fairly haunted me for many a long year.”

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Charles Darwin

page 48 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=88&itemID=F1497&viewtype=image
Autobiography (1958)

“It is a curious little world within itself”

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Charles Darwin livre The Voyage of the Beagle

About the island of Saint Helena
The Voyage of the Beagle (1839)
Source: http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-305

“[T]he young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements.”

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Charles Darwin livre The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Source: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), chapter XIV: "Concluding Remarks and Summary", page 352 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=380&itemID=F1142&viewtype=image

“It is impossible to answer your question briefly; and I am not sure that I could do so, even if I wrote at some length. But I may say that the impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God; but whether this is an argument of real value, I have never been able to decide. I am aware that if we admit a first cause, the mind still craves to know whence it came, and how it arose. Nor can I overlook the difficulty from the immense amount of suffering through the world. I am, also, induced to defer to a certain extent to the judgment of the many able men who have fully believed in God; but here again I see how poor an argument this is. The safest conclusion seems to me that the whole subject is beyond the scope of man's intellect; but man can do his duty.”

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Charles Darwin

volume I, chapter VIII: "Religion", pages 306-307 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=324&itemID=F1452.1&viewtype=image; letter http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-8837 to Dutch student N.D. Doedes (2 April 1873)
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887)

“I would suggest to you the advantage, at present, of being very sparing in introducing theory in your papers (I formerly erred much in Geology in that way): let theory guide your observations, but till your reputation is well established be sparing in publishing theory. It makes persons doubt your observations. How rarely R. Brown ever indulged in theory: too seldom perhaps! Do not work too hard, and do not be discouraged because your work is not appreciated by the majority.”

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Charles Darwin livre More Letters of Charles Darwin

Letter to John Scott, quoted in More Letters of Charles Darwin: A Record of His Work in a Series of Hitherto Unpublished Letters http://books.google.com/books?id=8FXwAAAAMAAJ&, volume 2, page 323 (1903)
Other letters, notebooks, journal articles, recollected statements

“I have watched how steadily the general feeling, as shown at elections, has been rising against Slavery. What a proud thing for England if she is the first European nation which utterly abolishes it! I was told before leaving England that after living in slave countries all my opinions would be altered; the only alteration I am aware of is forming a much higher estimate of the negro character. It is impossible to see a negro and not feel kindly towards him; such cheerful, open, honest expressions and such fine muscular bodies. I never saw any of the diminutive Portuguese, with their murderous countenances, without almost wishing for Brazil to follow the example of Hayti; and, considering the enormous healthy-looking black population, it will be wonderful if, at some future day, it does not take place.”

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Charles Darwin

volume I, chapter VI: "The Voyage", page 246 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=264&itemID=F1452.1&viewtype=image; letter to sister Caroline Sarah Darwin (22 May 1833)
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887)

“My wife has just finished reading aloud your 'Life with a Black Regiment,' and you must allow me to thank you heartily for the very great pleasure which it has in many ways given us. I always thought well of the negroes, from the little which I have seen of them; and I have been delighted to have my vague impressions confirmed, and their character and mental powers so ably discussed. When you were here I did not know of the noble position which you had filled. I had formerly read about the black regiments, but failed to connect your name with your admirable undertaking. Although we enjoyed greatly your visit to Down, my wife and myself have over and over again regretted that we did not know about the black regiment, as we should have greatly liked to have heard a little about the South from your own lips.”

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Charles Darwin

volume III, chapter IV: "The Publication of the 'Descent of Man', page 176 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=188&itemID=F1452.3&viewtype=image; letter to Thomas Higginson (27 February 1873)
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887)

“It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist & an evolutionist. … I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.”

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Charles Darwin

Letter http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-12041 to John Fordyce, 7 May 1879
Other letters, notebooks, journal articles, recollected statements

“There can be little doubt that the greater size and strength of man, in comparison with woman, together with his broader shoulders, more developed muscles, rugged outline of body, his greater courage and pugnacity, are all due in chief part to inheritance from his half-human male ancestors. These characters would, however, have been preserved or even augmented during the long ages of man's savagery, by the success of the strongest and boldest men, both in the general struggle for life and in their contests for wives; a success which would have ensured their leaving a more numerous progeny than their less favoured brethren.”

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Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

second edition (1874), chapter XIX: "Secondary Sexual Characters of Man", page 563 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=586&itemID=F944&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“I am quite conscious that my speculations run quite beyond the bounds of true science. … I inferred that genera & Families with very few species (i. e. from Extinction) would be apt (not necessarily always) to have narrow ranges & disjoined ranges. You will not perceive, perhaps, what I am driving at & it is not worth enlarging on, — but I look at Extinction as common cause of small genera & disjoined ranges & therefore they ought, if they behaved properly & as nature does not lie to go together!”

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Charles Darwin

The first sentence is often quoted in isolation http://www.conservapedia.com/Charles_Darwin, with the suggestion that Darwin is saying that his speculations concerning evolution "run quite beyond the bounds of true science." In fact, as the context makes clear, Darwin is referring to his speculations concerning the geographical ranges of genera with few species.
Other letters, notebooks, journal articles, recollected statements
Source: Letter http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-2109 to Asa Gray, 18 June 1857

“I am almost convinced (quite contrary to opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable.”

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Charles Darwin

volume II, chapter II: "The Growth of the 'Origin of Species' — 1843-1856", page 23 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=39&itemID=F1452.2&viewtype=image; letter http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-729 to J.D. Hooker (11 January 1844)
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887)

“In this case, therefore, the worms judged with a considerable degree of correctness how best to draw the withered leaves of this foreign plant into their burrows; notwithstanding that they had to depart from their usual habit of avoiding the foot-stalk.”

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Charles Darwin livre The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms

Source: The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881), Chapter 2: Habits of Worms, p. 70. http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=85&itemID=F1357&viewtype=image

“Lastly, isolation, by checking immigration and consequently competition, will give time for any new variety to be slowly improved; and this may sometimes be of importance in the production of new species. If, however, an isolated area be very small, either from being surrounded by barriers, or from having very peculiar physical conditions, the total number of the individuals supported on it will necessarily be very small; and fewness of individuals will greatly retard the production of new species through natural selection, by decreasing the chance of the appearance of favourable variations.”

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Charles Darwin livre On the Origin of Species (1859)

This passage has been cited as an anticipation of the idea of punctuated equilibrium.
Source: On the Origin of Species (1859), chapter IV: "Natural Selection", page 105 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=120&itemID=F373&viewtype=image

“Even insects express anger, terror, jealousy, and love by their stridulation.”

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Charles Darwin livre The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Source: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), chapter XIV: "Concluding Remarks and Summary", page 350

“He remarks that "considering their weakness and their size, the work they are represented to have accomplished is stupendous." Here we have an instance of that inability to sum up the effects of a continually recurrent cause, which has often retarded the progress of science, as formerly in the case of geology, and more recently in that of the principle of evolution.”

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Charles Darwin livre The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms

Introduction, p. 6. http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=21&itemID=F1357&viewtype=image
The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881)

“Now when naturalists observe a close agreement in numerous small details of habits, tastes and dispositions between two or more domestic races, or between nearly-allied natural forms, they use this fact as an argument that all are descended from a common progenitor who was thus endowed; and consequently that all should be classed under the same species. The same argument may be applied with much force to the races of man.

As it is improbable that the numerous and unimportant points of resemblance between the several races of man in bodily structure and mental faculties (I do not here refer to similar customs) should all have been independently acquired, they must have been inherited from progenitors who were thus characterised.”

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Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

volume I, chapter VII: "On the Races of Man", page 233 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=246&itemID=F937.1&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“As dogs, cats, horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds, as is stated on good authority, have vivid dreams, and this is shewn by their movements and voice, we must admit that they possess some power of imagination. … Few persons any longer dispute that animals possess some power of reasoning. Animals may constantly be seen to pause, deliberate, and resolve. It is a significant fact, that the more the habits of any particular animal are studied by a naturalist, the more he attributes to reason and the less to unlearnt instincts.”

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Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

volume I, chapter II: "Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals", page 46 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=59&itemID=F937.1&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“Amongst the half-human progenitors of man, and amongst savages, there have been struggles between the males during many generations for the possession of the females. But mere bodily strength and size would do little for victory, unless associated with courage, perseverance, and determined energy. With social animals, the young males have to pass through many a contest before they win a female, and the older males have to retain their females by renewed battles. They have, also, in the case of mankind, to defend their females, as well as their young, from enemies of all kinds, and to hunt for their joint subsistence. But to avoid enemies or to attack them with success, to capture wild animals, and to fashion weapons, requires the aid of the higher mental faculties, namely, observation, reason, invention, or imagination. These various faculties will thus have been continually put to the test and selected during manhood; they will, moreover, have been strengthened by use during this same period of life. Consequently, in accordance with the principle often alluded to, we might expect that they would at least tend to be transmitted chiefly to the male offspring at the corresponding period of manhood.”

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Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

second edition (1874), chapter XIX: "Secondary Sexual Characters of Man", page 564 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=587&itemID=F944&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“The expression often used by Mr. Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate, and is sometimes equally convenient.”

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Charles Darwin livre On the Origin of Species (1859)

Compare: "This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr Darwin has called 'natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.' ", Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Biology (1864) volume 1, part III: "The Evolution of Life", chapter XII, "Indirect Equilibration", pages 444-445.
Source: On the Origin of Species (1859), chapter III: "Struggle For Existence", page 72 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=101&itemID=F387&viewtype=image, in the fifth (1869) and sixth (1872) editions

“But just in proportion as this process of extermination has acted on an enormous scale, so must the number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed on the earth, be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory. The explanation lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record.”

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Charles Darwin livre On the Origin of Species (1859)

Source: On the Origin of Species (1859), chapter IX: "On the Imperfection of the Geological Record", page 280 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=298&itemID=F373&viewtype=image

“With mankind the differences between the sexes are greater than in most species of Quadrumana, but not so great as in some, for instance, the mandrill. Man on an average is considerably taller, heavier, and stronger than woman, with squarer shoulders and more plainly-pronounced muscles. … Man is more courageous, pugnacious, and energetic than woman, and has a more inventive genius. His brain is absolutely larger, but whether relatively to the larger size of his body, in comparison with that of woman, has not, I believe been fully ascertained. In woman the face is rounder; the jaws and the base of the skull smaller; the outlines of her body rounder, in parts more prominent; and her pelvis is broader than in man; but this latter character may perhaps be considered rather as a primary than a secondary sexual character. She comes to maturity at an earlier age than man.”

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Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

volume II, chapter XIX: "Secondary Sexual Characters of Man", pages 316-317 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=333&itemID=F937.2&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“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.”

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Charles Darwin

This related misquote http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/six-things-darwin-never-said appeared in The Living Clocks (1971) by Ritchie R. Ward.
Misattributed

“It is easy to specify the individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes; but it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, astonishment, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.”

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Charles Darwin livre The Voyage of the Beagle

Source: The Voyage of the Beagle (1839), chapter II, "Rio de Janeiro", 18 April 1832, page 29 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=image&itemID=F11&pageseq=48

“Man bears in his bodily structure clear traces of his descent from some lower form; but it may be urged that, as man differs so greatly in his mental power from all other animals, there must be some error in this conclusion. No doubt the difference in this respect is enormous, even if we compare the mind of one of the lowest savages, who has no words to express any number higher than four, and who uses no abstract terms for the commonest objects or affections, with that of the most highly organised ape.”

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Charles Darwin livre La Filiation de l'homme et la sélection liée au sexe

volume I, chapter II: "Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals", page 34 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=47&itemID=F937.1&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)

“Worms seize leaves and other objects, not only to serve as food, but for plugging up the mouths of their burrows; and this is one of their strongest instincts.”

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Charles Darwin livre The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms

Source: The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881), Chapter 2: Habits of Worms, p. 58. http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=73&itemID=F1357&viewtype=image