“Intelligence is based on how efficient a species became at doing the things they need to survive.”

— Charles Darwin

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Charles Darwin 161

British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by… 1809–1882

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“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the one most adaptable to change.”

Charles Darwin (1809–1882) British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by means of natural selection"

The earliest known appearance of this basic statement is a paraphrase of Darwin in the writings of Leon C. Megginson, a management sociologist at Louisiana State University. [[Megginson, Leon C., Lessons from Europe for American Business, Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, 1963, 44(1), 3-13, p. 4]] Megginson's paraphrase (with slight variations) was later turned into a quotation. See the summary of Nicholas Matzke's findings in "One thing Darwin didn't say: the source for a misquotation" http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/one-thing-darwin-didnt-say at the Darwin Correspondence Project. The statement is incorrectly attributed, without any source, to Clarence Darrow in Improving the Quality of Life for the Black Elderly: Challenges and Opportunities : Hearing before the Select Committee on Aging, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, first session, September 25, 1987 (1988).
Misattributed

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the one most adaptable to change.”

Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union

As quoted in Improving the Quality of Life for the Black Elderly: Challenges and Opportunities : Hearing before the Select Committee on Aging, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, first session, September 25, 1987 (1988)
This quote's earliest known source is from Leon C. Megginson (see Charles Darwin)
Misattributed

“The theory of evolution is based on the struggle for life and the survival of the fittest. Yet cooperation is common between members of the same species and even between members of different species.”

Robert Axelrod The evolution of cooperation

Axelrod, Robert, and William Donald Hamilton. "The evolution of cooperation." Science 211.4489 (1981): 1390

“Today, we need greater financial intelligence to simply survive.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki (1947) American finance author , investor

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

“Survival," I said softly. "It's selfish, and it's dark, and we've always been a species willing to do anything to satisfy our needs. Individuals have morals. Mobs have appetites.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Total Eclipse

“The poor are like foxes: they need intelligence in order to survive. The rich, however, have power; they don’t need good sense.”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Source: Singer from the Sea (1999), Chapter 2, “The Library” (p. 48)

“I am a big believer of what Darwin discovered in the Galapagos, proving that the species most responsive to change will survive over apparently stronger or more intelligent competitors.”

John Elkann (1976) Italian businessman

"Letter to shareholders" http://www.exor.com/?p=lettera_presidente_dettaglio&s=exor&lang=en, Exor, April 2011

“Species evolve to meet the environment. An intelligent species changes the environment to suit itself. As soon as a species becomes intelligent, it should stop evolving.”

Larry Niven book The Mote in God's Eye

Source: The Mote in God's Eye (1974), Chapter 3 “Dinner Party” (p. 31)

“She became whoever she needed to be to survive, but she never let anyone else define her.”

Jodi Picoult book The Storyteller

Source: The Storyteller

“All human beings have an innate skill — survival skill. The fact that poor are still alive is a proof of their ability to survive. We do not need to teach them how to survive. They know this already.”

Muhammad Yunus (1940) Bangladeshi banker, economist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient

Profile at North American Bangladesh Info Center http://www.bongoz.com/people/yunus.html

“Intelligence is based on how efficient a species became at doing the things they need to survive.”

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