“Man selects only for his own good: Nature only for that of the being which she tends.”

— Charles Darwin

Source: The Origin of Species

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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“I think it can be shown that there is such an unerring power at work in Natural Selection (the title of my book), which selects exclusively for the good of each organic being.”

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“A wise man's kingdom is his own breast: or, if he ever looks farther, it will only be to the judgment of a select few, who are free from prejudices, and capable of examining his work.”

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Context: A wise man's kingdom is his own breast: or, if he ever looks farther, it will only be to the judgment of a select few, who are free from prejudices, and capable of examining his work. Nothing indeed can be a stronger presumption of falsehood than the approbation of the multitude; and Phocion, you know, always suspected himself of some blunder when he was attended with the applauses of the populace.

“Man lives only to learn. And if he learns it is because it is the nature of his lot, for good or bad.”

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Source: The Science of Rights 1796, P. 119

“In man (as the only rational creature on earth) those natural capacities which are directed to the use of his reason are to be fully developed only in the race, not in the individual.”

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Source: Man for Himself (1947), Ch. 3 "Human Nature and Character

“Fortunately however, is that [painting] school where Mother Nature is placed in the foreground, and where only she is consulted to representate 'truth' on the canvas or panel. Only he knows the secrets of the manifold diversity of nature. His painting is a faithful copy of nature - which is the highest praise for a painter..”

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“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

“Man's preeminent advantage is his organism. …Only through nature do we have any good qualities; to her we owe all that we are.”

Julien Offray de La Mettrie book Man a Machine

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“A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“Man selects only for his own good: Nature only for that of the being which she tends.”

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