“It is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of matter.”

— Charles Darwin

Letter to J.D. Hooker, 29 March 1863
In The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 11, 1863; Frederick Burkhardt, Duncan Porter, Sheila Ann Dean, Jonathan R. Topham, Sarah Wilmot, editors; Cambridge University Press, September 1999, page 278
Sometimes paraphrased as “One might as well speculate about the origin of matter.”
Other letters, notebooks, journal articles, recollected statements

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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 mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of matter.”

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