The collective unconscious contains the whole spiritual heritage of mankind’s evolution born anew in the brain structure of every individual.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
The goal of evolution is self – conquest
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
There is no law of progress. Our future is in our own hands, to make or to mar. It will be an uphill fight to the end, and would we have it otherwise? Let no one suppose that evolution will ever exempt us from struggles. ‘You forget,’ said the Devil, with a chuckle, ‘that I have been evolving too.’
—William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) English Anglican Clergyman, Priest, Mystic
Evolution has developed man to such a high degree that he builds zoos to keep his ancestors in cages.
—Unknown
The tide of evolution carries everything before it, thoughts no less than bodies, and persons no less than nations
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Promise yourself to live your life as a revolution and not just a process of evolution.
—Anthony J. D’Angelo
There are no shortcuts in evolution.
—Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) American Jurist
My theory of evolution is that Darwin was adopted.
—Steven Wright (b.1955) American Comedian, Actor, Writer
After listening to a lecture on evolution by a science professor, a student wrote a poem and titled it “The Amazing Professor.” The poem read: Once I was a tadpole when I began to begin. Then I was a frog with my tail tucked in. Next I was a monkey on a coconut tree. Now I am a doctor with a Ph.D.
—Unknown
Man has lost the basic skill of the ape, the ability to scratch its back. Which gave it extraordinary independence, and the liberty to associate for reasons other than the need for mutual back-scratching.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
Evolution seems to close the heart to some of the plainest spiritual truths while it opens the mind to the wildest guesses advanced in the name of science.
—William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) American Political leader, Diplomat, Politician
All evolution in thought and conduct must at first appear as heresy and misconduct.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
I believe that our Heavenly Father invented man because he was disappointed in the monkey.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles
—James D. Watson (b.1928) American Geneticist, Biophysicist
The more specific idea of Evolution now reached is—a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) English Polymath, Philosopher, Sociologist, Political Theorist
All one’s work might have been better done; but this is a sort of reflection a worker must put aside courageously if he doesn’t mean every one of his conceptions to remain forever a private vision, an evanescent reverie.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
All the ills from which America suffers can be traced to the teaching of evolution
—William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) American Political leader, Diplomat, Politician
Evolution is not a force but a process. Not a cause but a law.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Political Leader, Writer, Editor, Journalist
It is hard for the ape to believe he descended from man.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
I was a young man with uninformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything; and to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them.
—Charles Darwin (1809–82) English Naturalist
It is curious how there seems to be an instinctive disgust in Man for his nearest ancestors and relations. If only Darwin could conscientiously have traced man back to the Elephant or the Lion or the Antelope, how much ridicule and prejudice would have been spared to the doctrine of Evolution.
—Havelock Ellis (1859–1939) British Sexologist, Physician, Social Reformer
The historic ascent of humanity, taken as a whole, may be summarized as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces—in nature, in society, in man himself.
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) Russian Marxist Revolutionary
Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
One of the stupidest theories of Western life.
—Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90) English Journalist, Author, Media Personality, Satirist
Evolution is what it is. The upper classes have always died out; it’s one of the most charming things about them.
—Germaine Greer (b.1939) Australia Academic, Journalist, Scholar, Writer
Natural selection, as it has operated in human history, favors not only the clever but the murderous.
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b.1941) American Social Critic, Essayist
The question is this—Is man an ape or an angel? My Lord, I am on the side of the angels. I repudiate with indignation and abhorrence these new fanged theories.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The expression often used by Mr. Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate, and is sometimes equally convenient.
—Charles Darwin (1809–82) English Naturalist
An extra-terrestrial philosopher, who had watched a single youth up to the age of twenty-one and had never come across any other human being, might conclude that it is the nature of human beings to grow continually taller and wiser in an indefinite progress towards perfection; and this generalization would be just as well founded as the generalization which evolutionists base upon the previous history of this planet.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoon to the philosopher, and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately it is the philosopher, not the protozoon, who gives us this assurance.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic