1083 – “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

-Charles Darwin

Quote Number: 1028

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection. John Murray, Albermarle Street: London. 1859. Pg 490. Online from Darwin Online Here.

Source Notes: This is the quote as it appears in the first edition, in subsequent editions there was a small change to the quote (emphasis mine):

“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. “

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