February 12 marks the 204th birthday of Charles Robert Darwin in Shrewsbury, England. (Much more about the great scientist here and here and here.) It is a tribute to Mr. Darwin’s enduring genius, that the passing of time, rather than making his comments less relevant, has somehow rendered them more so. Such as:
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.
An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men.
Man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits.
We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities… still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.
And for those of you who prefer a graphic Darwin, there’s this:
Kent Jones