"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one."
— Charles Darwin
There Is Grandeur In This View
There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one.
About this quote
This sentence closes On the Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin's summary of the theory of evolution by natural selection. The full final paragraph describes life having been "originally breathed into a few forms or into one" and evolving from "so simple a beginning" into "endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful." Darwin added the phrase "by the Creator" to this sentence in the second edition (1860) in response to religious criticism — a change he later said he regretted.
Source
On the Origin of Species, final paragraph (1859)
