Charles Darwin Quotes

The intelligence which has converted the brother of the wolf into the faithful guardian of the flock ought to be able to do something towards curbing the instincts of savagery in civilized men.

People didn't think animals thought or remembered or had minds! They most certainly do: any pet owner knows more than a lot of scientists about animals.

There are a lot of smart creatures out there. Dolphins, elephants, and whales are smart. And there are some really smart birds. I know some really intelligent fish. But they cannot know what humans know and are incapable of inflicting as much damage.

There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties...The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind.

A lifelong intimacy with animals has got me out of the common notion that they are automata with a slight infusion of intelligence in their composition. The mind in beast and bird, as in man, is the main thing.

Perhaps measuring animal intelligence by comparing it to human intelligence isn't the best litmus test.

It's very likely that most mammals have consciousness, and probably birds, too.

The restriction of studies of human intellect and character to studies of conscious states was not without influence on a scientific studies of animal psychology.

As nine months go to the shaping an infant ripe for his birth, So many a million of ages have gone to the making of man

Since the cosmic process of evolution is amoral, there is no guarantee that good will win out over evil, that human society will thrive rather than fail.

That which lies before the human race is a constant struggle to maintain and improve

When the public mind first took its bent towards science, I, for one, foresaw that the Devil would soon be to pay with our cherished ideas. Under the plea of exercising some of the highest faculties of human nature, these scientific descendentalists have exclusively devoted themselves to the lowest objects of human concern…. There isn't a statesman, or philanthropist, or poet, or hero, or saint in the land, sir, that they would condescend to look at, when engaged in exploring the remains of some ignorant ass of the Stone Period.

Think about how stupid the average person is and then realize that half of them are stupider than that.

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.

We animals are the most complicated things in the known universe.

Animals have personalities and minds and emotions.

I do love animals so much, and have a great respect for them emotionally and intellectually, because they are so different from human beings.

Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.

Future benefits rarely figure in the minds of animals.

Sometimes I read about someone saying with great authority that animals have no intentions and no feelings, and I wonder, 'Doesn't this guy have a dog?'

Chimps can do all sorts of things we thought that only we could do - like tool-making and abstraction and generalisation. They can learn a language - sign language - and they can use the signs. But when you think of our intellects, even the brightest chimp looks like a very small child.

Although elephants are far more distantly related to us than the great apes, they seem to have evolved similar social and cognitive capacities.

Whenever you observe an animal closely, you feel as if a human being sitting inside were making fun of you.

Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals.

I had been told from school onwards that the best definition of a human being was man the tool-maker - yet I had just watched a chimp tool-maker in action. I remember that day as vividly as if it was yesterday.