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I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved… — Charles Darwin

Scientific literature

I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.

Charles Darwin
On the Origin of the Species · 1859
★ 7.9
Other tags relating to this quote
Topic
Natural selectionEvolution
Genre
Scientific literature
Time
1859
Person
Charles Darwin
Provenance
Current citation
Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 3.
Original citation
Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of the Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 3.

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Owing to this struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual of any species, in its infinitely complex relations to other organic beings and to external nature, will tend to the preservation of that individual, and will generally be inherited by its offspring. The offspring, also, will thus have a better chance of surviving.

Charles Darwin
On the Origin of Species · 1859
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